As a public servant, I consider it common sense to keep your personal beliefs at home when you are out on a job. Unfortunately, many clients don’t share in this perspective. Last month, I was hired to drive a client’s daughter home from an airport. When I met her at the gate, the daughter introduced herself as “Flame,” and throughout the ride, described in great detail a violent revolution that the Wind Goddess would bring upon the earth. She considered herself a freethinking Wiccan, and she seemed to worship more goddesses than there are snowflakes.
Now, I find it best in situations like these to nod politely and keep my mouth shut. However, I found myself overwhelmingly disturbed by Flame’s insistence that the earth was nothing more than a swirling mass of energy that would soon explode and engulf the sun. Worse yet, my client expected me to drive her daughter around the city on a regular basis whenever she was visiting home. The situation got so extreme that I finally ended up terminating the business relationship once I began to fear for my personal safety; Flame had taken up the practice of lighting ritual soy candles in the backseat, and it was not long before one tipped over and burnt a hole in the cushion.
I feel the need to share this story, because I believe that too many people who work for the public don’t know where to draw the line between uncomfortable and unacceptable. We become so accustomed to putting up with everything that when something truly disturbing comes our way, we do not know how to put an end to it. I just want to put it out there that it doesn’t make you a bad person to say “Enough’s enough.” There is a difference between public service and outright exploitation. Don’t be afraid to put your foot down.
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