This week is all about remuneration. Most of the examples of remuneration in this week's readings are about online ventures and the remuneration therein. However, remuneration doesn't just happen online; It can happen anywhere! And it does. I'd like to give a few "everyday" situations that remunerate the user (or for the sake of this post, the actor - and by that I don't mean theatrical actors) before I delve into more appropriate digital remuneration examples.
My first example deals with my job off campus at the Japanese Steakhouse I work at. It may seem very simple and somewhat blasé, but going to a restaurant and working in a restaurant are both examples of when remuneration is necessary. If you are the customer, you will feel remunerated if the waitress is courteous and has everything to you in a timely manner as well as if the chef has prepared your food to your liking (and if you enjoyed the show the chef put on if you are in a restaurant like the one I currently work at). As a waitress you are remunerated if your customers make only reasonable requests of your time and attention as well as if they leave you an appropriate tip. Without the payout (tip) at the end of the day, even if the customers were kind, courteous, and not what we would call "needy," a waitress still needs that monetary remuneration at the end of the night. However, for some waitresses (myself included), the money is not the only remuneration we receive at the end of the night. More often than not the owner and/or manager of the restaurant compares every waitresses tips at the end of the night. If a waitress does consistently well, she will receive praise from her superior(s) and will most likely be given more responsibility with less supervision thus making her want to work harder to continue to be remunerated in this way.
A second example for remuneration outside the digital world is for the animal lovers; If you have ever had a really crummy day and have arrived home to see your beloved family pet who is excited to see you simply because you are there, that is a very rewarding (and remunerating) experience. Even if you did blew up the copy machine at work, ripped your pants on your way out the door to head home, and somehow drove your car into the lake and you had to ride the rest of the way home with the questionable tow-truck man who possibly hasn't bathed in the last decade, your pet doesn't care. You are home. That's all that matters. They love you no matter what and, although possibly a small gesture, just sitting near you and not judging you for anything is an amazing feeling and quite possibly the most natural remuneration known to man (and his best friend).
Now that I've set out some "real world" examples, its time for some "digital world" examples. The first example that comes to mind is the blog that each of us is maintaining this semester. Each of us puts so much into reading the material and trying to make sense of it all in a comprehensive way (some more successful than others) that we all read and respond to. The responses we receive from others on these blogs is such a great feeling! To know that others took the time to read our musings and formulate a response is a wonderful feeling. And this started on the very first blog post. If everyone remembers (or at least looks back to) their first "official" blog post based on the readings, you all will remember that Dr. Howard was one of the first to reply to everyone's blog. Little did we know it then, but Dr. Howard was remunerating us by seeding the discussion. I'm sure we all read Dr. Howard's posts and realized that he brought up great points of discussion that related to our specific blog posts and remunerated us to continue posting to see what everyone else had to say.
The second example of "digital world" remuneration I have is in instant chat utilities like AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), which has been around since the days of dial-up (which I guess wasn't so "instant" then), and Skype, which has been around for a few years and is a video-chat utility. These utilities provide *instant* remuneration because you get an instant response to a question, comment, facial expression, whatever. These tools are easy to use and very strait-forward so there's no need to learn how to use an interface, etc. One technique that Dr. Howard talks about that these types of tools use is a fun text editor; Both of these tools provide emoticons and, in some cases, will let you customize your emoticons for free (i.e. you can choose different colors, different styles, sound effects, motion, etc.).
Each of these examples shows either a "real world" remuneration or a "digital world" remuneration as well as either eventual remuneration or instant remuneration. Hopefully based on these examples everyone can see how these blogs are a way of remunerating ourselves (and each other) after a week of reading materials. In fact, I wonder how many of you would post a comment if I told you that I would remunerate each post with a bag of candy for Thursday's class. That's right. Start typing ;)
Remuneration is an interesting motivator. I never really thought about it but one of the most pleasant parts of my day is in the evening when I pick up my cat, Gus and just cradle him for about 5 minutes while he purrs nonstop. It is wonderful remuneration for a tough day! Your examples about digital remuneration are very interesting too. One thing I've noticed in myself in recent years, is that technological advances make remuneration much quicker than it once was. Once upon a time, if you saw something on television that you wanted, you'd have to wait until the end of the commercial, write down the address, and send off for it via snail mail. A similar phenomenon took place by collecting and sending cereal boxtops. The whold process often took 6 weeks or more. Now, if there is something I want (even if it is something I am not sure exists), I can research it, narrow it down, order it, and have it in my hands by tomorrow. We have evolved into an "instant gratification" society and it makes us have some high remuneration expectations.
ReplyDeletePaula,
ReplyDeleteThat is such a good point. And remuneration really is in our daily lives. I do think this "instant gratification" (read: "instant remuneration") has turned us into somewhat rude, obnoxious, needy, and sometimes self-interested people (at the expense of others). One example of how this instant gratification has practically ruined good etiquette and decent human compassion is from my restaurant: One night as I was hostessing, this woman who had called a mere 2 hours prior to set up a reservation for 15-20 people (on a Friday night, no less) arrived with her party. As a policy, we don't seat a party until everyone's there because the grills get too hot if we turn them on while they're sitting there waiting for the rest of their party and if we don't turn them on when they're sat, we usually forget which means when the chef gets there they have to wait another 15 minutes for the grill to heat up. Now, on top of this she was being uuber snobby about wanting the private room we have that has only 2 grills. Well, we had a party that was just leaving that room so we were cleaning it up to put her party in there since she was adamant that that's what she assumed she was going to be paying for since she made a reservation (2 hours before they arrived). Well, as soon as the first party left (we still had to clean the tables and reset them for this woman's party) everyone in her party showed up. Of course, she expected us to seat her right then and there. Throughout her meal, she was in need of instant gratification...essentially, "my butt just touched the seat. Why is my food not on my plate right now?!" After the meal, she called me over as I seemed to be a manager and said to me, "Let me tell you what it means to have a reservation." Ok. Please enlighten me. I've only been in the restaurant industry for four years and the closest you've ever been to the restaurant industry is to spend your money at restaurants. "A reservation means when I get here, my table should be ready for me to sit down and my food should be on the way." Ok. Mayhaps you should have gone to McDonald's then. What this story hopefully illustrates is the extent to which people have become accustomed to instant gratification, for better or for worse, 'till death do us part.