Yesterday, standing in the queue at KFC, I noticed a poster. It was at head height, tacked to the tiles on the staff side of the counter, next to hot cabinet that houses the chicken. Just an A4 landscape size, not overly brash, laminated for wipe-cleanable hygiene. Check Your Smile, it read, and underneath it had five passport sized photos of a man. Three had a red cross beside them, two, a green tick. Sinister-seeming. The Man can buy your time at minimum wage, and for that, gets not only your expertise at fried chicken wrangling, but also the outer expression of your innermost feelings. I wondered if someone paid just above minimum wage is required to go about with a clipboard measuring the smiles of the employees, and if someone might be fired for a smile related offence. ‘Your smile registered at only level three (neutral) on the smile expectations quotient, this is not good enough, you need to register at least level four (delight) if not level five (gurning grin of ecstasy). You’re ambivalent, YOU‘RE FIRED.’
At least KFC are overt in their attempts to dehumanise. I was recently told a story where an office worker had on his desk a picture of his new baby. His boss came by and having congratulated him on the birth, admonished him about the picture. It contravened the empty desk policy.
We all work too much with machines, and begin to forget that we are people. Logic and a teaspoon of empathy should tell us that a family picture on a desk won’t adversely affect productivity, and that teenager smiling because they hare happy in their work may sell an extra Pepsi, while a teeth bared grimace purporting to be a smile won’t. May The Man forgive all of us drones out humanity.
In only vaguely related news, I heard a song on the radio, and it has stuck in my head. It’s by Chris T-T, and artist I should have been aware of because he’s in the Billy Bragg style (though I suspect he wouldn’t like that said so I‘ll be buying his CD to make up for it). Words Fail Me. That’s also the song title. I can’t find a good link to it. I’ve been listening through Spotify. It is on an album available through Amazon amongst other places.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Love-Not-Rescue-Chris-T-T/dp/B0037Z8VTW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1276181943&sr=8-1
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