Does respect come with a job?
I was just talking to a friend of mine who had an interesting experience:
She and a friend of hers were speeding along a quiet neighbourhood, when all of a sudden a police officer pulled them over. Now, first thing most people would do is panic, but these two people kept their cool and actually managed to have a nice chat with the officer. Long story short, he didn’t sign a ticket and, awkwardly, asked for the number of the girl.
Regardless if he got it or not, I was wondering what I’d do in a similar situation (albeit, with a female cop):
The officer just saved you $50 or more and all they ask for in return is your number because they find you attractive and maybe even interesting. Should you feel obliged to give it to them? If you would, is it because you feel obliged to, because said officer kept your records clean or is it because the officer commands respect and you wouldn’t dare oppose someone in such a function? Would you give them your details based on a purely social evaluation, not taking the officer’s job into consideration?
Now, what would happen if the situation was slightly altered: replace the cop with a soldier, would you still feel that the job commands the same respect as a police officer does? Does a soldier command more respect? What about a firefighter, a (commercial) pilot?
If you give them your details, would you go for something highly associatable, like your land line number, something you could easily get rid off, like a prepaid cellphone number or would you go for a, rather anonymous email address?
An interesting topic to think about.
I think if I happened to find myself in this situation I’d agree to give my contact info. The reason I’d give him my number would be purely based on social evaluation of the situation. Say if he used to be a computer programmer and was rather awkward about the asking. If he was too suave about the asking I’d be less likely to give it out considering it’s probably typical of the guy which would be compromising with him being in a power type role.
Oh - And for me personally - it wouldn’t matter so much which profession the individual was doing at the time.
Which venue would I use? Definitely e-mail.
I definitely agree with what Katie said about Power-type roles, of *BOTH* sexes. Men and women both do the same things, of getting what they want by using the power they wield/at they’re disposal.
Its morally objectionable to use your power to actually derive information from a person for personal pleasure/knowledge, while under the position of Authority. It’s exactly the same as, how it is bad Ju-Ju, as you “The Customer”, to ask a girl/guy employee at a retail shop/coffee shop/general workplace, to go out with you or for personal information.Your the customer, they’re the employee serving you, making sure your happy with they’re service so that you come back and spend more money there. Instead, get to know them on a subtle level, if your interested in them. Never put someone else in a situation that you personally find uncomfortable with, or think that person would be uncomfortable with. You’ll never know this though, until you get to know them, and its hard to do without seeming to come across as using the power-trip card.
In other words, I think it falls under the category of “Do to others as you want done to you”. It just falls back to being a human, and using what’s available you, which I am sure would fall under a very detailed Psychology book/chapter/sub-section somewhere.