Ah, a new year is upon us! The Seattle sky is cloudy and the air is nice and cold. I ended the year falling asleep well before midnight but woke up refreshed and ready for 2018 to be well, epic. However, for this greatness to happen I personally feel that it is as good a time as any to break some bad habits.

The “new year, new me” mindset has its own soundtrack and has been on repeat since the start of January. The huge big bad habit one can break to help set up the rest of the year right is very important and very simple: don’t be an a**hole.

I have been in the customer service industry ever since I graduated from high school. I worked as a hostess, waitress, and currently, I am employed as a barista. Working in this field made me compassionate for my fellow customer-service-based comrades, just because at a different time of the day the roles will be reversed and I will be the person making your double tall skinny vanilla.

I am not going to lie, there are good days, better days, and days where I just would like to run out the door and scream my head off but because I am working and going to school full time, I cannot afford that luxury.

Now I know what you’re probably thinking, I mean the most obvious suggestion is that I should just quit my job if I hate it so much, right? Well here’s the thing. I don’t necessarily hate my job. I love being able to connect with people I normally wouldn’t, I love my coworkers, and I love that for at least thirty seconds of a day I can make someone’s day just a little bit better.

Even if I am simply caffeinating them.

As with any job, there are perks and there are flaws. Working with people nearly every day, I get it all. I get the parents, I get the people late for work, I get the people who had a long night, the people who will have a twelve-hour work day, I get the people who don’t trust me to do my job correctly, and of course I get the people who forget that underneath my apron and smile I am also a human being.

When I used to serve, I remember literally doing everything right with a table. Sharing laughs, ensuring their food would be out in a prompt manner, grabbing the freshest loaf of bread (I worked at a seafood restaurant) but on a few occasions when I went to go pick up the tip it would not correlate with my performance at all. I remember going over each interaction in my head, trying to figure out where I went wrong and more often than most, I’d quickly have another table to tend to. I’d smile and hope that this new table would be better than the last.

Now, I fully understand bad days. I understand that not everyone will be pleasant at four o’clock in the morning, myself included. I understand that tips aren’t always equivalent to a job well done. But for that epic-ness lets all breakthrough that bad habit!

Growing up in an Asian household, I was never exposed to that idea of being decent to the people who are serving me. I now cringe whenever my mother would talk to our servers as if they are children. I would berate her but unfortunately, my words are only as good as her memory and the culture that she was raised in.

However, for myself, I try my best to be courteous to each and every person who serves me. It’s just something that I have learned through experience, and I am a firm believer in karma.

Now, I do want to point out that YES there are some people in the customer service who are just plain rude. I have bad experiences every now and then but I try and understand where they are coming from, I try to read the atmosphere. If it’s super busy and things are breaking down, I get it. I’ve been there and at the end of the day, a little compassion can go a long way. If someone treats you in a not so friendly manner, don’t pass that negative vibe along! It’s the start of a brand new year, let’s let 2018 be the year of greatness.

Let’s uphold the golden rule: treat everybody the way you would want to be treated and everyone has a wonderful year!