I ran across this Amish woman and it was remarkable the eye contact with the camera she had. I realized that this was true of other Amish people I had meet.
Once I had the fortune to visit Lancaster and it was a great experience. What made it great was that Amish people were so friendly and comfortable with us non-Amish people and did everything they could to make us feel comfortable. In fact some of them took extra effort to be friendly.
Yes of course they know that tourism is a big part of their economy and life. Still they graciously and genuinely connected and seemed to care for my well being. An example. At one of the markets the Amish woman was making what looked like delicious juice combination drinks. I went up and asked her if she could make one that didn’t have milk since I am allergic to it. She looked concerned and said yes of course. She washed her blender and then carefully made me a drink. It was delicious. It was like I was treated like a family member, and that warmth was wonderful to feel.
Many, many Amish vendors were warm and went above and beyond normal customer service. If I lived in Lancaster I would only support Amish vendors. The obvious care that they show comes through and the prices just are criminally low. They don’t charge enough for their service which they see as normal and typical. For that drink above, I think she charged $1.75 and I gave her a big tip. Something like that in any normal vendor would be at least $5-10.
They had Amish restaurants and I ate at those as well. It was a challenge because they cook with lots of cheese and milk, but when I told the server I was allergic she treated me like a family member and said she personally made sure that no dairy was included. She was right. I didn’t have any problems after eating what she served me and I would definitely return.
If you want to know how far customer service has turned and become insincere, visit an Amish community. They show you that everyone deserves respect even if they believe we are not going to heaven. Treating your enemies with kindness is a gift that everyone can learn from.