In 1978, Bob Seger wrote the song “Feel Like a Number”. In it, he talks about how insignificant he feels in all aspects of life. His refrain shouts out “I’m not a number. Dammit, I’m a man!”. Those lyrics still ring true today. In fact, I would contend that they are even more true today than they were then. Perhaps Bob Seger is not just a great songwriter and singer. Perhaps he was a foreteller of the future as well.

I had to fly for business travel this past week. I saw flights that had only about one hundred physical seats overbooked by twenty people. How does an airline consistently overbook flights by 20% and get away with it? How do those twenty people sitting in that airline terminal feel? Waiting – and dare I say, hoping – to see if someone doesn’t show up for their flight. Or that someone is running late and will miss their flight. Think about this – the only way one of those people will be fortunate enough to get on that plane is if somebody else is misfortunate enough to miss their flight. The flight that both people have paid for, but only one of them will get to take.

I ate in a restaurant where we had called ahead to tell them we’d have a party of twelve people. When we arrived, we were squeezed around three small square tables pushed together. There were literally five people on each side, squeezed into space usually occupied by three people at the most. Why would the restaurant do this when they could have made us more comfortable by simply pushing one more table onto the end to create enough room for everyone? Because they could seat another party of up to four people at that additional table and make more money that evening. Even though they automatically added a gratuity onto our bill because we had a larger party. To make matters worse, we had only one server who was also waiting other tables. Apparently, the kitchen was understaffed because the time between the first meals being served and the last meal being served was at least fifteen to twenty minutes.

A few weeks ago, I decided to try ordering a pair of pants from a company that claimed to fit better than normal pants you buy at the store. They weren’t any more expensive, so I decided to give it a try. I ordered only to find they fit as poorly as every other pair of pants. I’ve been ordering from the Internet for years and from catalogs for years before that. This company requires you to call and talk to a live person to request a return authorization. Of course, that live person’s job is to talk you into ordering another pair in another size or color or whatever your objection is. When I replied that I just wanted to return them and have my money refunded, they reluctantly sent me a return label via email. I immediately sent the pants back. A week after I knew they were delivered, I still had not been credited with my refund. I called the company who told me the credit had been issued the day before (a week after they received them back in stock) and that it could take seven to ten business days after the credit is issued to show up on my credit card. When I ordered the pants online, it took them minutes for the charge to show up on my credit card. When I return the pants, it takes a week to issue the credit and then another week to two weeks to see it on your credit card.

These are only three instances of times in the past week where I felt that I was being treated like a number instead of a human being. Why are we treated this way? And even more important, why do we accept being treated this way? Sometimes there is no recourse. But sometimes there is. Will I order from the pants company again? No. There are many other places that I can shop at. Will I eat in that restaurant again? No, there are many other restaurants I can eat in. Will I fly that airline again? Yes, probably. Why? Because our choices are limited. Because airlines have semi-monopolies on flights to specific areas. If you want to fly to Charlotte, NC, you are probably going to fly American Airlines. If you are going to fly to Atlanta, you are probably going to fly Delta. Are there other airlines that fly there? Yes. Are the flights convenient and affordable from where you are coming in from? Maybe. Maybe not.

How and when will we get back to treating people as individual human beings. It seems we get farther and farther away with each passing day. We cannot completely control how large corporations treat us. But we can control how we interact with each individual person we encounter. It may not feel good when you are waitlisted for a flight you thought you had a seat on. Or when a restaurant doesn’t give good customer service. Or when a company delays returning your money even when you have returned their product. But hopefully we have more interpersonal interactions on any given day than we have corporate interactions.

If you see me on the street, smile and say hello. I’ll smile back at you and say hello as well. Let’s try it. What could it hurt? Now sing it with me: “I’m not a number!”