We have all at one point in our lives received bad service, if you say that you have never received bad service then you are either an infant with an all giving mother, or you have locked yourself in a room and again you have an all giving mother to bring you food and drink.
I was reading an article on news24 where they mentioned bad service, which got me thinking. Why does bad service exist? After some thought a few reasons came to mind. Firstly we have to look at who is serving us, for example when you go to KFC or steers you are not expecting the royal treatment, all you want is your meal and you want it fast.
You don’t want your chips to be forgotten so that as soon as you arrive at your house and sit down to eat jour meal you realise that there aren’t any, and it would take you an extra 30minutes to go back and argue what you paid for.
However the truth is you are served by people who don’t want to be there and really don’t give a dam that you’re starving because they earn so little it actually isn’t a priority to them.
How long have you spent waiting in bank queues? Now I don’t know about you but I work 5 days a week and some weekends. When I go to the bank it is generally on a Saturday, does anyone else find it odd that they are only open till eleven on their busiest day? And only open till four every other day of the week, when you work until 5 what is that about. Technically a bank should be offering you a service not trying purposefully to inconvenience you and charging you for it. So you take your precious day of your weekend and spend half of it waiting in a queue because they can’t have the foresight to plan ahead.
I was at the Vodaworld the other day, the flagship store for Vodacom trying to enquire about a 3g card. Wait for it another line. I waited a half hour to be told I was in the wrong line. No wonder they need a golf course there while you wait, because you’ll finish 18 holes before you get any service.
How often do you go to a restaurant and find your waiter just doesn’t know what he/she are doing, he forgets your drink order and then forgets to take the mushrooms off your pizza for example. Or you spend 30 minutes just waiting for a glass of water, because that doesn’t contribute to your waiters tip.
These are just a few examples. My question is have we just come to expect crap service from everywhere, and what are we doing to stop it?
When last did you send you food back because it was cold or it wasn’t what you ordered, the fact is as long as you don’t the cycle will continue. If you wait longer than a half hour in a bank, report it on hello Peter and join a new bank that has better facilities and they are out there. If your chips were forgotten, don’t just leave it, you paid for them demand another meal and fill out one of the service cards. Start remembering the names of people who serve you. There are thousands of people unemployed in this country why not let someone who is good at the job do it.
I know this is really an entire blog of moaning but quite frankly I’m fed up with having my time and money wasted on a daily bases. If the people aren’t interested because they need more pay, maybe the institution employing them needs to think about that. If they need more training maybe they need to think about that too. Maybe they need better processes or maybe they need to think about that. But they are never going to know unless people say something.
If you are in a restaurant and you don’t get the food you want and you think if you complain they will bring you back food that has been spat on simply get up and leave the restaurant. I did that the other night not quite the same but I was at Cabana and I asked for a glass of water as I am on a diet, Lionel who was with me ordered one to. They asked us if we wanted sparkling or still, we said tap. Call me whatever you like but I refused to pay for water in a country where free water is healthy. They said they only served sparkling or still and refused to give us tap water. We opted to leave and I found a great restaurant up stairs that had fantastic meals and offered tap water, Cabana lost out on a R600 tab and I found a restaurant I will continue to go to in the future.
Why just accept things the way they are when we have a choice? This is not about saving R7 on water, it’s about not doing something you don’t want to, if Vodacom is going to take all day to serve you, go with MTN, and if you can’t get a Telkom phone go with Neotel. If the supermarket is full and only five tills are open go to another supermarket in future. Stop accepting and then complaining about how you had to wait for ages. Which I know is ironic because it is pretty much what I am doing now, but maybe we can all learn from my mistakes.
Please comment below and please add suggestions as to what you would like me to write about next. Or a question you would like answered. And don’t hesitate to click the follow this blog button.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
do atheists exist?
I asked a friend of mine if he had any suggestions for a new blog post for me. “He said why don’t you write about; why the sky is blue, or perhaps do atheists exist?” If you want to find out why the sky is blue you can go to http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/sky_blue.html, but I decided I would write about the second question. Do atheists really exist?
Now I thought about this for a bit, because obviously there are people who call themselves atheists and therefore they must exist?
But in order to answer the question properly we have to look at counter arguments and define atheism. Let’s start with the definition.
“Atheism can be either the rejection of theism,[1] or the position that deities do not exist.[2] In the broadest sense, it is the absence of belief in the existence of deities.[3].
The term atheism originated from the Greek ἄθεος (atheos), meaning "without gods"”
So this clearly shows that the word indicates that an atheist is a person who does not believe in “gods”.
Is it as simple as that there are no gods and therefore I am an atheist? Or is there more to it?
Some people choose to argue that there is no such thing as an atheist and people who call themselves atheists don’t understand what they are saying.
It took me a while to think about this post because as a Christian I had to separate myself from my own beliefs in order to make a valid argument, unfortunately, I fear I have not done that, but you can be the judge and ridicule me afterwards.
Now taking away the idea of one specific religion, it could be said that if someone worshiped something that something must be a god to that person, for example the sun to the Incas or the ancestors to some African cultures and altars made of gold or possibly the cow in the Indian culture. (I don’t know enough about African cultures to include them all).
Can we agree on the idea that if something is worshiped it is perceived as a god. We all know the sun for example is not a god, however if it went out one day we may start praying for it. But for the point of this argument let us agree that this is the case.
Now if it is the case that if something is worshipped, it could be perceived as a god then it makes it very difficult to decide does atheism really exists. As we all worship something. Are you saying to yourself I don’t worship anything . But the reality is worship can take many forms. It doesn’t have to be bowing on your knees or clapping hands in a church. Worship is simply doing a task with the idea of praising something or someone or for the purpose of achieving a goal that will show appreciation to the person or thing.
Most Christians will try and display a certain type of lovingness and live a righteous life in order to praise God. This is the case in most religions. As this is the case it could be said that your smallest actions can be praising or worshiping something. Are you starting to see where I am going with this? What have you been worshiping lately?
Do you have a “god” that you worship in your life, everyone has something. For most people, here are a few of the more regularly worshipped gods: Sex, or the opposite sex. How much time do you spend trying to get the opposite sex to like you and want to sleep with you? Money, how much time do you “spend” thinking about money, talking about money or trying to make money? Food, is food your god, are you feeling the pounds pack on you while spending your day waiting for your next meal? There are many more but I think my point has been made.
Now we have to ask the question how can you be an atheist if you are constantly worshiping the ‘gods’ stated above. If you follow a specific religion, are you falling into the same traps? Most Christian’s I know have worshipped the above mentioned ‘gods’ .I definitely have worshipped the above mentioned ‘gods’ on many occasion.
My point is we all put our faith in something, whether it be God or something material. People put their faith in the things they worship.
Everyone has to put faith into something because we aren't omniscient. We only have a finite amount of senses and ability to process things and think about them. What you choose to focus your attention on is your choice but a least be aware that you have a choice and that does not mean you don’t follow a god it just means you don’t believe in a formal religion.
There are more arguments stating that atheism does not exist this is one of them. http://www.mwillett.org/atheism/do_atheists_exist.htm
I choose not to copy paste this as it is not my writing but also has no bearing on my own personal belief however here you go.
As for the rest well you decide.
I will ask all the readers of this blog to please post a comment, I am looking for fresh ideas to write about whether it is long lines in a bank or the tooth fairy, but I would like my readers to decide. Also if you have views on the subject yourself don’t hesitate and please feel free to click the follow this blog button.
Now I thought about this for a bit, because obviously there are people who call themselves atheists and therefore they must exist?
But in order to answer the question properly we have to look at counter arguments and define atheism. Let’s start with the definition.
“Atheism can be either the rejection of theism,[1] or the position that deities do not exist.[2] In the broadest sense, it is the absence of belief in the existence of deities.[3].
The term atheism originated from the Greek ἄθεος (atheos), meaning "without gods"”
So this clearly shows that the word indicates that an atheist is a person who does not believe in “gods”.
Is it as simple as that there are no gods and therefore I am an atheist? Or is there more to it?
Some people choose to argue that there is no such thing as an atheist and people who call themselves atheists don’t understand what they are saying.
It took me a while to think about this post because as a Christian I had to separate myself from my own beliefs in order to make a valid argument, unfortunately, I fear I have not done that, but you can be the judge and ridicule me afterwards.
Now taking away the idea of one specific religion, it could be said that if someone worshiped something that something must be a god to that person, for example the sun to the Incas or the ancestors to some African cultures and altars made of gold or possibly the cow in the Indian culture. (I don’t know enough about African cultures to include them all).
Can we agree on the idea that if something is worshiped it is perceived as a god. We all know the sun for example is not a god, however if it went out one day we may start praying for it. But for the point of this argument let us agree that this is the case.
Now if it is the case that if something is worshipped, it could be perceived as a god then it makes it very difficult to decide does atheism really exists. As we all worship something. Are you saying to yourself I don’t worship anything . But the reality is worship can take many forms. It doesn’t have to be bowing on your knees or clapping hands in a church. Worship is simply doing a task with the idea of praising something or someone or for the purpose of achieving a goal that will show appreciation to the person or thing.
Most Christians will try and display a certain type of lovingness and live a righteous life in order to praise God. This is the case in most religions. As this is the case it could be said that your smallest actions can be praising or worshiping something. Are you starting to see where I am going with this? What have you been worshiping lately?
Do you have a “god” that you worship in your life, everyone has something. For most people, here are a few of the more regularly worshipped gods: Sex, or the opposite sex. How much time do you spend trying to get the opposite sex to like you and want to sleep with you? Money, how much time do you “spend” thinking about money, talking about money or trying to make money? Food, is food your god, are you feeling the pounds pack on you while spending your day waiting for your next meal? There are many more but I think my point has been made.
Now we have to ask the question how can you be an atheist if you are constantly worshiping the ‘gods’ stated above. If you follow a specific religion, are you falling into the same traps? Most Christian’s I know have worshipped the above mentioned ‘gods’ .I definitely have worshipped the above mentioned ‘gods’ on many occasion.
My point is we all put our faith in something, whether it be God or something material. People put their faith in the things they worship.
Everyone has to put faith into something because we aren't omniscient. We only have a finite amount of senses and ability to process things and think about them. What you choose to focus your attention on is your choice but a least be aware that you have a choice and that does not mean you don’t follow a god it just means you don’t believe in a formal religion.
There are more arguments stating that atheism does not exist this is one of them. http://www.mwillett.org/atheism/do_atheists_exist.htm
I choose not to copy paste this as it is not my writing but also has no bearing on my own personal belief however here you go.
As for the rest well you decide.
I will ask all the readers of this blog to please post a comment, I am looking for fresh ideas to write about whether it is long lines in a bank or the tooth fairy, but I would like my readers to decide. Also if you have views on the subject yourself don’t hesitate and please feel free to click the follow this blog button.
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