HELLO My name is Scott
October 8, 2004 5:48 AM   Subscribe

Re-introducing community in a world of mass distraction and isolation. Here's what happens when one wears a nametag everywhere. And 52 ways to build a front porch.
posted by yoga (34 comments total)
 
See also http://www.mass-distraction.org/.
posted by yoga at 5:51 AM on October 8, 2004


I don't get people who do this. Maybe he hasn't noticed this, but strangers who want to talk to you are generally either creepy, dim or insane.
posted by Mayor Curley at 6:15 AM on October 8, 2004


Curley, you big cynic.

A stranger is just a friend you haven't met yet!
posted by mr_crash_davis at 6:23 AM on October 8, 2004


Is that Adam Sandler in Punch-Drunk Love?
posted by lagado at 6:29 AM on October 8, 2004


53. Engage in mutual sneering at lunatics with badges.
posted by biffa at 6:31 AM on October 8, 2004


Which is of course a cue (perhaps for discovering a mutual interest in cinema?)...
posted by biffa at 6:32 AM on October 8, 2004


54. Compliment someone's genitals.
posted by Outlawyr at 6:39 AM on October 8, 2004


Maybe he hasn't noticed this, but strangers who want to talk to you are generally either creepy, dim or insane.

Having the opportunity to talk to strangers is one of the reasons people like to go to bars and coffeehouses and the like. I talk to a stranger almost every time I go out on my own. Everybody's got a story to tell, and I'm a junkie for hearing 'em.
posted by jonmc at 6:44 AM on October 8, 2004


55. Give someone the opportunity to compliment your own genitals.

seriously, bill hicks was right. we need a people who hate people party. this guy just freaks me out.
posted by mr.marx at 6:45 AM on October 8, 2004


*clink* to jonmc - too true! There are books out there, waiting to be written with those stories.
posted by yoga at 6:47 AM on October 8, 2004


I was initially put off by this guy in my neighbourhood. But when I saw he was wearing a crazy hat, that all changed.
posted by transient at 6:49 AM on October 8, 2004


Scott went to my college (Miami University, Oxford, OH), and I've had the opportunity to see him around and chat with him since he graduated, so I've seen his nametag-wearing in action, and it's pretty fascinating. I've yet to see anyone respond in a hostile or "crazy" way -- people are curious and they want to know why he's wearing it, and everyone I've ever seen approach him has been really open and interested. I can't help but think he's really on to something. I'd read his book (he left us some copies at the Bagel Shop, where I work), but I didn't know he had a website. Thanks for the link!
posted by dryad at 6:50 AM on October 8, 2004


strangers who want to talk to you people are generally either creepy, dim or insane
posted by uncleozzy at 6:52 AM on October 8, 2004


"I've yet to see anyone respond in a hostile or "crazy" way -- people are curious and they want to know why he's wearing it..."

I've experienced the exact opposite reaction - maybe it's the "LOSE WEIGHT NOW, ASK ME HOW!" button.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 6:53 AM on October 8, 2004


43) Tell someone you will pray for them

Not only a great icebreaker, but a super pickup line also!
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 7:04 AM on October 8, 2004


I want to be alone.
posted by JanetLand at 7:08 AM on October 8, 2004


So if the crabby antisocialites all stay home, then it all works out well, doesn't it?
posted by yoga at 7:14 AM on October 8, 2004


I sent Scott an email to let him know that there was a conversation going on here, and asked me to post this response, since he doesn't have a mefi account:

What's up everyone? I just thought I'd drop a line, and since I can't login to Metafilter, I just emailed my friend dryad to post this for me. Anyhoo, to satisfy your curiosity, here are the 5 personality types that have responded to my nametag in the past 1,437 days:

1) 35% of the people inquire about why I'm wearing it
2) 30% of the people engage in conversation or say hello
3) 20% of the people humiliate me, most commonly in a public domain so the other people around them can see how clever they are coming up with creative, genuis remarks such as "Your name must be Scott" or "Did you have an AA meeting?"
4) 10% of the people assume I work at whatever store they see me and ask me product related questions
5) 5% of the people violate me interpersonally by a) invading my personal space, b) invading personal touch by poking my chest and telling me to take off the nametag, and c) destroy my personal property by ripping the nametag right off my chest, to which I reply by taking one of the ten extras in my wallet and reapplying it - which REALLY annoys them even further.

Sorry I couldn't login to Metafilter so more people could make fun of me. If you want, just direct all hate mail to scott@hellomynameisscott.com

See ya! Go Cardinals.

--Scott

posted by dryad at 7:59 AM on October 8, 2004


See, he's not out to meet people, he's a wind-up artist! And a pretty good one I would say.
posted by biffa at 8:07 AM on October 8, 2004


sheesh, does someone always have to tell people when we are talking about them. It's just not the same now.
posted by milovoo at 8:08 AM on October 8, 2004


A stranger is just a friend you haven't met yet! (mr_crash_davis)

Is that Adam Sandler in Punch-Drunk Love? (lagado)

I thought it was Spongebob, to Squidward. You know, one of those episodes where Mr. Squarepants' eyes get all big and liquid and each have three (count 'em, three) huge eye glints in them.

Will someone tell Spongebob I talked about him? I'm really a big fan....
posted by mmahaffie at 8:12 AM on October 8, 2004


#69: Offer to trade genitals for the weekend. Seriously, though, I applaud Scott for his efforts to extend civility.
posted by lometogo at 8:12 AM on October 8, 2004


Yeah, I hope my comment above wasn't interpreted as anything more than a wee joke. Like jonmc, I talk to strangers in the bar all the time and am never bored by it.
posted by transient at 8:22 AM on October 8, 2004


I see Beatle Bob all the time. I have never run into this guy, and I work in his zipcode.

Now all we need is a post about Baton Bob, The Ambassador of Mirth.

Go Cards.
posted by pieoverdone at 8:27 AM on October 8, 2004


Heh, from his post it sounds like Scott's not too bad of a guy. At least he takes it in stride and with humor, unlike [ahem] some people...

I also don't get why Scott wearing a nametag would annoy a passerby so much, to the point of ripping it right off his chest.

Me, I'd probably fall into the 10% of the fourth group, and would continue to ask product-related questions, despite his protestations.
posted by Fofer at 8:31 AM on October 8, 2004


So if I do this, 1 in 3 people will humiliate me, violate me interpersonally, or ask me for a price check? I like them odds!
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 8:45 AM on October 8, 2004


The internet was invented so I'd never have to meet people like this.
posted by eatitlive at 8:52 AM on October 8, 2004


18) Hug people
Whoa there, big guy. We're only a third of the way through. Back off.

The more I stare at the name Scott, the more it strikes me as odd. And I have a brother named Scott.
posted by strangeleftydoublethink at 9:38 AM on October 8, 2004


Reminds me of Talk To Me (discussed here).
posted by wobh at 9:59 AM on October 8, 2004


The idea of this sounds a lot more culturally subversive than the website appears to be (and there's nothing wrong with that).

Almost dangerous, in a Philip K. Dickian sort of way. Or maybe more Ray Bradbury. I dunno. I could just see people around Portland wearing nametags in a concerted move to reclaim identity among the corporate masses, or some such idealism.
posted by redsparkler at 11:12 AM on October 8, 2004


Ooh, ooh, for instance....the refusal of a customer in a shop to believe that you don't work for the business demonstrates a reliance on company-sponsored individuality versus creating a name for yourself in a non-consumerist-oriented way. Not to take this too far or anything.
posted by redsparkler at 11:18 AM on October 8, 2004


am i the only media-saturated moron who was reminded of the Seinfeld episode when Elaine's campaign suggestion to David Dinkins about New Yorkers wearing nametags killed his chances against Giuliani? you know, the non-fat frozen yogurt scam?

anyway ... i think there's a middle ground. we don't have to scrurry around like ants ignoring each other (to steal as phrase from "Waking Life"), but we also don't have to attract the attention of every single nutjob out there.

there are lots of amazing strangers to meet and converse with. unfortunately, there are just as many self-centered assholes. i try to pick my spots.

Go Twins!
posted by mrgrimm at 11:49 AM on October 8, 2004


So 25% of people who give a shit, are arseholes, and a fifth of them are quite possibly psychotic and/or drunk.
posted by inpHilltr8r at 12:53 PM on October 8, 2004


Go Twins!

Go anybody but the Yankees!
posted by jonmc at 1:50 PM on October 8, 2004


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