Dear Kitty,

By The Mind Filled on May 16, 2013 • ( 1 )

Dear Kitty,

The other day I went to a national fast food chain to throw some groceries down my neck. I was starving and for some reason (still largely unknown to me because I rarely veer from habit) went inside rather than use the drive thru.

As I mentioned above, I don’t usually mix things up so I knew exactly what I was going to order. It’s the same thing I’ve been ordering for a decade. I did not wander in and even glance with confusion at the menu board; I was a woman on a mission.

It took a minute for the lady running the register to even notice me, which was odd because I wasn’t wearing my “Let’s please pretend I am invisible shirt” and I was the only one standing in front of the counter. Smiling and talking into her little headset, she finally acknowledged me with the little finger gesture that translated to “just a minute.” About 5 minutes later she quickly took my order in between the drive thru guests which seemed to be piling up.

I studied the toys for the kids’ meals as though I was looking at new inventions, counted some floor tiles that I noticed weren’t as clean as it should be and went ahead and self served myself with napkins and extra sauce packets. Anything to keep myself busy while I waited. Ms. Headset and her pal Ms. Salt For The Fries and Mr. Bag Stuffer stayed dutifully busy slinging out drive thru orders. After about 15 orders went out and my fear of being invisible began to edge up, I finally approached the counter and since she was way too busy to speak to me, pointed at my receipt. I got the finger again. I tried to remark casually on the awesome business they were doing to Mr. Bag Stuffer. He didn’t even grant me the courtesy of the finger.

Finally they pushed my To Go bag on the counter and there was that annoying finger again. This time gesturing that this was my meal. There was no “Goodbye” or “come again.” There was only the pressure to get things out that little window as fast as possible to get to the next order.

Social Media people…This made me think of us. Who are we really serving when we out there pushing our words, products or services? There are many who just speed by, grabbing what they can and then continuing on their journey with no second thought of you. Then there are those who put the car in park and come in face to face.

Are we just slinging it out the little window and waiting for the next one? Serving the numbers rather than the individual?

Are we noticing the person who took the time to actually be face to face with us and did we show them how much it meant that they stopped for a while?

Are we interacting or just giving the finger?