Having worked in customer service more or less since I began working, I can attest to the interesting dynamics of power and privilege that are revealed during my work. The already low status of this work is exacerbated by the fact that I work in very unskilled, low-wage, fast food jobs. Therefore, I am expected to be a submissive, passive, and subservient being in dealing with customers.

These dynamics become even more interesting when sexism comes into play. As a woman, I am already expected to be pretty submissive: I’m not supposed to be loud, I’m supposed to smile and flirt and be extra nice, and I’m supposed to look pretty. These expectations matter both at work and outside of work, though at work, they are compounded by my position as a low-status worker. Unfortunately, the other women I work with are also exposed to the same expectations.

*Trigger warning: The following content may be triggering to some.*
Today at work, one of the shift leaders, Liz, was trying to unscrew a small door that acts as a clamp for the cream dispenser. She was having some difficulty turning the screw, so she lifted up her shirt to use her shirt to grip the screw more tightly. I was dealing with a customer at the counter—an older, rather unkempt man, who had his eyes glued on Liz. As soon as she lifted her shirt, the weird comments started coming out. I missed the first half of what he said, but I heard Liz apologizing and laughing a bit about having lifted up her shirt, and the man said, “Well at this age, I’ll take whatever I can get!”

Liz was very shaken up about the whole thing. She told me that he had been making sexual comments about her because she had lifted up her shirt and revealed her midriff, and then he had implied that she was not attractive because he’d take whatever he could get. “I don’t really care, because I know I’m hot,” Liz said, “but I think that was really out of line.”

And it was. What made this man think it was okay to make sexual comments to a young woman’s face in a public place—perhaps, even worse, where she works?

Of course, part of it is the privilege this man has as a presumably cisgendered, heterosexual male. He is allowed to gaze upon women however he wants; it is his “right” as a man. Just like the man who thinks it’s okay to fondle a woman on a crowded train, this man thought it was okay to sexually harass a young woman in her workplace.

The situation was exacerbated, though, by the fact that Liz was in another position of subordination: that of customer service representative. Any company that deals with customer service runs its business on the idea that “the customer is always right.” Even when the customer is truly misinformed, incredibly stupid, or otherwise just plain wrong, whoever is serving that customer must “suck it up” or risk losing her job. So perhaps for this man, it was not just that Liz is a woman and therefore it is okay to make demeaning comments about her. It may also have been that Liz was in a position that required her to submit to the customers’ wishes. And this customer wished to make gross comments about her body and about his own sexual desires.

I don’t think that the customer service environment is very conducive to creating an equal society. Customers have come into my workplace with the clear intention to express their power and dominance over me as the worker. People make ridiculous demands, create huge messes, and throw temper tantrums all in an attempt to show me that they are in the position of power. No matter how good my customer service is, some people simply want to go on some sort of a power trip. And when it comes to the sorts of places where I have worked, people also come in with a number of sweeping preconceptions about the kinds of people who work there. We are poor, unintelligent, unmotivated, possibly illiterate, probably people of color or, if not, then we are “white trash,” and we are most likely young. We become even more powerless and submissive as a result of these stereotypes.

Sometimes I wonder if customers who come in only to make our lives miserable and “dominate” us feel dominated and overpowered in their personal lives. Some of the most demanding and angriest customers happen to be women. I sometimes wonder if they come in to our store, feeling powerless in their personal lives, and try to gain some sense of power and control by making ridiculous demands and treating us poorly when we cannot meet them. I can certainly see where they are coming from—though I can’t really say it makes my job easier.

And in the case of the man making comments at Liz, I just get even more depressed about the state of our society. Why it is okay to treat women that way? Why is it okay to treat people who are just trying to work at their jobs like that? We can guess at the numerous reasons, but that still does not make this kind of treatment right—even if it is more or less socially acceptable.

This article in the Guardian writes about a new documentary, made by model Sarah Ziff and Ole Schell, about life as a model in the world of high fashion. In it, they detail the realities many models face. The modeling industry, as they note, is one of the least regulated industries in the world; models have virtually no voice or power to make their own decisions, and remain unprotected by laws. Ziff tells us that twenty-hour workdays are commonplace; days off are virtually nonexistent. One girl compares modeling to “becoming living dolls,” with no control over their lives and insanely thin often

“not because [they've] been starving [themselves] but because there’s literally no time to eat.”

However, far too often we focus only on a model’s weight, and the potential influence this may have on their audience. When we ignore the actual experience of the model herself – and this is easy to do, as she rarely has a voice – do we not also treat her as an object by refusing to see that she, too has a life outside of the picture we see in magazines?

Sexual abuse in the workplace is common, and usually ignored or even taken for granted. Some elite, well-protected photographers regularly harass the models, and expect to be serviced sexually by them. In doing so, they objectify their models in every sense; they make them objects by putting them on paper, but also treat them as such, using and consuming them. Far too often, the models remain unprotected by the agencies that should have prevented abuse; in an example, Sarah Ziff cites

“a 16-year-old model who complained when a 45-year-old photographer made a pass at her. Her agency said she should have slept with him.”

Many models are as young as twelve or thirteen, and are frequently expected to strike sexy poses or be photographed in the nude, in work that in my opinion sometimes borders on child pornography. But because it is under the guise of fashion or advertisements, it is considered ‘artistic’ and thus legitimized. Who protects the children here? The answer is no one. There are few laws to regulate the fashion industry, and the fact that top models work internationally complicates this – shooting in remote places, many laws simply would not apply. Even if they did – who would enforce them? And many models travel alone to photo shoots, so who would or could protect them? When they are so young, it is also unlikely that they know their rights.

To me, this entire issue also puts shows such as ‘America’s Next Top Model’ in yet another, unfavorable light. How do former models such as Heidi Klum and Tyra Banks promote modeling to the young, ambitious wannabe models they purport to be training? The show is, after all, based on the premise that girls want to be in this glamorous industry, and it is clear that few are truly aware of the realities that await them there. It is also built on the idea that the host will prepare the candidates for the modeling world, and yet there is no sign of preparing them for the abusiveness that likely awaits them. Yes, they hint at the unforgiving features of the modeling industry: like the long, stressful days the candidates must go through in hopes of becoming a top model, or the reproving looks and comments one candidate received when she refused to do a photo shoot in the nude. However, the hosts of these shows always, whether implicitly or explicitly, tell the candidates that to be truly successful in the business, the only thing that matters is pleasing the photographer, at almost any cost. You have to be an obedient doll to be a top model, to enter this seemingly glamorous world in which you are, at best, disposable. If you don’t comply, you don’t get work; and as a model, you are a clothes hanger, no more, no less. You have no voice; you depend on the agency, the photographer, the designer. Speak up and you will be thrown away.

This is why some models have begun to form unions. As of now, they are not very large, and not very powerful. But one can only hope that unions for models will become commonplace, so that they can negotiate better protection for themselves.