The North American Onus Conundrum,

Let me be totally blunt. Many North American companies, institutions, government agencies and service providers are failing at a most basic level of reliability and integrity and in a way you have probably not had it revealed to you before.

True, it may be occurring in other parts of the globe but then point is that we are not as good as we used to be. And that translates into decline … like our currencies, like our reputations, like our credibility on the world stage.

So let me lay it out for you. As a couple of symbiotic nations (Canada and USA) we share the same ethics on most levels so we rise together and often we fall together. To the point, we are talking about people, companies, institutions, government agencies and service providers not taking onus, or ownership for their responsibilities.

If this does not bother you, you are part of the problem. Period.

Service providers typically use this apathy tool as a means of throwing the responsibility for a problem they instigated, back onto the customer. Governments have been doing it for years I prime example the Canadian Post office. Address a parcel with a box number instead of a compartment number n(although it is the exact same box in the exact same location and the postal employee will return your parcel even though it is a small town where everyone knows everyone and the postal employees know exactly who the parcel should go to.... Or mis-spell a word when sending something to the federal government and is the same story, they reject it. It is a mean spirited attitude. It is apathy. It is a disgrace is what it actually is and it is getting worse.

Corporate and government arrogance has convinced the mindless population that to think on their own while practicing ethical and productive behavior is the wrong policy. They rarely teach employees or provide them with an opportunity to practice independent thought for the betterment of all. And like sheep, the docile lamb will acquiesce.

But the bottom line is that by removing the element of independent thought from the workplace workers no longer possess the incentive to take ownership of the work they are paid to do. There appears to be an attitude of indifference and apathy not only towards the customer but towards their job in general.

The key take-away here is the statement… “the work they are PAID to do.” No one is asking for anything free. Just give us the service we have paid for please.

As an example, I recently had a manuscript being edited and upon its return after editing, found not one but many long gaps in sentences where there should have been continuity. They were also multiple indentations where there should not be indentations not rocket science in any way a blind man could have seen these problems. The editors shot it back to me within moments without reading it as if it were my fault they had not proof read their own document. I completed their form as requested but I referenced only the page describing formatting as the problem … but did not give them the line numbers. (apparently referencing the “last” line wasn’t clear enough.) If a layman like myself could see what was obviously totally incorrect why could these professionals not?

The problem is that it was not that they could not see the problem, the problem was that they would not see the problem. By shifting the onus back onto me, any future problems would now be my fault and my failure. And that is despite the fact that I had paid them good money to edit the document completely.

The conundrum exists because we have permitted customer service to lapse to the point that we are surprised if we received good customer service. Suppliers do not want to take responsibility they want to shift blame because they realize their own incompetence. And why are they incompetent? They are incompetent because of the attitude that has permeated business and society (including government.)

In North America especially; and I specify north America only because I do not deal a great deal with the rest of the globe, but in North America I have seen and witnessed over the decades a long backslide of sincerity, moral ethics and job site integrity, to the point that we now through policy, train employees to blame the customer at every opportunity ... for problems we should solve our on our own within our scope of work.

I am not whining or bitching about this. I am revealing and presenting a problem to the readership. When this happens; and it happens to many people every day … most people are sucking it up and tucking their tails between their legs and acquiescing to this bullying by suppliers, by service providers, by government and even social organizations.

Why do we not stand up and speak up to simply receive in good faith what we paid for? I am not talking about being angry and combative. I am talking about receiving full and reasonable value for what we have paid for.

If someone does you a favor you don't complain about what they've done for you for free. (that's looking a gift horse in the mouth as we used to say.) But when we pay for something and let me be clear ... if you're dealing with government at any time… you have paid for every breath they take and every laggard move they make with the amount of taxes we pay. We owe them nothing and yet their service is deplorable on many and most occasions. Don’t get me started on that.

And don't look at this article with a dumb or blank stare on your face because this problem exists in many forms and formats. Try to cancel a subscription some time. If you do not jump through nine or ten hoops in their process to end the subscription payments, it won't be canceled and you will continue to be charged long after you believed it was completed. When you complain about the unfair charges they will tell you that you did not complete hoop number sixty two and thus it is your fault that the subscription continued. You bought the subscription with one click of the mouse.

Try to cancel a credit card. Even though you have requested to know the exact balance before paying it, even after the payment has been made precisely by their instruction; there will often be another charge the next month. When you call and ask about it they will blame you for not canceling it on the right day of the month or in the proper cycle.

What about ordering things online where you simply want a single purchase and yet they continue to auto renew the order every month billing you each month for product you do not want. When you call to complain they will say well you didn't see that teeny tiny box that you must check on a different page so obscure it is ridiculous to see. Again this is your fault.

There are many, many occasions on this continent where persons and departments and companies and corporations are training staff to find ways to avoid the responsibility of caring for the customer deliverables, to place the blame upon the customer for their own failure to do the jobs they are paid to do.

This is not my imagination this is a reality and it is increasing daily. And I wish you weren't part of the problem but you are. By not pushing back you are enabling these acts of indifference and resistance. By not speaking up in a polite but firm manner you are encouraging more of this behavior. By complaining to your spouse and kids instead of the agency abusing you, you are condoning the failures.

You will complain loudly and clearly to your spouse, to your mate to your family to your friends to everyone else within earshot or texting range and yet you will not speak up or speak back to the perpetrator of the problem. Why not? The old adage holds true if you are not part of the solution then you are part of the problem.

Personal ownership and integrity in business in this generation has waned to what we now see around us. It is a blame game. Very few people or organizations will stand up for their actions unless they endure monetary loss or gain in some way. Your loss must be endured… by you. Honor in the typical workplace is a joke.

We hear of this happening to other people and think little of it until it happens to us. Why are we when we know we are guilty of the practice, turning our heads away? We all encounter stupid and non nonsensical rules and policies in the workplace created by anonymous persons who do not do the work. Isn’t it time we stood up in defense of the customer … and the worker?

Many people love to hide behind the backstop of bureaucracy. We have allowed policies and procedures, rule books and ridiculous guidelines to cloud our sense of common sense, we forfeit kindness, efficiency and obligation rather than complete our tasks to the best of our ability when we know we can, despite the asinine rules.

We are a continent grooming a mindset of apathy on many levels. But that's another story. We don't deserve to be bullied by the likes of government be it Federal, provincial, state, or municipal levels. We don't deserve to be bullied by corporations, bosses, private companies, service providers and vendors of all sorts especially since, we have paid for the services we are soliciting.

So don't just read this article and nod your head and mutter under your breath how true it is and then turn the page and read the funny papers. Take ownership of the situation and discuss this with your friends and family with business partners with those in your circle and next time you are put on the spot where they are making you do their work for them and tossing the blame onto your shoulders, speak up, speak out speak loudly enough to be heard without being abusive of course, and push back. It starts with a single person saying “No, this isn’t acceptable.”

That is one way to combat this Goliath of service failures in our society.