Ask me my sign
T-Mobile has big news for us – not an object or plan we might to give them money for, but an employee relations story.
Another Way to #BeYou: T-Mobile Brings Gender Pronouns to Retail Stores
At T-Mobile, #BeYou has become an employee mantra — so much so that it’s displayed on magenta-painted walls in company hallways around the country.
Really? How awful. Seriously. How gorge-risingly eye-rollingly horrible. Work is work, it’s not a therapy session and it’s not a theater for narcissism. Be You on your own time; at work pay attention to Not-You.
But it’s more than just a catchphrase. It’s representative of the company’s longstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion that is truly part of its DNA. With this in mind, senior leaders are always open to new ways to support employees who want to better express who they are. That’s why, starting November 6, T-Mobile is launching new optional name badges for all retail employees that can include employees’ personal pronouns. Employees at T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile retail stores can choose to add any of the following options:
- He/him/his
- She/her/hers
- They/them/theirs
- Ask me my pronouns
This is for all retail employees, they say – so I guess that means that people in their stores can wear them if they choose? Which means that customers will be confronted with people ordering them to “ask my pronouns”? In a situation in which the customer has zero, repeat, zero need to know the employee’s pronouns because they are talking directly to the employee and anything other than “you” will simply create confusion? Why? Why invite employees to tell customers to “Ask me my pronouns” when it makes no sense and will strike the customer as repellently narcissistic?
Do people not get that narcissism and self-obsession are not good things?
Shops and cafés that use name badges, in my experience, always have a random stack of them from past employees. Temp staff or somebody forgotten theirs? We can’t breach dress code, so grab a spare badge and call them ‘Jessica’ or ‘Jonathan” for the day. Even easier now that it’s a lucky-dip of names and pronouns!
The only thing worse than having to wear name badges at work in general, was having a customer refer to me by my first name. It’s the most confusing thing having a total stranger call out my name, and for me to have to respond professionally, when I didn’t have a clue who they were. I guess they identified as an acquaintance.
I feel bad for the employees – they will have to explain this stupid pronoun thing to customers and look silly.
Sorbus — that thing about having customers know your first name, I also found it annoying and insulting. The last job I had where a name tag was needed, I used to pin it in a way that only my last name showed. And there were a few customers, always other women, who would say things like “oh, but I can’t see what your first name is” and my reply of “that is OK, we are not on first name basis” always left them upset. I always felt like, look, you customer and me employee here to help you if you need it, we are not friends. Guess I was not cut out for the service industry the way the employers today want it to be done.
Excellent news! If ever I go into a T-mobile shop, I’ll be able to tell instantly which employees are just the kind of wankers I’d like to avoid at all cost.
If I’m going to start regularly encountering service people wearing “Ask Me My Pronouns” tags, then I’m going to start going to stores wearing an “I’m an Atheist — Debate Me” t-shirt.
Let’s make shopping exciting!
Coming out as skeptical of the TQI2S+ dogma really does feel like the early days of coming out as an atheist, though.
But…DNA is just a social construct and can be abrogated at any moment by personal declaration.
I’m more and more convinced that this is all a false flag operation by some diabolical republican think tank.
I do appreciate name badges. I *am* on a first name basis with my medical providers, and if I’m being treated by someone, I’d like to tell them with their name how much I appreciate what they do for me.