You Are Not A "Clearance" Item

"You are not a throw away object, don't let people treat you like one. You are precious, irreplaceable, there's no one like you. There's a price over your head and it reads 'expensive', people like you don't come cheap, so don't sell out or give yourself away."

~ Red Light Runners Anonymous

THANK YOU CUSTOMER SERVICE PROFESSIONALS

A note of sincere thanks and gratitude to customer service, technical support, sales and any other position that deals directly with customers.
Those of you who are straightforward, sincerely helpful, respectful and genuinely courteous toward customers are the ones who are holding up their place of business. Customers are all of us. Rude and arrogant direct customer service employees (and departments run by rude, arrogant management) turn simple, neutral questions and tasks into great labyrinths, hoop jumping, and dramatic episodes. When we have to deal with disrespect, dishonesty, condescension, smoke and mirrors, and arrogant incompetence, it literally makes our day more stressful and our goals more difficult to meet. It raises our levels of certain chemicals such as adrenaline and cortisol, which corrode our bodies and change our hormonal balance, and impacts our mental ability making other tasks harder for us even if we don't realize it.
The customer is the reason the company exists, not the other way around. 
So after dealing with jerk after smoke-blower after snotty attitude, when we happen upon an actual professionally-minded employee who's doing their job with genuine courtesy and respect, it's like the sun coming out after a week of rain storms.
Unfortunately in this current era there seems to be a whole lot of terrible customer service, why they keep their jobs is a mystery to me, except for the fact that managers tend to hire people who are like themselves, especially if they're arrogant and cliquey, and will find a way to fire those who "outshine" them in some way.
All that being said, if you deal directly with customers, and you're one of those people who are consistently respectful, courteous, and genuinely helpful toward customers (not just toward who you happen to like)~ THANK YOU! 
Your lone pleasant, honest, real voice can make a day more pleasant for one customer, but it can also be the one beacon of hope and relief in another customer's life. Please keep doing what you're doing, and know that it really is YOU who is keeping good customers coming back, and who puts the face of COMPETENCE on the business you represent.