R E S P E C T

Yeah, that's right...R E S P E C T....The Queen of Soul was onto something.  Respect is like an endangered species these days...it's AWOL...missing....GONE!!!  Now, in my mind there are different levels of expected respect.  When ordering in a restaurant...ALWAYS be respectful...come on...the person taking your order is ALSO the person that will be retrieving your order from the kitchen and can ultimately add a little "extra" flavoring to your dish (if you know what I mean).  I always love it when someone is being a complete dick to a server....I smile inside knowing that they will most likely be ingesting a little bit of SPIT in that meal.....I was never a server, but I hate to admit...I would TOTALLY DO IT!!!!  Coffee.  It's a sacred thing for me.  I drink it every day...sometimes multiple times a day...and regretfully, I buy it and do not make it at home.  Starbuck's loves me.  So I always go into the same Starbuck's everyday (shout out to the Starbuck's at Lemmon and Knight St in Dallas!!!  Love you Kaila, Jessica, Nick, etc.....).  Now one day, I'm in there in line and some rude, uptight, B**CH in front of me is on her phone, ordering and being all around rude.  Suddenly the barista has a questions and asks this woman and she gives her the "one minute finger signal"...keep in mind that there's a line, so the barista just asks again...the woman, now perturbed goes off on the barista.  Uh, NOOOOOO...completely UNACCEPTABLE...especially to MY baristas.  I let the woman in on good and bad etiquette and shared my unsolicited opinion.  She wasn't happy, but I don't think she'll do that again...at least not to MY baristas at MY Starbuck's.  So here again, we have some Type A personality taking their life out on someone who is doing a FAVOR for most of us in the morning.  Really, when you start to work at Starbuck's I would think that you would be saying to yourself...enough Corporate America...I'm working at Starbuck's where the pressure is low and everyone is happy to see me.  WELL, that's how it SHOULD be.  Why are people just mean?  It's honestly a LACK OF RESPECT.  When I was a kid, back in elementary school....really all the way through high school...teachers were given respect.  If I did something wrong at school, I knew that the teacher was going to ...throw an eraser at me, put masking tape over my mouth, paddle me, make me stand with my nose in the corner, etc, etc, etc....  I think you get the point.   ....and if they called my Mom and Dad...ugh...I was in even MORE trouble at home.  My Mom used to say, "If you get in trouble at school and they call home...just wait....it will be WAY worse here."  WOW...and she meant it.  NOW, if the child does something wrong at school, the child just denies it and the parent's get upset with the teachers.  WHA???   What the hell?  Do you think that these people are working at this ridiculously low paid job just for the fun of it?  I don't think so...they want to teach...they want to shape our youth.... but youth today lack RESPECT.  I really hate to say it, but I blame it on the parents...yes....the parents.  Parents these days are SOOOOO worried about being their children's best friend that they forget that they are parents FIRST, friends SECOND.  Parents are so worried about being COOL and being one of the kids, that they have lost touch with their main responsibility...BE A PARENT.  TEACH VALUES.  TEACH - R*E*S*P*E*C*T.  Aretha was right...listen to her!!!  So, "Mr. You Know Who You Are" remember I am your friend, but I am also your (blank).  He knows who I'm talking about.  Stop trying to be Mr. Cool, be humble and have R*E*S*P*E*C*T.