Thoughts on the Workshop

Wow.  I have so much to say about this.  First, I can totally relate to how you feel about the way some of the customers at Wyndham treat you.  I've definitely been there, and it is not fun at all, especially because there is this assumption that you are lower class than they are, or less educated, just because you are in a service position.  It really sucks and I am sorry that you are being treated that way.  I'd like to tell you that I've figured out a graceful way to deal with it when it as happened to me, but the truth is that I often work through it by thinking less than kind things.  

Second, I'm a little torn about the McBride's statement about how you can't change a stuck up main line woman, because it could be true that, at 80, a person won't be willing to change, but I also think that her statement has a lot of embedded assumptions in it as well.  At the very least, it seems a little dismissive toward you as I read it now.  

Third, and most importantly, I think that change is possible, and that discussions like the one we had on Friday are a good first step.  I'm not sure if we are at a point where bringing the community at large into our discussion would be fruitful, because I think the Bryn Mawr College community still has a ways to go, but I like the idea of that being an end goal.  Maybe one way to start a larger conversation is for us to be aware of how we interact with people who work in town.  (This is not to say that I think many of us don't do this already)  I have known any people who have worked service possitions on Lancaster Ave who have felt the same way you do when yoou are serving those old women.  I wonder if we could start an on campus discussion on how to be served, without treating the person serving you like a servant.