I’ve been pondering who I am. Not in the philosophical sense; I think I know. Rather in the consumer sense. For instance, when am I a passenger, a guest, a client, a patient, a customer, or something else?
It’s not clear-cut. At the same time, I think there are parameters to the various titles.
Passengers seem to be involved in transportation of all sorts: busses, planes, cruise ships. Guests belong in hotels and spas. Clients often have psychological issues; patients have physical problems. And customers? Well, they’re everywhere retail is. Or everywhere some other synonym hasn’t been commandeered. And I’m sure there are titles I’ve forgotten: clientele, travelers, invitees, etc.
What I find most interesting is that each of us accepts these titles and moves among them with ease. We would never say we are customers in a hospital setting, nor would we say we are patients at a nail spa.
Maybe it suggests how complicated our language is and how sophisticated we are in its usage.
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