I recently stood in a coffee shop stirring copious amounts of sugar into my cappuccino, when I became aware of a conversation between two of the coffee shop employees.  I only caught the English bits, especially the somewhat surprising use of “motherf#$%%”, which made me pay attention.

What I gleaned was that the man wanted to leave early, “but do you think the mofos [my edit] would let me go?!” They were understaffed that day, it seems. The lady sympathised with a, “Ja, we never complain when we have to stay late or come in early for their meetings.”

Through all of this I was standing on the other side of the counter. Two arms’ lengths from them. But to them I was invisible; I did not exist. They had given me my coffee and I promptly disappeared from their reality.

In that moment I wondered whether I was seeing Sybil Stershic’s quote in action. Was I invisible to the coffee shop employees, because they are invisible to their employer? Those people and their meetings?

Maybe Sybil had a point.

"The way your employees feel is the way your customers will feel. And if your employees don't feel valued, neither will your customers."--Sybil F. Stershic