Donald Trump once told me, \u201cI can\u2019t wait to have the pleasure to work with you, and I know it\u2019ll be a pleasure for you to work with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
I wish I could say he shook my hand, but he wasn\u2019t actually in front of me, and I wasn\u2019t actually talking to him. Instead, I was being oriented to work at his resort, the up-and-coming high-roller exclusive Trump National Doral. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou are not employees, you are associates!\u201d said the female emcee.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m Donald Trump\u2019s associate,\u201d I thought, followed by, \u201cwhat the hell does that mean?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n What is the difference between an employee and an \u201cassociate?\u201d Am I on the path to a first name basis with \u201cthe Donald?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Examples of such labeling schemes are plentiful. At Leon Medical Centers, you\u2019ll find all the amenities of a clinic: physicians and their assistants, doctors and their assistants, clerks and secretaries. Interestingly enough, you\u2019ll also see these clerks in charge of patient care. What would be considered a \u201cpatient care coordinator,\u201d then, is actually known as a <\/span>clerk <\/span><\/i>at Leon. <\/span><\/p>\n At the Trump, I was a shuttle driver with no tips. The orientation should\u2019ve left me thinking: \u201cWow, I\u2019m associated to Mr. Trump; I\u2019m more than an employee!\u201d Driving that hideous white van around Mr. Trump\u2019s Doral estate made me realize that the game of employee titles is nothing but psychological manipulation\u2014 and I was keen to their plays.<\/span><\/p>\n I was once a pizza guy, and all the employee paperwork, checks, referral forms and disciplinary forms classified me as a \u201cteam member,\u201d insinuating that everyone in the shop was an invaluable part of some kind of fraternity, but were we?<\/span><\/p>\n If I called homeless people urban pioneers would we warm up to them and ask them about their lives lounging outside Wolfson Campus\u2019 McDonald\u2019s? If I called a prostitute a sexual-mercenary, will she feel like a lustful soldier of fortune? <\/span><\/p>\n Of course not. Neither of these will care what you call them so long as you give them money.<\/span><\/p>\n My answer to the manipulation? \u201cCall me whatever you want, as long as you give me hours and sign my check.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Donald Trump once told me, \u201cI can\u2019t wait to have the pleasure to work with you, and I know it\u2019ll be a pleasure for you to work with me.\u201d I wish I could say he shook my hand, but he wasn\u2019t actually in front of me, and I wasn\u2019t actually talking to him. Instead, I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2338","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-forum"},"yoast_head":"\n