Are Expectations an Expression of Privilege?

While I was cutting a client's hair recently, she told me that her cleaning lady had to come back after finishing her work because she had dripped something on the carpet that had lightened it. My client said she felt like she was using her privilege and that she felt bad for having the woman come back out and fix the damage she'd done. Another client told me that when she ordered food, the delivery drivers kept delivering it to the wrong address, but she didn’t want to complain because she didn’t want to act privileged, and this was probably the only job the driver could get. In each instance, I was shocked at the ridiculousness of the reaction of the person in the right.

People need to do their jobs properly. If they don’t, they lose them. Knowing that there are consequences if they don’t do their jobs well is one way people become better employees. The government is a good example of how jobs without the possibility of getting fired impact their employees and those they serve. Many people who work in the government know they won’t lose their jobs no matter how badly they do them or how unprofessional their attitudes are.

These issues persist because we have taken the idea, which is legit in very limited circumstances, of "privilege" and how to address it too far. I will not foster this crappy work ethic in others simply because I’m white and I have a good job. If you don’t do your job, I will call you out on it just like I get called out on it, which is part of why I do my job well and treat my clients with respect and care. This is how you help people grow as employees and become decent hard working people, not by allowing them to stay stuck in the half-ass gutter!

I’ve been the manager of my hair salon now for more than seven years. The first day I was a manager I had to fire somebody and I was very uncomfortable because I did not understand the reason I was firing her. But I still did what my bosses told me. From then on, every person I fired deserved to be fired. After firing one person, one of my coworkers said they felt sorry for her because she had children, and my response was she knew she had children, which should’ve dictated how she did her job, but it didn’t. Because she felt entitled to a job because people kept telling her she deserved a job even if she didn’t do it well by choice. Once again, this is not how you help people. This is how you leave them stuck! Lowering expectations may be temporarily easier for the one in charge but is not for the best of the employee or customer.

Human-written, AI spell-checked 3/27/21 AD

Image from Robin Higgins at Pixaby