Name facing out

I ordered coffee this weekend at a cafe where no less than 493 people were waiting for their drink. It was a mad house.

When a drink was ready, the barista would read the name written on the cup in some incomprehensible dialect (smile) and place it on the runway.

But instead of placing it name-facing-out so the gaggle of caffeine addicts could easily spot their drink, the name faced the barista.

This drove me nuts.

And in all of my don’t-judge-a-book-by-its-cover-osity, I immediately determined the following about the barista:

  1. They make poor decisions
  2. They would probably hand me a knife with the blade pointed toward me
  3. They would probably hand me a loaded gun with the barrel pointed toward me
  4. They probably have an underdeveloped sense of empathy

And with all these ridiculous assumptions running wild in my head, I thought about how my actions—the ones I don’t notice or intentionally project—speak for me without me realizing it.

Willie Jackson is a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Consultant & Facilitator with ReadySet, a boutique consulting firm based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is a frequent writer and speaker on the topics of workplace equity, global diversity, and inclusive leadership. Connect on LinkedIn or get in touch.

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