No Longer Taken For Granted

Recently I was a part of a week long orientation for new hire employees at a hospital.It involved people who were going to work at a variety of positions, from housekeepers(now called "enviromental services"),to secretaries,to those in the business office, as well as the kitchen staff and nurses.
I was struck by one portion of this orientation that dealt with being,as they called it,the ideal employee.What was taught, as you will see, were attributes that any "normal" person coming to a job should have,yet,it was obviously felt by those in charge that these behaviors needed to be taught.What prompted me to write about this was the fact that eight months ago,while being part of another orientation,another facility offered instrution on basically the same thing. It began with the importance of being courteous either over the telephone or in person to everyone you encounter while working in the hospital. What? I mean,isn't that a given? Due to the fact that it is a hospital for those who are sick and you are providing a service, isn't courtesy just a natural response when serving those in need and their families? Apparently not. The second thing that was stressed was being responsible. That meant if you were walking through the hospital and someone asked you for help,even if you were on your break or it was unrelated to your work area,you needed to assist that person. Also,if you came upon a wet spot on the floor, you were encouraged to either put out a sign cautioning people or take a towel and wipe it up.Another dealt with the subject of appropriateness in employee appearance. Multiple piercings on the face and ears, as well as tattoos, were not to be displayed by employees.Jeans and low-cut tops were,surprise,surprise, forbidden.The last attribute that was taught came in the area of reliability.The necessity of being on time for work,not calling in sick unless you really were and putting in 8 hours work for 8 hours pay.
Anything strike you as being strange about the above? As I said, aren't these the types of qualities that would be a given for those coming to a job? When I asked the girl running orientation this question she said, "you hope people will come here with these qualities but you can in no way assume that they will."
Well,I'm not that old but I remember a time when people didn't need to be instructed in what I would call proper and concientious behaviour.Sadly though, this is symptomatic of a society that no longer as the character it once had.