Bermuda 2006
I've written before about the beautiful islands of Bermuda. I enjoy the people, the landscape, the culture, the history. I always learn something from my trips to Bermuda, whether about people or places or myself. This trip we stayed at a new hotel. This hotel was fancier than our previous hotels so I was a little concerned that I would miss the rustic Bermuda bench, my favorite spot in previous trips. At this hotel, there would be no regular interaction with taxi drivers, hotel workers, fellow visitors. However, I still learned or was reminded of a few things.
I always enjoy observing people and, while I didn't see as many people this trip, I was still impressed by how little people change in their basic character. The people I did talk to were mostly people I've known for years and these people, people who were impressive, reliable, honest, cheerful, intelligent many years ago, are the same today. The passage of years, successes and failures, good times and bad times don't change people. Sometimes people, as in the hotel workers we deal with, put on a public face that may or may not represent their real face, but the real face doesn't change. Once you know someone to be a good person you can rely on that completely. (It's also true once you know someone to be a bad person but I choose not to look at that dark side of people.) It's important that we learn who to trust but once we do we can trust them forever.
I value good service. I also value the delivery of a good product but good service is the most important thing to me. I've often said at my favorite restaurant that if the same servers would be willing to help me I would be happy with a peanut butter sandwich. Because of this emphasis on service I look at servers and try to imagine their lives and the training it takes to enable them to provide good service. Bermuda is a model of service and, especially because of the transient nature of some of its workforce, it must also be a model of training. It's not easy to instill a "service attitude", the attitude that indicates a firm belief that the customer's enjoyment is the most important product sold. It's not easy for a server who possesses that attitude when a customer doesn't appreciate it. Let's try to value good service and give enormous respect to those who give it. It will create circle of respect and ever-improving service.
Finally, I was struck by aspects of my fellow passengers on the return trip. Because of the East Coast blizzard, we passed through a different airport than our normal transit point. I was struck by the feeling of camaraderie but I was also struck by how different I am in my desire to adhere to the rules. Some of the nicest people I met were proud of their ability to ignore rules and, in fact, those people became minor heroes to some of my fellow travelers. I continue to believe in rules, that rules are made for our protection and to smooth the inevitable frictions of travel.
Trust the trustworthy, appreciate the efforts of others and try to follow the rules. No big messages this week but messages worth giving nonetheless.
2-20-06
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