Status in America

So one thing I have noticed about America is that people are incredibly embarassed about doing menial jobs. It struck me the first day at Follies, when virtually everyone had these impressive titles: senior head writer, assisant senior head writer, head writer, production manager; it came to me and I said my name and my job, "stage hand". No embarassment. None of the other stage hands would say exactly what they do. Each was either "yeah, I'm helping out Matt or I'm in the running crew". I asked them, and one replied that they were actively searching for something to say as they didn't want to label themself as a stage hand**.

So what does this mean? Well what I have observed is the people who were the most embarassed performed the worst. Its hard to be a bad stage hand. Yet people who got into Wharton and are very bright managed to be. I think this is purely because they felt it was beneath them to engage. I have seen employees of subway, and starbucks exhibit the same behaviour. The this-is-so-beneath-us, we-dont-care-if we-do-a-shitty-job mentality, which can be quite aggressive sometimes.

So the production manager was a shining beacon of management. He made the menial tasks seem really important, and demanded perfection in a reviewing suggestive way (which gave people something to strive for; a sense of worth by achieving it). He was always happy and positive, knew all the stagehands names and was always ready with a "good work tonight"and a hand shake.

Being the one with the impressive title or visiting a subway. How do you get the best service? Be likeable and realise your positional power. Greet the person; ask them how they are going; be polite. By acknowledging them, lower your status a little bit, and sincerely thanking them, you will breed loyalty and getting a better experience

**As a side note, these seems to be the main difference with Wharton students- an amazing ability to talk absolute garbage and make it sounds slightly plausible, and an unwaivering self-confident that shows up in many people as pure arrogance.