Attitudes

I was at my neighborhood Chipotle yesterday.  I ordered my usual chicken salad, asked for the appropriate additions and then waited patiently for someone to ring me up.  They weren’t that busy, so I didn’t mind waiting for the cashier to finish preparing someone burrito.  As I was standing there, I was taken aback by the customer behind me and his attitude. 

First of all, he never once looked up from his phone.  He never once showed eye contact with the person assisting him in creating his lunch.  Second when the worker asked what he wanted on his burrito, he scoffed at the worker like she should know his “usual” order.  She was clearly new.  (You could tell by the way she carefully rolled the burrito.  The “pros” are pretty quick.)

After his burrito was wrapped, he noticed that no one was at the register.  He mockingly asked, “ So are these free?”  He gave a heavy sigh (so that everyone could hear his frustration) and went back to his phone.  The cashier then came and rang me up.  As she was putting my food in the bag, I was practically pushed out of the way by the man, because he was in such a hurry to be rung up.

As I walked out, I thought, “Wow, what is that guys problem?”  I don’t know the guy personally.  I don’t know his story.  But in the 30 seconds that I watched him, I developed a stigma about him.  I labeled him as a “jerk.”  Maybe he was just having an off day.  Maybe he’s going through a tough time in his life.  I don’t know.  But his attitude gave everyone at Chipotle an impression of who he is.

Too often I have seen Christians have similar attitudes outside of church.  They treat waiters and waitresses with disrespect  at restaurants.  They treat clothing stores like their closets and throw clothes on the floor of the stores.  Whenever I get cut off on the highway, the car, more often than not, has a KLOVE or Ichthys (Jesus Fish) sticker on the rear windshield.

My question to you this week is: What does your attitude say about you?  Does it reflect the attitude of Jesus?  I know it won’t be the last time I go to that Chipotle (it’s dangerously close to the church), but what does my short interaction with the staff say about me?  What does your attitude towards others say about you?  How well do you represent Christ as an ambassador for Him?