Ms. Jo

 Josephine Brown, often just called “Jo”,  the first Black woman to chair the Wichita Board of Education in the 1970’s, died this past December 31 at age 96.  She won the seat during a time when the Wichita school system still had not fully implemented the Brown vs Board of Education directive to fully integrate the schools.

According to a KAKE news piece, Brown served during a pivotal time in the early 1970s as Wichita Public Schools faced pressure to desegregate and address inequities in education. Her daughter, Sheila Kinnard, said her mother spent her life advocating for fairness, community involvement and change.

Ms. Brown’s advocacy for equality didn’t end when her time on the school board ended.  Mark McCormick, in an editorial in the Kansas Reflector, said this about Brown:  “In a society expecting her to dim her light, Mrs. Jo set the night sky ablaze with searchlights.  When she confronted the yet lingering vestiges of that era, at a bank or a store, she would correct them as she might one of her tiny students.  Firmly but gracefully.”

“You don’t pay AND beg, baby,” she told me once.

This is Jay.  Think about that last line.  “You don’t pay AND beg, baby.”  I’m not a minority.  I’m as Caucasian as can be.  So what follows is in no way part of a racial issue.  Yet, even now, for me, sometimes I feel like I have to beg someone to provide the service that I either have already paid for or will be paying for.  Have you felt the same way sometimes?

Customer service is often non-existent or so difficult to come by that it takes a herculean effort to get anything done.  The automated answer is standard anymore, if there is even a phone number to call.  Pressing “0” doesn’t always get a live voice.  Emails aren’t answered.  Promises made when someone DOES contact “customer service” are not kept.  Send in this form.  FAX this in to us and we’ll take care of it.  Email us a copy of your receipt.  And on and on it goes.

“You don’t pay AND beg, baby.”

Even when dealing with someone in person it isn’t always easy to get something done.  Insurance, medical care, and government seem to be the biggest problem areas, but it’s really all over.  People who DO answer the phone are often in India or Cambodia speaking broken English from a script provided by their computer.

“You don’t pay AND beg, baby.”

So, what do you do?  You become persistent.  You do business with those who will meet your need for service.  Local and smaller is often  better.  If the business is within driving distance, go to that business rather than continuing to send emails and playing phone tag.  Determine you will receive an answer when you go, and keep at it until you do.

“You don’t pay AND beg, baby.”

Let me tell you a story from my files.  Some time ago I had the need to see a cardiologist at a cardiology clinic in Wichita.  The doctor recommended I wear a Holter monitor…a device that records various functions of the heart, for 24 hours.  I agreed.  When I checked out the monitor, I had to sign a form saying that if I didn’t bring it back in good condition that I would be liable for $1,500 reimbursement.  I agreed, and signed.

When I brought the monitor back to the office a couple of days later, I asked for a receipt showing that I had brought the monitor back.  The woman at the desk told me that they didn’t give receipts for monitors.  I repeated my request.  She repeated her response.  I repeated my request a third time.  She repeated her response a third time.

Then we just looked at each other for about 30 seconds…I assume she thought I would leave.  I didn’t.  I then said that I had to sign a paper saying I was liable for the monitor unless it was brought back, and I wasn’t going to leave until I had a receipt saying it was brought back.  Then I repeated my request, “I need a receipt showing that I brought the monitor back to the clinic.”  I remained in control, barely, and polite, barely, but firm.

“You don’t pay AND beg, baby.”

She said, “Just a minute,” and went to the back.  She came back out in a few minutes, hand-wrote a receipt, signed and dated it, and gave it to me.  I thanked her and told her the clinic needed to do this for all returns.  When I saw the doctor a few days later to review the monitor’s findings, I relayed the story to him.  I have no idea if they have begun to give receipts or not.  I do not plan on checking out another monitor, and in fact canceled the appointment I had a couple of months ago to do that very thing.

You don’t pay AND beg, baby.”

As an aside, don’t worry about my canceling that appointment…my primary care physician, following review of my medical record, tells me the testing was not necessary at this time.  I would never do anything to intentionally jeopardize my health in that way.

So, I hope you remember this little sentence that carries incredible meaning.  “You don’t pay AND beg, baby.”  Be polite.  Be controlled.  But be persistent.  Be insistent.  Don’t settle for less than what you paid for.  Whether you’re black, brown, white or something else…whether you’re a man or woman, young or old, rich or poor, rural or urban, it doesn’t matter.  Insist on good service.  Hold those you do business with accountable.  Ms Jo would be pleased.

Blessings…