Selena Framingham is a 24-year-old woman from the South. She was the first in her family to attend college, and she was very proud of the fact that she paid for her entire education by earning scholarships and working summers at a theme park, Amazing Adventures. The hours were long at the theme park, but she and the other workers had a good time despite the oppressively hot weather, cranky children, and obnoxious parents. Besides, she made good money, and she had graduated debt free thanks to numerous scholarships and grants.
After receiving her undergraduate degree, Selena worked full-time doing public relations for a nonprofit company. She quickly became disillusioned with the job, and after doing this work for a little over a year, she decided that neither public relations nor the nonprofit world was a good fit for her. She decided to pursue a graduate degree and was excited to be accepted into a prestigious program. However, attending graduate school full-time was even more expensive than funding her undergraduate degree. She received a grant, which paid for part of her tuition, but she found she had to work both part-time during the semester and full-time during the summer to pay for both school and her living expenses.
Selena contacted Bonnie, one of her old friends at Amazing Adventures, and asked if she might be able to get a job at a senior level for the summer. “Gee Selena, I don’t think there are any management-level jobs open, and even if there were, I don’t think they would be seasonal. But let me check around and see what I can do,” Bonnie replied.
Bonnie had moved up the ladder at Amazing Adventures, starting with Selena at a concession stand at the age of 18 before they were both promoted to ride operators. Bonnie had stayed with the company when Selena took the public relations job, and now she worked in the accounts payable department of the business office.
The next day, Bonnie called Selena. “Hey, would you mind working in the ticket office this summer? I know it isn’t management, but I can make sure your seniority is used to calculate your pay grade. Plus, the ticket booth is air-conditioned, and best of all, there’s no cleaning up involved!” Selena thought it was a good option to make a decent salary for the summer and decided to go for it.
On her first day back at work, she found a lot of the original management had left, including supervisors who had been there for a long time. Fortunately, Selena was told she would be working for Sam, whom she had known as a ride operator back in the good old days in the park. Sam had always been easy going, and she figured he would be the same laid-back guy she had hung out with in the past. While at work, Selena did everything she could to be what she considered a good employee. She typically did whatever her supervisors told her to do because she respected authority. And, if she were completely honest, she knew there were bonuses at the end of the summer if a supervisor thought you had been an exemplary employee.
Selena and Sam quickly fell into a habit. Each time he walked by her ticket booth, he would give her a different task to do, which was mainly tedious busywork. One day, he commanded, “Straighten up the maps and distribute some of them to the other ticket counters.” Being the good employee she was, Selena hastily agreed and did it immediately.
On another day, Sam demanded, “The glass on these booths has fingerprints all over it. Get the glass cleaner, and clean it up.” He didn’t even stop to deliver his orders; he just yelled at her as he was walking by. Again, she quickly responded to his request.
This pattern continued for over a week, and Selena began to silently fume about his behavior. “Just who the heck does he think he is?” she silently contemplated. “I’ve known him for over 5 years, and I’m the one with a college degree and working on my master’s degree. I deserve a little more respect!” she thought. But she didn’t say anything; she just did what she was told to do.
During her third week on the job, she called Sam over to her booth because she needed more change. He came over to her register with the change, as requested. When he did so, he saw several promotional cards piled to the side of the register. The promotional cards were given by local companies, and they worked as discounts to the park.
Sam challenged Selena, “What are these doing here?” Selena was confused by the question. “Sometimes people want them back after they buy their tickets. I keep a few of them in a pile and throw them out later,” she responded.
Sam rolled his eyes and sighed deeply. “Selena, throw these cards out so you don’t get them confused with new ones.” Selena was taken aback by his request. “I have never once confused an old card with a new card,” she protested. He rebutted, “Throw them out anyway.”
Without thought, Selena argued, “I would have thrown them out eventually, and I was going to throw them out soon anyway. I just keep them because some people want them back.”
Sam responded sarcastically, “You shouldn’t wait until they pile up like that, and obviously you haven’t given anyone back their cards because they are sitting there in a pile.”
For Selena, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back. She couldn’t believe Sam was nit picking about something so trivial! “Don’t tell me how to do my job, Sam. I know what I’m doing. I’ve been here longer than you,” she screamed, her temper rising.
Sam looked at her, laughed, and threw the cards in the bin underneath the register. Walking away, he didn’t acknowledge Selena in any way. Selena stood there and sputtered, thinking she would complain to Sam’s supervisor. However, before she could do so, a human resources representative approached her and told her she was being reassigned to a concession stand.

Questions for Consideration

1. This chapter suggests two decisions each communicator should make: whether to be direct or indirect and whether to compensate or reciprocate. Discuss both Selena’s and Sam’s behavior in terms of these two decisions, articulating what in each case leads you to the conclusions you draw.

2. Do you believe Selena and Sam are competent communicators? Why, or why not? What could they do to improve their communication competence?

3. What ethical challenges does incompetent communication bring with it? How does greater understanding of what communication competence entails lead to more ethical interaction?

4. Discuss how each of the following influenced Selena’s and Sam’s behavior:
1. cohesion/connection/in-groups 2. expectations 3. face 4. power/control 5. relationships 6. rewards 7. uncertainty