Letter: ‘Walk a mile or two in their shoes’

Published 12:03 pm Monday, June 8, 2020

To the Editor:

With all due respect I must take issue with Mr. Colbeth’s criticism of the various store clerks in John Day and surrounding communities in a previous letter to the editor. Perhaps if I were to buy a gallon of milk should I expect the clerk to suggest I purchase a glass to pour it in?

I would like to point out what many of the folks who wait on us at cash registers, gas pumps and restaurant tables are really dealing with. I, for one, don’t want to have to wear a mask and stand behind a plexigass screen all day waiting on an oftentimes impatient public.

More times than not I have had a polite exchange with clerks, administrative personnel and waiters or waitresses asking me “Is there anything else I can get for you or help you with?” I find this especially true in our small community.

Perhaps in these days of social stress and impersonal mass media venues, we should take a moment to pause and reflect on what the person who is tirelessly waiting on the rest of us in a public business environment deals with on a daily basis. Walk a mile or two in their shoes. Give them the respect a fellow citizen is due.

Dan Maynard

John Day