“Hi, did you find everything you were looking for today?”
“Yes, yes I did, I’ve found you.”
Great, another one. I can feel their eyes burning a hole into my name tag as they lean much too far into my personal space bubble. I know it’s coming; the dreaded repetition of my name. Unfortunately this situation is hardly an isolated event.
Although I have always liked my name, I would prefer not to deal with some of the repercussions it has. For instance, due to the uniqueness of my name all you need is to spell my first name right and you can find me. This makes me very uneasy when faced with people that are all too personal, close, and creepy.
The obvious solution to the name tag problem is to just not wear a name tag. This comes with its own problems. Not wearing a name tag makes it harder to make a personal connection quickly with customers, is against the dress code of most stores, and can result with issues in accountability.
Often when helping a customer, they will look at your name tag immediately to make a mental note in case they need your name for later or to remember you at a later date. I am guilty of this myself. A customer exclaiming “hey you” to get your attention is an indication you were likely not doing your job as well as you could be. To achieve great customer service you have to ask the right questions, give the right answer, and show them they came to the right person and the right place. The absence of a name tag makes it a lot harder to make that connection. Without great customer service the company can be jeopardized. Sales and the amount of loyal customers would decrease as it is not uncommon for customers to come back to the store as opposed to a similar store for specific employees that have been helpful in the past.
As far as accountability, I find it harder to trust someone that is helping me when I don’t know their name. Of the biggest reasons people have to wear name tags is to distinguish them from the other employees and to hold associates accountable are among the most important. I have personally observed coworkers at various retail jobs not follow the rules as closely because they did not have the name tag for people to report any issues they have had with them. Unfortunately due to complaints not being able to be pinned to “your-employee-with-brown-hair-and-a-blue-shirt” the rest of us aren’t able to escape wearing a name tag just in case we were to misbehave.
Where I work, name tags are such a strict part of the dress code that if I were to not wear my name tag I could be sent home without pay until I complied. This concerns me, not because I don’t want to comply to the dress code, but because I do not have the option to opt out due to safety concerns. These overlooked safety concerns are a huge problem. Hopefully through expressing such concerns and finding a plausible conclusion, eventually harassment that can comes along with traceable names will no longer be an issue.
After much deliberation, I feel the best solution to my and many other people’s problems would be to be given the option to use a nickname or an alias of some sort. This would still allow for the proper connection with customers without putting the employee at risk. Whether or not this would be considered a possibility to be implemented in various retail locations would likely depend on the head offices. However, I feel that this is highly important and should be given a lot more thought than it has been given.
The Realm of Retail 