Nursing Badges and Silversmithing

name badges

My grandfather used to make a living as a silversmith. It’s not exactly a career I plan on following because…there’s no money in it nowadays, basically. But I’d still love to pursue it, because it sounds like an interesting hobby, and if there’s one thing that I find interesting it’s going against the grain. I even tried my hand at it a few weeks ago, when I took a tour of Grandpa’s old workshop. The guy working there now (he does something for some museum) let me work the machine for a small project, so I thought I’d make my sister a name badge! It’s only three letters, and I thought it’s help her stand out. Turns out nurse name badges have pretty strict limitations and rules, but she said she’d keep in on her desk, which is okay. Too bad my parents had to go and give me a really difficult name, otherwise I’d have just made one for myself, but whatever. I was HOPING that the silversmith guy would recognise me as a promising pupil and take me on as his apprentice, full-time, with holidays and superannuations benefits. I guess money must be tight around the museum business, or maybe he just likes working alone. It’s cool, I guess.

I’ve seen those nurse name badges, though, because Mia always stresses out whenever she puts it in the wash or loses it in the laundry basket. I mean, wow…those patients she treats must really be hot on knowing your name. I guess when you’re giving them sponge baths and…other stuff, you really shouldn’t be an anonymous stranger. It all sound so intimate. But I guess that’s what name badges are for in the first place: bringing us all together, and making us all a little bit more human.

I mean, it would’ve been a little bit more ‘human’ to take me on as an apprentice, especially after I did an amazing job making that silver magnetic name badge. The institutions of nursing and silversmithing just don’t appreciate my skill, clearly.

-Alexandria

Badges, a man(ager’s) best friend

name tagsWho’d have thought that your work life would be improved with the use of name tags? Since I got this brilliant idea, my life has been ten times easier. Not only has my job itself become less stressful but the productivity around here has truly peaked. These days, I recommend every boss introduce name tags into their business, no matter how big or small.

I manage a chain of shops in Australia. In each shop we’ve only got a few people working at any given time, so I didn’t think the name tag thing was necessary. The people who work together get to know each other pretty quick, and it’s just retail, not banking, so it’s not like the customers really need to know my employees names. It turns, out I couldn’t have been more wrong about name tags. Australia has companies that can deliver as soon as the whim strikes you.

So here’s why name tags were such a good idea. I like to drive between my shops and check up on the employees to see how they’re doing. I usually hire younger staff for obvious reasons: they cost less and are more likely to work in this industry. Now, I’m not too bad at remembering people’s names, but these young kids are always changing their hair colour, getting piercing and whatnot to totally transform their appearance every blooming week. Now with name tags, it’s good that I don’t have to embarrass myself anymore or come off as heartless inhuman upper management.

I ended up getting magnetic name badges. Australian companies can also custom make them with your business logo and all that. The tags also came in handy when it came to complaints and my employees slacking off. I got a few phone calls here and there where the customer was like, ‘I don’t know his name but he was the guy in the blue shirt’ – Now that my kids have name tags, I can find out exactly who’s been messing around on the job or disrespecting my valuable customers.