It’s rather difficult for me to conceptualize real world experiences as simple explanations that can be summarized through chapters in my textbook. When having these real-world
experiences, I don’t consider the mechanics of social interaction, or how we’re
socialized to accept these experiences as normal. Having worked as an optician
for two years, I can say with confidence that I’ve come across a plethora of
interesting people, but none that are so interesting as seeing how coworkers
interact with each other. Symbolic interaction summarizes these infinite
interactions as understood social cues that take into account words, body
language, tone, and other ways that humans nonverbally interact with each other
in order to communicate a message or feeling. Pairing this with Phenomenology,
which considers what is reality, and how it shapes society, on a large scale
and an individual one, understanding these interactions between coworkers
becomes a more enlightening experience. The names of my coworkers have been
changed out of respect for their privacy.
My manager, Joe, is not a well-liked man, and neither is Dr. Smith, who
owns the optical. The reason being that Dr. Smith has a very skewed
understanding of the relationships between his employees. You see, he really
pushes for positivity in the office, even going so far as to use lovely words
and phrases such as, “Positivity breeds positivity,” “Gratitude is important to
have,” and, “We need more grace in our hearts.” The employees prickle at these
phrases because it allows Dr. Smith to avoid the actual issues that plague the
office such as the constant sexual harassment of our lead optician, Maria, the
uncomfortable positions that we’re put in by Joe, and the bullying of our only
male co-worker, Mike, must endure from Joe. Oftentimes, when his employees
confront him about these issues in the office, our complaints are glossed over
with his lovely words so that our realities don’t conflict with his. Understanding
a person’s reality is shaped by their experiences, what constitutes reality
differs from one person to another. However, Dr. Smith’s willful misunderstanding
of the workplace relations in his own business exceeds the acceptable
explanation of simple ignorance. To elaborate on this, when I reported Joe for
his sexual harassment of Maria, and Belle, another coworker, this was handled
so exceedingly poorly that it’s made the overall reality of working at his
office a far more miserable experience than it was before. His constant need to
use lovely words in order to avoid any uncomfortable feelings often makes it
feel as if he’s saying one thing while meaning another. His phrase, “We just
need more grace in our hearts,” will be said often regarding mistreatment by
Joe’s posturing to Mike and lecherous words towards Maria and Belle. He stands
hunched over, nervously wringing his hands together as he tries to convince us
that simply treating Joe with more grace will allow us to move past these
miscommunications between coworkers. He’ll give us awkward smiles while
expressing his gratitude to us, never looking anyone in the eye for too long
lest they sense the dishonesty in his words. “Positivity breeds positivity,” he
tells us while standing a professional distance from us, “You should keep that
in mind before you speak,” he finishes with that same awkward smile, and
forcefully pleasant tone as if the topic of conversation wasn’t sexual
harassment of workplace bullying.
We understand these words in the context of the conversation. We understand the words by their definition, but when taking into consideration context of the conversation, his unwillingness to show any warmth, or understanding, or even empathy towards his employees, the subtext becomes clear. Having been socialized in an American society, we expect kinder expressions, shows of warmth and understanding, more understanding words
that communicate that the topic, and experience, is understood as something to
be taken very seriously for the safety and comfort of the staff. So, when the
words don’t address any of what was discussed in the conversation, the
professional distance begins crosses the line into cold, and the smile is
forced, these unspoken social cues tell the injured party that their safety,
and comfort, is of no importance to this office. Simply, their labor. When the
realities of what it is to own the business conflicts with what it is to work
within the business, what could be a simple miscommunication becomes a chasm of
willful ignorance that only grows larger from the silence between the two
parties. All that we know for certain, is that in order to function within the
miniature society of this optical, one must abide by the hierarchy, and the
accepted rule that due to Dr. Smith’s refusal to have his reality challenged,
or be forced to undergo any unpleasant experience, the employees have to keep
their mistreatment quiet, and only have their experiences validated by each
other.
References
Dillon, M., Meade, G. H.,
& Goffman, E. (2021). Chapter Seven: Symbolic Interaction. In Concise
reader in sociological theory theorists, concepts, and current applications
(pp. 131–140). essay, Wiley Blackwell.
Dillon, M., Berger, P. L.,
& Luckmann, T. (2021). Chapter Eight: Phenomenology. In Concise reader
in sociological theory theorists, concepts, and current applications (pp.
141–158). essay, Wiley Blackwell.
