The Bizarre Culture of Elitism and Status
Beverly Hills, that's where I want to be!
For the first time in my many years of working retail, I was actually discouraged from providing good customer service.
The owner of the ISoldIt On Ebay! store I work part-time at in Westwood was on the phone at the front counter and I was sitting in front of a computer when a twentysomething woman came into the store and stood in front of the counter to be helped. I then reacted in a way that was second nature to me after my aforementioned indoctrination into the world of retail...I walked up to the counter to help her.
"No, I'll take care of it," sharply ordered my boss while still holding the phone. With a slight nod, I walked back to my seat.
After a minute or two, she got off the phone and finally took care of the customer. Afterwards, my boss approached me with this perplexing order.
"Make people wait a little...this isn't McDonald's, and we have imporant things we're doing. We don't have to jump out of our chair for them." She went on to tell me about some fancy clothing store in Beverly Hills that routinely makes people wait 15-20 minutes for someone to help them.
McDonald's, where we love to see you smile!
I immediately nodded, which again is part of my engrained retail instincts “OBEY THE BOSS WITHOUT QUESTION.” (If I was a Customer Service Robot, my circuits may have exploded after trying to follow my programmed orders to always help the customer and always obey the boss. Johnny 5 is ALIVE!)
It took me a bit, but I eventually concluded that my boss seemed to be trying to create an aura of prestige and elitism around the Ebay store in imitation of other upper class stores. Now the Ebay store (which is not that far removed from Goodwill or a Pawn Shop) seems like a comically bad choice to do this. But then again, the whole idea seems a little bit odd.
The culture of elitism in L.A. is one I’ve observed but never fully understood. Why, as my boss said, would many upper crust clothing and jewelry stores or restaurants often make you wait for service? Why would people pay $1,000 more dollars for the name Louis Vuitton on a purse than a nearly identical product. Why do people wait hours for a table in a restaurant that charges hundreds of dollars for a little piece of lamb and some green stuff?
The truth is, many people don’t shop to attain actual physical items. They shop for the social capital of being seen in a bourgeois store or showing off their name brand shirt, or feeling extravagant by eating in a certain restaurant. It’s about having the symbols, sometimes quite literally of being well off. In other words, class distinction by consumerism.
Now you could make arguments about the benefits of elite, high-priced neighborhoods, they tend to be safer and quieter than poorer neighborhoods, and there are better schools. But it also seems capricious as to what items or places qualify as elite.
That’s maybe part of the reason we see so many famous rappers drinking Cristal, driving fancy cars, and wearing hordes of diamond and platinum jewelry. Status can easily be purchased with a Visa Check Card and a large bank account. But is Nelly and the bling parade self-conciously attempting to mock the system of status, or is he just trying to look like a pimp?
I’m not sure, but I do know it’s getting too philosophical in herrre.
Beverly Hills, that's where I want to be!
For the first time in my many years of working retail, I was actually discouraged from providing good customer service.
The owner of the ISoldIt On Ebay! store I work part-time at in Westwood was on the phone at the front counter and I was sitting in front of a computer when a twentysomething woman came into the store and stood in front of the counter to be helped. I then reacted in a way that was second nature to me after my aforementioned indoctrination into the world of retail...I walked up to the counter to help her.
"No, I'll take care of it," sharply ordered my boss while still holding the phone. With a slight nod, I walked back to my seat.
After a minute or two, she got off the phone and finally took care of the customer. Afterwards, my boss approached me with this perplexing order.
"Make people wait a little...this isn't McDonald's, and we have imporant things we're doing. We don't have to jump out of our chair for them." She went on to tell me about some fancy clothing store in Beverly Hills that routinely makes people wait 15-20 minutes for someone to help them.
McDonald's, where we love to see you smile!
I immediately nodded, which again is part of my engrained retail instincts “OBEY THE BOSS WITHOUT QUESTION.” (If I was a Customer Service Robot, my circuits may have exploded after trying to follow my programmed orders to always help the customer and always obey the boss. Johnny 5 is ALIVE!)
It took me a bit, but I eventually concluded that my boss seemed to be trying to create an aura of prestige and elitism around the Ebay store in imitation of other upper class stores. Now the Ebay store (which is not that far removed from Goodwill or a Pawn Shop) seems like a comically bad choice to do this. But then again, the whole idea seems a little bit odd.
The culture of elitism in L.A. is one I’ve observed but never fully understood. Why, as my boss said, would many upper crust clothing and jewelry stores or restaurants often make you wait for service? Why would people pay $1,000 more dollars for the name Louis Vuitton on a purse than a nearly identical product. Why do people wait hours for a table in a restaurant that charges hundreds of dollars for a little piece of lamb and some green stuff?
The truth is, many people don’t shop to attain actual physical items. They shop for the social capital of being seen in a bourgeois store or showing off their name brand shirt, or feeling extravagant by eating in a certain restaurant. It’s about having the symbols, sometimes quite literally of being well off. In other words, class distinction by consumerism.
Now you could make arguments about the benefits of elite, high-priced neighborhoods, they tend to be safer and quieter than poorer neighborhoods, and there are better schools. But it also seems capricious as to what items or places qualify as elite.
That’s maybe part of the reason we see so many famous rappers drinking Cristal, driving fancy cars, and wearing hordes of diamond and platinum jewelry. Status can easily be purchased with a Visa Check Card and a large bank account. But is Nelly and the bling parade self-conciously attempting to mock the system of status, or is he just trying to look like a pimp?
I’m not sure, but I do know it’s getting too philosophical in herrre.
