Business really holds the key to change

It seems to me that there is a lot of dissatisfaction between and among people for a thousand reasons, large and small.

Internationally, we can’t really get along. A few people can get along regardless of immutable characteristics but, on the whole, we live in a stress mess.

Business must live in this morass of more-ass behavior. Business has to be logical, steady and decent regardless of the nasty milieu that seems to imbue everything. Customer service must be above the fray.

The common decency that business is supposed to exude is refreshing to many. A friendly waitress or waiter has the advantage of seeming larger than life — which is a good thing for increased tips. A smile and good service is, I believe, worth more these days than ever before.

There are some businesses that have slipped in the area of customer service. Some employees bring their worldly melodrama to work and show it in sloppy service or, what’s worse, negative attention to customers who need information to make a purchase.

Owners and managers really need to know if customers are being treated well. In some cases, however, I believe owners and managers are too afraid to confront poorly performing employees about their customer service standards because it is difficult to get people to work these days.

It is not likely that customers will soon become all right with crappy service or products. This is because when people have to pay money for something, they typically have little sympathy for poor quality treatment. Money makes a difference and money is what makes business move.

The mess and stress of the times might be met daily with one standard but there is a higher standard that applies when we are paying for common quality in service and product.

I cannot look forward to a time when our civility will coalesce around our better, more enlightened natures. There is no evidence yet of a national dialogue for decency. Our government offers double-talk at best and encourages racial strife and division as a rule.

As business taxes are rising and regulations are likely to increase again, business owners might someday be forced to join the government-encouraged fray. Businesses carry the final weapon of all — money — if they ever wish to recognize it, develop a leading voice and realize that all they have to do is shut down for a while to bring government to its knees in which posture it, for the first time in our history, might listen to what is best and perform to a higher standard for the people.

Business holds the nuclear key, no money-no taxes. The businesses that count are not the huge, elite, no-competition concerns. The ones that count are the millions of small- and medium-businesses — they provide the bulk of everything including taxes.

Business has become a slave to government. This is only true, though, because business does not recognize its power, its voice, its leadership potential.

When I see the dawn of the day that business rises to its rightful place and power, I will know the true potential of American Dream for everyone also will rise and the government we have now will be cast down to its proper servant level.