Is Your Business' Glass 'Half Full' or 'Half Empty'?

I stood in front of an employee at a service business recently and expressed my total frustration over how bland the service was.
It was not terrible but it lacked any sense of commitment in serving me, the paying customer. This person then judged my attitude and said, "I prefer to see the glass at half full, not half empty like you."
I have faced this type of judgment before. It's one-upmanship to claim that they have a better attitude than you. It took a while to reflect on why they missed the point.
Seeing the glass as 'half full' and feeling smug is accepting the status quo as the acceptable norm. I then summed up my feeling by saying, "The issue is not whether the glass is half full or half empty. Perhaps the issue is that I can see twice as much opportunity to serve customers as you."
Here are some questions that you can consider based on deconstructing this cliche.

Why is the glass only half full?
I see two reasons why the glass is only half full: complacency or challenge.
Complacency is about protecting the status quo. In a year when we are being challenged by major financial pressures from around the world, can you afford complacency? Challenge is about seeing the potential for more growth or development and setting big goals.

Is the glass slowly filling or draining?
Nothing is static. Water evaporates. We must keep investing to top it up. In business this can reflect the level of training you provide staff, their ability to work together effectively to achieve the goals of the business, the value you create for your customers and so on. Yesterday's standards will not likely be tomorrow's standards.