Pins & Junior Designers
Three people complimented a pin I have on my denim jacket. The first was someone stocking the shelves, then their check-out coworker, followed by the lady who cleaned my teeth. It felt nice every time and I got to mention that the pin was a Marigold, that’s the flower for the month of October, which is the month my daughter was born. That’s a lot of fun to say, then I get to talk about Roby, and that’s lovely to do.
When I compliment people I’m generally quite careful as to not come off as coming on to them, or to make them uncomfortable. I try to compliment a choice they’ve made in terms of their clothing or some such. Most recently I told a person at the coop that I liked their outfit; they were wearing a purple sweater vest and a green dress shirt with a cream-colored collar, it was great. They seemed to like the compliment as much as I enjoyed administering it.
About a week ago, maybe two? A barista at a café I don’t particularly like made a comment that wasn’t a compliment, and wasn’t an insult but...maybe it was? She asked if I worked at Solidarity, which I do. I said I did, and she asked if I was a junior designer.
“Cool! Are you a junior designer?”
Now,
I don’t have anything against junior designers.
They’re great people doing great work and beginning their careers. Good for them. It’s a good thing, being a junior designer. But I am not a designer, and I am not junior. Even a junior designer, I think, would wonder about the qualifying -junior- being applied to them. Why? What about them implies Junior as opposed to senior, or directorial, or award-winning, or student, or intern, or ugly or anything else? It feels strange, insulting, even.
I don’t think any “compliment” I’ve ever paid anyone has had qualifiers like that. I try to make any comment I make quite positive and charming and free from judgments or guesses.
So weird.
Junior?
Just say designer.