Bad Business Protocol in Our Modern Era = Doesn't Compute

What happened to the days when a small "ma and pa" shop existed where you could ask questions while getting straightforward answers which included eye contact and an authentic thank you? Do you remember a time when you could actually find a friendly cashier to ring up your sale, or an apparently somewhat content and focused aisle employee to help point you in the direction of the frozen broccoli florets? Do you remember the days of the official handshake and follow-up phone call, or God forbid, the forgotten "Thank you card"? It may be hard to believe, but not so long ago people actually served hot (and fresh) coffee to their interviewees and/or newly added employees/co-workers, and maybe even pastries too. I myself remember a time before the total dependency and despondency willfully produced by sitting in front of a computer screen; back before people hurried bleary eyed and half-assed to their power point presentations; back when people actually utilized implements like pens to write statements up. (This may be part of the reason for the obvious lack of general syntax skills found in today's books and magazines, let alone business acumen found in company letters and such).

There is indeed today a lack of general engagement found in the majority of comers and goers at companies everywhere around you. Instead, you can find bunches of hunched over, frappe sipping, homogenized consumerists at Starbucks who have multi-tasking in mind no matter the consequences. And as long as you are "connected" via whatever latest electronic gadget that is supposedly massed produced to make us all better communicators, then you get the stamp of being a "productive" American citizen, right? When exactly did the degrading and impersonal act of firing someone in an email become the way to conduct business? Unfortunately, this seems like the way the masses are cowardly conducting affairs—sue first and ask questions later. Or better yet, send an office shmuck to the dictionaries/and/or lawyers to find the "proper" wording for "I don't know how to say this, but you don't make the mark." Lovely.

Really. Times are hard enough as it is. Do we need mission statements and rulebooks to make ourselves seem more orderly and productive? Maybe what we really need as a nation is to actually look around at the situations we are in and really immerse ourselves in being truly a part of it all, for better or worse. Then perhaps we will view our fellow earth-bound human beings as not just a contact email name for the time being, a sku number, or an inventory control figure. Maybe, just maybe, we are all more than just avoidant iPod/iPhone/ iWhatevah junkies hell bent on looking cool and saving face. Maybe we can look at things as they really are instead of the blurred conceptual images of what is fed to us through our electronic devices, media downloads and business titles. Maybe we can for just once not depend on spell check to write our words and sentences for us. Maybe I am too hopeful that the human animal race is still acting on human impulses and not exclusively electronic and sterile reactionary modern-day "business protocol." I don't know about you, but I would prefer to work for a boss and/or amongst other employees that can talk to you on their own (in person)—those that think and read conscientiously, while still being able to engage in the timeless art of making meaningful eye contact, instead of say, being always hidden and severed off behind the artificial safety wall of a monitor screen.

Don't get me wrong. Technology has taken our modern era to new heights and it is exciting to think of what awaits in future discoveries. I don't diss technology per se; I diss the people that can't see past their entanglements with it. I especially diss those that don't use this abundance of technology for the betterment of society, as well as those who use it as a blanket for their lack of courageous business acumen.