How long do you think a business would last if you walked up to the counter to place your order and the person said, "What's up? What do you want?" In my opinion not very long. When people go out they want to feel that they are valued and feel important to the people that are serving them. That is why scripted talk is so very important. Although it often seems boring and overused it is what we appreciate.
The scripted talk that Taylor talks about is what we know and expect as consumers and customers. We would be lost as customers if there wasn't a certain amount of scripted talk. Something as simple as "Can I take your order?" lets us as customers feel comfortable and know that the ball is in our court.
Another reason scripted talk is so important as in situations such as fast food is because most of the people working do not have an invested interest in their job. The scripted talk works best in jobs that have employees that are mainly there for money. There is no reason for the people to show an interest in you and try and make your experience at their restaurant enjoyable if they aren't going to get anything out of it. The only negative that goes along with scripted talk is that management is still in full control. It is upsetting to see people performing jobs without simple freedoms such as what they can say, where they can go, and what they can do. The only way that scripted talk can be completely eliminated is to find people who really enjoy the job that they are doing. Also, to find people that want to see the company itself do better and to have an invested interest in the company.
Joe,
ReplyDeleteYou're doing a good job with the blog so far. The Dignity poster is hilarious.
Your defense of scripted talk is interesting, but I wonder if we shouldn't question why these kinds of jobs exist in the first place. In other words, why should someone have to suffer the indignity of playing the role of robot? Why not just have robots? There are several examples of cafeterias in the world where you order your food on a punch screen and your tray is delivered to your seat via a network of ramps and conveyor belts: http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/27/fully-automated-restaurant-opens-in-germany/
I also wanted to comment on your claim about appreciating workers who do difficult work. You argue that if we appreciated them more, we'd pay them more. Who would decide what jobs deserve more appreciation than others? Would we have a ranking system based on difficulty? What criteria would be used to determine difficulty? These are interesting questions to consider, by the way, but they do show how difficult it seems to be to change the status quo.