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I walked into Pottery Barn about a year ago for nothing in particular, just to browse. The first person who greeted me was an employee wearing a string of large red plastic chili peppers around her neck. I immediately saw a great opportunity to talk to her, so I commented about it. “I like your necklace!” I joked. (Obviously the decoration was traditionally used for a kitchen, but this…

I once brought a box of nametags to a party hosted by a few of my Persian friends. Babak (the host) and his wife had a great idea: write everyone’s names in Farsi! Everyone loved their new nametags – even if they couldn’t read them! After a while we realized our Red Bull supply had run dry. So my friend Laszlo ran out to the local Plaid Pantry. When…

A nametag doesn’t always have to be a tag, per se. When I was a furniture salesman in Portland; I encountered many customers who wore a myriad of nametags for their respective jobs. One of my favorites was a woman I met a few years back. She approached me at the checkout counter, said hello and quickly shifted her body to make her right arm visible. I noticed she…

Assumption: nametag=employee. I was eating dinner tonight at a place in St. Louis called Kreis’ Steakhouse. (Wearing my nametag as usual) Before sitting down I grabbed mine and my grandpa’s coat and headed to the coat check closet by the entry way. Right after hanging the two coats a gentleman walked in the door. He was about 50 or so and was removing his coat to check it in…