BY LEULSEGED WORKU
Dejene Leul, is a young man who is currently engaged in a private firm. For him, receiving or providing services are two sides of a single coin. A person who is providing service somewhere may look for service in another place. In this regard, serving others and treating all service providers with respect and compassion is civilization. We should learn to respect the Shoeshiner the way we respect the CEO of a given firm.
“I have witnessed from my experiences that whenever I treat my customers with respect, they have a tendency of frequenting my firm. They will develop a sense of attachment and promote my service to others. What if, if I act differently? The answer is obvious. No matter how good my service is, if I fail to respect them, I will lose my customers.”
Serving others is the reason why we all are on this planet. But, we should not serve for the sake of serving or because of the salary we earn at the end of the month. We should treat every individual equally and respectfully for the sake of moral virtues, Dejene opined.
Blen Getachew, is a Cluster Supervisor at Haramaya University. For her, serving others with passion cannot be measured by anything. It gives pleasure to the soul. This is especially true when one is engaged in an area s/he enjoys it. For this reason, I serve people with commitment and passion.
According to her, serving others should go beyond the salary that a person earns at the end of the month. “Offering good services to others in a manner I want to be served, gives me energy to serve more. Treating others with respect is the other thing I enjoy it. We should learn that treating people in an equal way and serving them with passion has a reward that cannot be explained in words.” Rekik Wondimagegn, is an Ethiopian born American citizen, who came to her birthplace lately to visit her family.
As she stated, expecting smooth and speedy service, she went to one of the sub-cites in Addis Ababa where the two hours process took two days. She was frustrated and started to curse the whole political system of the country because of her simple case. As a woman with experience of working in the modern world where customers are treated with respect; and requests are handled with care, she went to visit the CEO. However, she was told he will not be available in his office for the coming three days. This frustrated her more.
Serving others with passion and commitment should be the duty of every person, said Rekik. “As long as any employee (from senior management level to low level) is assigned to execute the job he is entitled to accordingly, she/he has a responsibility to perform their business with passion and commitment.
If not, it is better they leave the position to those who can perform with passion. This should not only be practical to the sub-cities where I experienced a hard time; but in all sectors. Providing proper training on customers’ handling and implementing compliment handling techniques should be part of every system not to harm the economic or political system of the country.
Selam Ketema, is the other young Architect and Office Manager, working in one of the private firms here in Addis Ababa. For her, serving others is a double fold blessing. “In one hand, by serving others I can discharge my professional and moral responsibilities. I enjoy seeing people getting satisfied from the service I provided them. On the other hand, while serving others, I am supporting myself as well as my country.”
Serving others with passion and commitment is not only a legal obligation. It also has moral values. Every individual, who gets service at a given place; is also a service provider in another place. In this regard, that particular person should ask himself or herself the question “Am I serving my customers with passion? Am I satisfied with the service I have provided them? If not, what am I doing here? ” The moment a given person asks those questions, s/he would realize both the moral and the legal responsibilities he/ she has.
Serving others needs only readiness and understanding responsibility. Oftentimes, service is mistaken as only “giving”. However, it is as much receiving as it is giving. This exchange is what fuels and sustains the essence of life.
The Ethiopian Herald September 9/2022
