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I live in a luxury building in Manhattan. 35 floors. We have 5 doormen; they know every single person who lives in the building by name. Not only that, but they
by joubert 16y ago
I live in a luxury building in Manhattan. 35 floors.
We have 5 doormen; they know every single person who lives in the building by name. Not only that, but they also know regular visitors by name.
When one walks in, they don't glance at a monitor to figure out who you are. They know you, they remember previous conversations (oh hi, Joubert, didn't you recently see Momix at The Joyce?)
I cant stand it when a "customer service representative" has to "fake" knowing me.
- tptacek 16y agoThat's 5 people who's full time job is almost entirely to know the names of a little less than 1000 people. There are plenty of stores in which that many different, new people walk through the door every day.
- olalonde 16y agoWhat about the day no one wants to do this shitty job? Maybe then you'll be happy that some computer recalls your name. I know this sounds provocative but my point is that some jobs will simply get replaced by computers and robots in a not so distant future. The same happened with agriculture in less than a century and the day will come that no one will want to be a doorman.
- starkfist 16y agothere are many people who would rather have a job as a doorman than work in the robot factory.
- olalonde 16y agoI know many people who would rather work on CRM software than have to memorize thousands of customers. My point is that having human beings whose sole purpose is to remember your name isn't a luxury that should be taken as granted.
- starkfist 16y agoYou aren't taking it for granted if you are paying for the service as part of your luxury apartment's fees.
- joe_the_user 16y agoWho says there will either job in the future?
- lagubya 16y agoBut will there be people who would hire these people?
- DenisM 16y agoWhy do you think this job is shitty? Or do you think only software engineering and other "creative" jobs are worthy, and every other job shitty?
- donw 16y agoI enjoy writing software, in the same way that I enjoy breathing; it's my natural way to solve problems and explore ideas. Which is why I'm having a fantastic time with my startup, Mad Wombat Software. But, you know what? I was just as happy when I was working as a waiter at a small French restaurant. I danced with a widowed ninety-year old woman on her birthday. Took a picture with a guy celebrating his 40th wedding anniversary, because I looked exactly like a younger version of him. Helped a very nervous boyfriend propose to his future wife. None of these things were big, or important in the grand scheme of society, but they made life so much more worthwhile for the people I served. There's a great deal of happiness to be found in being an excellent host. There are people that really enjoy being doormen, and waiters, and bartenders. They work fewer hours and get more exercise than programmers as well, and also get to interact with a ton of other people -- something that I envy a bit as I bang away at my laptop every day.