Employers across America, I beseech you, please refrain from selecting black people to fill your customer service positions. Unfortunately, customer service happens to be a skill lacking among black people. (Before you write rhyming Jesse or telephone permed Al Sharpton, there are exceptions to every rule and I am not the Creator. I do not speak in absolutes.)
Allow me to share with you some anecdotal evidence. The other day I telephoned a physician's office regarding a prescription with the intent of having the physician or a nurse respond to my inquiry. When I called, Shaquandalika (my standard name for these types--because their multi-syllabic names are always something identically or nearly that repulsive) answered. I knew it was she because I'd just met her at the office a couple of days prior and witnessed, in person, her less than courteous manner. Well, when I called and explained very politely that I would like to have a nurse return my call, she asked which nurse. I told her that it didn't matter (this is a specialty practice, not a clinic or urgent care center for whatever ails you). She abruptly responded, "Yes it does matter too ma'am." I suppose the "ma'am" was intended to assuage my discontent. What she should have asked is what physician I had seen or stated that nurses work alongside specific physicians (which would have been a stretch of the truth, but far more professional than her response).
This is just too much. The previous receptionist was a very polite and professional woman who happened to be caucasian. This is not to say that all blacks are impolite or that all caucasians are polite. It is only to say that polite service from someone black has become the exception and not the rule. Another example, my mother visited my brother's school and encountered the office attendant with one hand in a chip bag (I've come to find this standard practice among most black women working a "desk" job.) My mother inquired about contact information for a faculty member and the attendant asks my mother for the person's email stating "Come on now, you supposed to help me out." Seriously?? The lack of professionalism among blacks, particularly those who loosen what little professionalism they have even more when the customer is black is disappointing and appalling. Needless to say, due to such experiences, I often cringe when a black person is the only one available to assist me fully expecting to receive hood service. I'm rarely disappointed.
