After reading about the levels of customer disservice recently received by two very visible—and very vocal—meeting professionals, MaryAnne and Joan, I have to wonder what is going on. I know the economic fallout on most of us, and particularly those in low-wage jobs, is an increasingly overworked and overstressed workforce, but there’s just no excuse for all the rudeness and just-don’t-care-itude (I know, not a word) I’m hearing about lately.

While training may be able to help some, it comes down to having an attitude of service, or the lack thereof. If you truly believe, as I do in my job, that you’re there to help, then you try to help to the best of your ability. If you’re just there to earn a paycheck, eh, why bother?

As I commented on Joan’s post, there is something fundamentally wrong with an organization’s culture when being unable and/or unwilling to try to retrieve a guest’s package is seen as normal, rather than mortifying.

Service should be in the DNA of a hotel (um, this is still the hospitality business, no?), not peripheral, not optional depending on the mood or time of day or who’s in house that day, not something that you need to be trained to do, because a truly service-oriented organization hires for that service attitude and trains on tasks, not the other way around.

I know we’re all stressed, and overworked, or out of work and scared, or going through whatever it is we’re going through. But that’s no excuse to stop caring about the people around us and, for those of us whose jobs entail customer service, servicing the customers or, if we can’t get them what they want, at least empathizing and doing our best to assuage the pain our ineptitude is causing them. This ain’t rocket science, folks.

The latest issue of Wired had a great travel section. It includes things like a fabulous time versus money column along with the marginal utility curve (tracks bang for the buck of things from a ride on the Staten Island Ferry to zero-gravity flight); how to plan your trip like an engineer; and a handy chart that plots out where each airline stands with things like baggage fees, typical economy seat pitch, and flight delays. I also like their travel app suggestions (Google translate, yes!), and their advice on how to site, eat, and sleep well on the road. Just a great roundup of travel tips and tidbits.

And speaking of tips, the New York Times took on one of my biggest travel woes: The inability to sleep on an airplane. While it doesn’t really come up with any solutions (for me, anyway), I did learn a few things. If you can sleep on a plane—without drugs or copious quantities of liquor—I’d love to know your secret!