My last entry certainly hit a lot of nerves.  If you haven’t read the comments – please do – it’s well worth the time.  What I heard loud and clear was the disconnect between us and them.                                                                                              

Some of us may remember the days of doing business with real people.  The phone was actually answered by a human being, not a list of instructions.  And even if it was a regional and national company, we still had a common experience to share – even if only a snowstorm or an election. 

Today’s businesses are so huge that we’re not even sure where the person we’re talking to is.  Is it the other coast or another continent?  It doesn’t feel possible to have a personal experience.  After going through the litany of push 1 or 2 we’re so frustrated that if we finally get a human on the phone, we’re already on our last nerve. 

Yet this is the exact time we need to remember that they are one of us – no matter where they are.  Just like us they may be having a frustrating day, just like us they may be having financial difficulties, just like us they may be feeling disconnected.  Just like us.

Now, I’m not about to let the companies off the hook.  Businesses must remember that the policies they enact are putting employees just like us in impossible situations – policies where they have to forget that we are real persons.  Instead of policies that disconnect us – we need policies that reconnect us. 

Maybe a grassroots effort is the only way to start.  Maybe if we make them feel connected they might be the catalyst for change in their company.  As Ghandi said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”  Maybe this is a small simple way for us to begin.  What do you think?

Still wearing those glasses…

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