Being Polite Shouldn't Be Hard

By CHARLES M. GUTHRIE
Of the editorial/opinion page staff
published by the StarTribune
October 31, 1965


  SMALL BUSINESS deserves to survive. If and when we reach the point where the big and brassy restaurant, grocery and gas station chains have buried the small, independent entrepreneur, much charm will have left the American scene.


   If you can't drop in at the corner grocery for a loaf of bread and some conversation, if Joe's hardware and  Nelson's Drug have bowed to a four-acre merchandising complex that has everything but the personal touch, you are going to find shopping less fun and loafing spots less available.
   More and more small operators are knuckling under, shaking their heads at the inevitability of it all, wishing they'd had the foresight to go to work for the gas company instead of trying to buck the system, and bowing resignedly to an unyielding fate.

   YET FATE IS NOT entirely out of their hands. Nobody can precisely pilot his ship of destiny against the present waves of uncertainty, but he can abandon some irrational practices which are washing him toward the economic reefs.
   For one thing, he can be courteous and insist on courtesy by his employees. This is a commodity that costs nothing and which should be expended lavishly. It pays fat returns. But the fellow who fills your gas tank is often brusque and uncommunicative and the clerk who sells you the nails sometimes gives the impression that you've imposed on him.

   There is one drug store I keep out of for fear the boss will wait on me. He's a nice enough person but always clerks with a cigar in his face. Some of my best friends smoke cigars but I don't care to be enveloped in fog while getting a bottle of shaving lotion. A friend of mine went forth to buy a color television set the other day and didn't buy one at a certain store because the clerk perfumed the air with cigarette smoke while waiting on him. How unwary can a salesman be?
   My wife and I recently took lodging for the night in a Wisconsin motel and decided to eat at a nearby cafe. It was an unfortunate decision. The food was no good and the service was so bad as to defy belief.
   The lone waitress finally tore herself away from the jukebox long enough to wander over listlessly with menus. We had to ask for water. When you have to ask for water you know you're in the wrong place. You can anticipate no gastronomic delight.

   BUT WHAT MYSTIFIED us more than the indifferent food was the hostile attitude of the waitress. When my wife asked if she could have a glass of iced tea the gal said "no." Not "I'm sorry, we have none" but a cold and unadorned "no."
   Somehow we had spoiled this babe's day. We shall continue to wonder what activates the mind of such a person, but we won't go there again. I predict that the next time we pass that way the  place will be out of business or under new management. And if the proprietor wants to know why he failed I can tell him.
   There's seldom such stupidity in a chain operation. Bigness dulls contact with the customers. The employees haven't much time for jokes and small talk. But the patron usually finds smiles and courtesy--and is made to feel welcome.

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