Treat SU staff with respect to resist transactional norms of capitalism
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Imagine this: You’ve met up with a friend for a walk, and rather than greeting you, the first thing they do is ask if you’re ready to go to the park. You may think it’s off-putting that a human interaction can be treated like a transaction, but that’s how we, as students, treat staff every day at Syracuse University. And the worst part is we often fail to notice it.
Hundreds of custodial staff, retail employees and construction workers walk SU’s grounds, performing crucial labor that keeps our campus running. The morning coffee that fuels your day, the electricity that keeps your device charged, the feeling of safety when you walk across the Newhouse Family Plaza and much more. It’s all thanks to the staff around our campus. But when we converse with them, we often fail to make them feel like a part of the campus community.
Getting to the front of the Dunkin’ line and starting the conversation with your order rather than a greeting is dehumanizing. You’re directing this behavior toward people who may be going through struggles unknown to you, while they’re simultaneously dealing with the mental toll labor can cause.
This behavior doesn’t rear its ugly head unprompted. It stems from the capitalist society we’ve created and nurtured within the United States over decades. We look at a service and overlook the human who works to create it. Bureau of Labor Statistics data reports that the labor share — the portion of total economic value or output that goes to workers as compensation — dropped to a historic low of 52.8% this past quarter. Entitlement and transactional mindsets are byproducts of the materialistic society we’ve built in the U.S.
Capitalism has been shown to increase self-centeredness and decrease altruism — the concern for others’ well-being. We can break out of this cycle by simply saying hello or asking about one’s day when we go to a dining hall. It’s often the little things that mean the most.
When we converse with staff, we often fall short of making them feel like a part of the campus community.Kaelen Kinsella, Columnist
These interactions can also boost our own happiness. A study found that people who had more of these small, positive two-way interactions — classified in the study as weak ties — tended to be happier. Emphasizing emotional connection rather than transactional communication created an equal increase in overall happiness for both participants.
Hundreds of stories are unfolding around us every day without us realizing it. The person at the dining hall desk could be going through a life-altering event. That custodial worker could be struggling with familial issues. You don’t know how much a simple greeting or small conversation could impact someone’s day, week or month.
We’ve fallen into a capitalistic cycle where corporations profit from intensive labor more than the workers themselves, which in turn impacts how we think about interactions with employees. We can’t let our empathy become inhibited by this pattern.
So, say hello. Ask how someone’s day is. Thank someone for their service; it’s valuable and often hard to come across. When we speak about how happy people are with SU, we refer to our student body without realizing this leaves out those who work incredibly hard to keep our campus clean, safe and beautiful. It’s necessary that we break from the norms society has enforced and embrace our staff members as we would our friends or acquaintances.
Kaelen Kinsella is a freshman majoring in journalism and political science. He can be reached at kaelenkinsella@gmail.com.
