Spring Break
Identity vs. anonymity
Jason M. Wallace
Issue date: 9/4/08 Section: Opinion
Since my junior year of high school, I have gone through six different jobs at six different locations. Being an opinion writer is currently the sixth. The writing jobs I have are the most rewarding. The pay has not in any way been sustainable, but the identity as a writer, a fond dream of mine, pays the bills for career-building morale. Although I have the great satisfaction of doing something I have always wanted to do, my primary job is being a clerk.
A clerk must adhere to a designated dress code, a subordinate attitude and the wearing of a nametag. A company giving me a name tag always reminds me of the scenes in prison movies when the fresh fish inmates are stripped of their individuality and given a long number to memorize as their new name.
My nametag still reads the name that everyone calls me by, but combined with the same blue button up shirt and look of entrapment as everyone else in the restaurant kitchen. The world around me suddenly shrinks. I am not against doing my job under nametags. I am only puzzled by why my nametag only serves as keeping a list of slip-ups with customers and co-workers. Being a cashier, a bagger and a waiter once before, I have realized that having a nametag is a perfect way to possibly build a bad reputation outside the job for doing work that usually is not applied in the real world. I do not feel alone in saying that clerks and job titles of that sort attract customers who are born to destroy.
Anyone with a clerk history has enjoyed the experience of dealing with very annoying people but at the same time resisting the urge to snap. Any break in the subordinate attitude results in penalties that feel like they parallel with receiving 12 points on a driver's license. It is like a sick joke to attempt to deal with a problem or a person (usually one in the same) that is way beyond one's control without showing some sign of frustration.
Forgetting to scan someone's grocery store discount card or forgetting someone's glass that has only been empty for a few minutes, does not make the earth shift on its axis. However, it seems like it. The strange thing is the fact that people can be aware of how busy a clerk or waiter can be, but still expect to be treated like the only people in the store. The only person losing face on both sides of the frustrating transaction is the clerk.
A clerk must adhere to a designated dress code, a subordinate attitude and the wearing of a nametag. A company giving me a name tag always reminds me of the scenes in prison movies when the fresh fish inmates are stripped of their individuality and given a long number to memorize as their new name.
My nametag still reads the name that everyone calls me by, but combined with the same blue button up shirt and look of entrapment as everyone else in the restaurant kitchen. The world around me suddenly shrinks. I am not against doing my job under nametags. I am only puzzled by why my nametag only serves as keeping a list of slip-ups with customers and co-workers. Being a cashier, a bagger and a waiter once before, I have realized that having a nametag is a perfect way to possibly build a bad reputation outside the job for doing work that usually is not applied in the real world. I do not feel alone in saying that clerks and job titles of that sort attract customers who are born to destroy.
Anyone with a clerk history has enjoyed the experience of dealing with very annoying people but at the same time resisting the urge to snap. Any break in the subordinate attitude results in penalties that feel like they parallel with receiving 12 points on a driver's license. It is like a sick joke to attempt to deal with a problem or a person (usually one in the same) that is way beyond one's control without showing some sign of frustration.
Forgetting to scan someone's grocery store discount card or forgetting someone's glass that has only been empty for a few minutes, does not make the earth shift on its axis. However, it seems like it. The strange thing is the fact that people can be aware of how busy a clerk or waiter can be, but still expect to be treated like the only people in the store. The only person losing face on both sides of the frustrating transaction is the clerk.
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