Loyalty these days is big business: “you know something’s afoot when corporations appoint vice-presidents of loyalty” and pat themselves on the back at annual “Loyalty Awards”. And most of us are now fluent enough in marketing speak to know that actual loyalty is “the last thing the company is peddling”. What these programmes are really about is “tracking our preferences so that we can be persuaded to buy more, more often”. Indeed, in the modern “shopping-around culture”, the loyalty of ordinary customers “is so despised and penalised” that it is viewed as almost suspect.       The more faithful you are to your insurance company, bank, or Wi-Fi supplier, the worse the treatment you can expect. At the very least, you’ll be overcharged.  Research found that customers staying with their existing insurers pay more for the privilege .  If you don’t shop around you get what you deserve.”    ( Adapted from an article by Anne Karpf, (The Guardian).

Companies have no loyalty to their employees, either. In response, employees ( many on short term contracts) treat their employers with contempt, taking bogus days of sickness, handling private business in company time etc.

What a “culture”!   Riding roughshod over customers and employees in order to boost the profits of the already-rich.  They bully because they can bully with impunity.

Epicureans  recognize that we are all interdependent.  The best way of getting the best out of others is to treat them with respect and  fairness. This means rewarding loyalty where you find it –  or it disappears.