Work Heartily

We've all been there.
·Customer service reps that are too busy socializing with co-workers instead of attending to customers.
·A cashier that doesn't bother to greet you or make eye contact after you've loaded hundreds of dollars worth of groceries onto the belt.
·A phone call put on hold...and forgotten.

Good customer service is out there, but it is experiences like these that leave a bad taste in your mouth. Or at least that's how I feel.

This week, my cell phone bit the dust. Since my husband is the "primary" on the account, he has to be present to make any changes. We coordinated our schedules to meet at our local cellular store after work. And to make our visit go faster, I stopped in a day earlier and Mr Friendly&Helpful told me my options and showed me the phones I was eligible for. Thank you very much! We'll be back tomorrow.

Typically there is a short wait, so when we arrived, we gave them our names and took a seat. When the young man called our names, we followed him to his desk, sat down, and explained the problem. Since I had already been informed of our options, we wasted no time in telling him which phone I was interested in getting. So far, so good.

Then he asked for our phone number to pull up our account.
Ding ding (buzzz)... what was that?
Ding ding (buzzz)... oh. It's HIS phone.
I was shocked to sit there and watch Mr CantBeBothered slide his phone across his desk and check the message. And then he asked us for our phone number again because he wasn't listening the first time.

It was so cute when he asked me if I wanted all my contacts transferred to my new phone! Seriously? All while he was returning a text. 3 times this happened as we sat there in shock.

God bless my husband. I left him there to handle the rest of the details before I made a scene. I just couldn't believe it.

Colossians 3:23-24 says-
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

I don't know if Mr CantBeBothered is a believer. I know he certainly wasn't working heartily for his employer, left alone anyone else. Sadly, this type of "service" is quite common, yet there still is an expectation of reward. Why?

All of my years of employment were spent in customer service: retail, food service, tourism, hospitality, sales, and as an event coordinator. My husband's resume looks similar. Neither one of us can relate to this even being called "service".

I like to think that God's Word gives us a great example in Luke 12 of the type of workers, or servants, we should aim to be.

Luke 12:35-37, 42-43 says-
“Stay dressed for action  and   keep your lamps burning,  and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.  Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them.  And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time?  Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.

Be like the faithful and wise manager. Be ready. Work hard. Receive the blessing of the Lord!

Photo: borrowed from The Time-Warp Wife at timewarpwife.com