re·spect

noun

1.esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or ability: I have great respect for her judgment.
2.deference to a right, privilege, privileged position, or someone or something considered to have certain rights or privileges; proper acceptance or courtesy; acknowledgment: respect for a suspect’s right to counsel; to show respect for the flag; respect for the elderly.
3. the condition of being esteemed or honored: to be held in respect.

Respect is a funky word usually associated with emotional outward feelings of admiration, glory or submission. One does not need to be liked to be respected. Respect earns respect, higher salaries, faster promotions, an office with a view and a personal assistant, home cooked meals and an occasional lick from a dog.

But, when it is slow to acknowledge, or omitted at a time when it is most important, lack of Respect can be the catalyst of horrific wars.

Respect is fickle and fleeting as are the people we encounter. Those who love you at first may demand your head in the gallows thirty seconds later. If you don’t respect me, I’m not going to respect you or I’ll pretend to respect you if I get that office, without the view but with the personal assistant.

I have yet to figure out Respect’s presence in the workplace. There is definitely a grey area and most likely the few who deserve it are obscure by the ones who definitely don’t.  Good acting skills are required in order to spend eight hours of our day in co-existence with people we’d never socialize with outside of work. Of course having a semi-private office with a door and lock helps tremendously with the figuring out.

There was a time back in the day when Respect was earned. Hard work, diligence, attention to detail, not sweating the small stuff was enough to get just about anybody a little respect. But Respect under the lull of fluorescent lights, claustrophobic cubicles wedged amongst Xeroxes and fax machines, has changed.  The dynamics of Respect is lost within the caustic vapors of the Xerox toner cartridges.

It is emotionally difficult to respect co-workers from hell especially those in need of a serious exorcism.  How do you exude admiration, adoration, and submissive behaviour from being in the company of greatness, towards someone you’d rather kick? How fast can I run under a desk when my lack of Respect towards a co-worker, has been outted by my facial expression of disgust and eye rolling at their ghetto way of talking?

There is no employee manual on the usage of Respect nor are we at birth infused with the Respect juju.
A slight given is a slight taken. You step on my suede shoes, I’ll step on yours.

Our world would be such a nice place to hang out in if Respect was held in the same esteem as a Play Station console.