Personal Reputation

A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well. - Jeff Bezos (CEO of Amazon.com)

Personal reputation is one of the most important assets a person has, and while intangible, can play a major role in influencing the happenings in one's life. Reputations are formed over a period of time based on past performances or actions. It is important to also note how fragile they are. One egregious mistake can possibly ruin a person's reputation for a long while, sometimes forever. One example of this that comes to mind is Tom Cruise, a star of many blockbuster films. He lost all credibility when he began publicly campaigning for the Church of Scientology. His embarrassing behavior on an episode of Oprah has solidified his reputation as, some would say, crazy and idiotic. In other instances, a private track record of poor decisions can become uncovered. Just recently, Stephen Collins, who played a preacher and upright father on the former hit show "7th Heaven," was accused of child molestation after a leaked taped confession. I believe it's safe to say that the general rule is that bad reputations form very quickly and are harder to change, whereas a respectable reputation takes longer to establish and is easier to lose.
And now in regards to my own life, here is yet another story concerning my hotel job...but I would like to think that I developed a distinct reputation with my supervisors and the manager. Ever since the first day of work, I made sure to put my best effort with anything I did. Some duties of desk clerks include interacting with customers but there are also some behind-the-scenes logistical works such as writing out parking permit numbers on the clipboard, writing guest names/room numbers/departure dates on a revolving tree to visibly see who is in the hotel, and checking to see if there are two keys available for each room, and then rekeying the rooms that don't have enough keys. Most student workers tend to overlook these tasks because supervisors really don't stress the completion of them. However, being the overachiever I am, as soon as my shift started, I got them done right away. Another role a student worker has is setting up breakfast at 6am, and then cleaning it up at 9am. My manager has told me multiple times how I am the best at the job. This is because I always restocked items, cleaned the refrigerator, and wiped down the microwave, which are otherwise usually forgotten tasks. My manager also said how some students arrive about 5 to 10 minutes late or sometimes not at all, so he commended me for never being late in addition to my, some would way, overachieving attitude (assuming a positive connotation). With that said, another way I built up my reputation is through my punctuality. Within the first year of working, I was never once late. Some days I showed up an hour earlier at my supervisor's request because the hotel was extremely busy. Other days, I came in on days I was not even scheduled to work, because my supervisor ended up having to go home sick. My manager always called me first in these types of situations. Punctuality is actually a personal reputation I have amongst my friends and teachers also. Whether it be getting a ride, picking someone up, or walking into class, tardiness is never an issue. Furthermore, after my biannual work evaluations, my manager told me how I have a "contagious" or "infectious" smile. Supervisors have also told me that they have never seen me not smiling and that I bring a "cheery atmosphere." In terms of enhancing my reputation, I am not sure what more I could have done, because I felt that I gave my maximal effort, but of course there were times when it was hard to keep this up on days when I was not feeling well physically or even emotionally. To reflect on occasions where I wanted to stray from my usual behavior, I can recall a few times--especially one time when I felt very nauseous just an hour into my shift with four hours left to go. I was put in a dilemma because it was a busy night with a lot of check-ins, but also I was not sure if I would function to my best ability. Nonetheless, my supervisor saw that my face was turning very pale and sent me home right away. I felt horrible for doing so but it was obviously necessary. The supervisor definitely did not want me to vomit in front of a guest...then who knows...the reputation for the hotel may have been ruined right then and there. Another time when I was tempted to stray from my usual behavior was whenever I worked under the supervisor who did not know what he was doing I am not sure if you recall me talking about him in previous blog posts, but this supervisor was notorious for not doing what he was told. In addition to that, I forgot to mention how whenever there were multiple check-ins at once, he would just sit at his desk and I would have to ask him to help even though the fact of busy-ness was so blatant. Also, he would tell me to do ridiculous things like go out to the parking lot and check if any of the meters were bagged for the hotel. But with my reputation, I just did what I was told, but maybe with a less cheery attitude. Yet, I am not sure if he orders me to do these things because I indeed have a reputation for assisting the supervisors in any way I can. Lastly, I can remember one time when I abandoned my reputation for personal gain. I have been working here for over a year and half now, and a few months ago, my friends spontaneously wanted to go on a road trip to Chicago over the weekend (okay, maybe it's not much a road trip). However, I had a six hour day shift during that time. My friends kept pressuring me to talk to my manager and take it off and saying how he "owes" me since I came in on days when I was not scheduled. I was very reluctant at first but I ended up shooting him an email with the unreasonable request. And literally within the hour, he approved the request and told me to have a great time! Regardless of how they form, reputations are strong in persuading or having an impact on an individual's behavior.