The Tribune

By DIANE PHILLIPS

Until I picked up the paper the other day and saw the bold, two-line deep, six columns across headline ‘The Tribune Mourns the loss of dedicated long-time employee Althea Scantlebury’ I had no idea what she looked like.

Was she black, brown, white? Bahamian? Ex-pat, Bahamian married to an ex-pat? Old Young? The truth is I had never given Althea Scantlebury a thought, yet she had been part of my life for years delivering the morning paper faithfully.

All I knew was that every holiday season, there would be a day when The Tribune arrived with a small white envelope and her name on the front of it. I’d put cash or a cheque (in the days when we used paper cheques) inside and she would collect it, either from the house or the Tribune office. Scantlebury delivered The Tribune every day, five days a week, to my driveway for 15 or 17 years - that’s minimum 3,900 times she performed a pre-dawn task that made my life easier or better informed and I never even knew her.

I never knew what she looked like or stood for or how hard it must have been for her to maintain her route when she had severe vision problems and needed assistance or when her car broke down and she had to rent a vehicle rather than let customers down. I never knew until she died and the story in the paper that she had faithfully delivered all these years told her story.

I felt ashamed.

REACHING OUT

And sorry, sorry that I had not taken the trouble to at least reach out to her and thank her for her dedication, not just in a note with a token gift at Christmas but a real thank you with a phone call or flowers or something that acknowledged her humanity.

And that got me to thinking about how many people make our lives better in some way, people we don’t take the time to get to know or to thank, people we don’t stop to hail or just wish them a happy day. Like the men who collect the garbage every week. How many are there, driving or riding on those large open rigs with a distinctive fragrance from loading and lugging remnants of what we no longer need. Yet, I realised, we very much need the people who dispose of it. I had no idea – were there a dozen working the city streets, two dozen?

Couldn’t be that many given the size of the island and the competition among waste management companies. I called Managing Director Franny deCardenas at Bahamas Waste. How many employees do you have who collect garbage? I asked. “You mean driving or riding one of the trucks?” he asked. “Yes, in any capacity that has to do with collecting the garbage,” I replied. “Give me a minute,” he said, “and I’ll whatsapp you.” In seconds, I had the answer. 70.

That’s 70 people plus all the others from other companies who help make life better or easier or safer. How do we thank them? How do we let them know that we they do matters? Let’s be real. We are not going to order flowers for all the sanitation workers of The Bahamas. But there must be a way for all of us to find the time, the right moment and means by which to say thank you.

How do we thank the people who care for a terminally ill patient or pick stray dogs up off the streets or take food to the hungry under the bridge at Potter’s Cay in the dark of night? How do we acknowledge those people whose everyday role is to make our everyday easier for us – the people in our lives who add to our lives, the people we do not know?

Maybe it is not that difficult after all. Maybe it’s as simple as stopping to recognize someone on the street for their service. Or going outside early enough to catch the newspaper delivery person and say thanks for going to the place where this was printed in the dark of night and waiting for the bundle.

I know I can get the news online and what you hold in your hands will be replaced by something newer in a matter of hours but what you do cannot be – I just wanted you to know you are appreciated. Maybe it is that simple.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

Senator Randy Rolle who wears the somewhat general title of Global Relations Consultant was recently moved from a post at Tourism where he was responsible for spearheading downtown Nassau revitalisation to a new position at the Consumer Protection Agency. Rolle wasted no time. In two weeks, he showed he meant business. He released figures and a report, pointed a finger at offenders who consistently top the list of complaints, shipping companies and contractors and said consumers would soon feel more empowered by knowing their rights. Good for Senator Rolle. Victims of shippers who raise or even double prices after signing a contract – not an estimate, a contract - should be aware they will be held to the contract they signed or face the consequences.

It will be interesting to see what happens when consumers take complaints, like those surrounding real property tax, to consumer affairs. We wait with bated breath and wish Rolle all the success in the world as he takes on a role that can make a difference to everyone who lives, works or plays in The Bahamas, For too long warranties and guarantees were someone else’s problem and substandard work was supposed to be swallowed like bitter medicine to make you better or smarter the next time around.

Thank you to the OPM for making consumer protection a priority. It will be interesting to watch how real property tax, health care and health insurance are handled.