Samuel van der Swaagh

11/26/12

EoW Interview Narrative

            In the area of Greenwich Village, there exists a computer service company called CEfix that is located between 7th Avenue Hudson Street. The computer shop is located on Christopher Street in a modern picturesque 10 story building. CEfix resides essentially in the heart of the art district and holds a reputation of unparalleled customer service. In fact, whenever NOVA’s technology crew faces difficult or tedious technical problems, the CEfix technicians will usually direct costumers to CEfix. After having my five year old 08 Mac Desktop revived by the small tech shop, I became curious about CEfix’s inner workings. On November 12, 2012, I decided to have an interview with one of the CEfix employees in order to gain insight on the place’s culture.

            On November 13, 2012 at 12:00 P.M., I scheduled an interview with one of the CEfix employees. At the time, the only available worker was Bob Dilan, CEfix’s visual coordinator. On my arrival to CEfix at 11:45 P.M., Bob Dilan gave me a quick tour of the workplace. Bob Dilan is a tall lanky person with wispy hair and a pale complexion. Bob’s appearance closely matches that of a stereotypical white young New York artist. The employee’s apparel consisted of causal blue track jacket, jeans, bright vans, and a T-shirt. After this brief overview of CEfix space, I asked Bob if I could tape the interview with an audio recorder. Bob consented; however, he suggested that we move to the French café across the street. The interview convened towards the back of the room, which was adjacent to the bakery’s lively kitchen, and lasted from 11:45 to 12:20.

            I began the interview with a few introductory questions such as “What was his professional background?” and “How did he stumble upon this job?” With such open ended questions, Bob led the discussion in an interesting direction. While sipping green tea and eating a macaroon, Bob answered the questions by talking about his art endeavors and CEfix’s art community:

“I went to art school in Philadelphia and graduated and moved up to NYC. I aspired to be a full time artist, but to pay the rent I was working at a real estate place, and an antiques place. Then I began working at a technology place, which is where I work now in Greenwich Village. I am an artist, so this became a job that sprang up and the location is very good for artists. In Greenwich Village there are three hundred galleries. On Thursdays I usually tend to clock out, and tend to walk to the art galleries. Also, there are a lot of ‘creatives,’ artists, and musicians who work at this technology store that I work at.”

While Bob spoke, I realized that I needed to change the focus of my question. My original intention of presenting the questions was to lead us into conversation about the place’s employment history and technicalities. The interview moved toward a discussion about the culture within CEfix.

           Slightly surprised by CEfix’s strong art culture, I encourage Bob to elaborate on how art impacts the workspace by asking “Do artists and Mac lovers visit CEfix frequently?” Bob’s response, which is recorded below, was full of enthusiasm. Bob quickly described the mood of technology store by saying:

“Yeah, it’s like a creative club. And sometimes on Fridays we’ll have what’s called a creative Friday, where a musician will come in. Recently we had a gift artist, an artist who makes gifts. A whole variety of creative people come in. Yeah, Macs are a really creative tool for very creative people (e.g. photographers, musicians, and filmmakers). CEfix is a technological club, a creative club in the city.”

In short, as Bob stated earlier, CEfix reflects the general spirit of the neighborhood. Merely by listening to Bob, it was evident that the technology store has a great sense for the art community.

            After Bob painted such a vibrant picture of CEfix, I asked him what a typical work day looked like. Bob answered the question almost in list form. As the interviewee admits in the following quote, Bob largely has a spontaneous work routine. Bob explains below:

“Well, I work with one of the owners who usually arrive at noon. He’s kind of a night owl. He started the company, and working with him is, you know, an enormous pressure. I tend to arrive at work around 10:00 and work until 6:00. I start out checking my email. I work with the graphic designer, who prints out a lot of signs to display up on the window displays, and cuts signs within the store. I have meetings with one of the managers about upcoming events and store projects. I also work with the technicians if they need something at the work station. In addition, there are times that I am doing construction. I do not have a set routine. It’s great, it’s not monotonous. This week for example, there’s a business expo at the Armory. So yeah, I’ll be cruising up there. So at the store I do a whole variety of things. Sometimes friends come in and I help them expedite the process of repairs or picking up their computer or buying accessories or an iPhone, Whatever goes on at the store I wear a lot of hats.”

While Bob roughly outlined his daily responsibilities, I was amazed in how Bob could manage his CEfix work while balancing his art career. Although, Bob has an unusual work schedule, I could not help think that Bob has more flexibility than his co-workers. My reason behind this assumption was that Bob presented himself more as an employee of the visual department, which seemed to require less time commitment than, for example, a full time technician or IT worker.

           In order to test my speculation I asked Bob whether or not he had flexibility in his work schedule. Bob’s response was in the negative:

“I do have this health care thing where I have to work fulltime (45 hours) in order to receive it. I would like to see that changed in the United States where it is not so [pause] rigid. Yeah, it just seems ridiculous that we still have not evolved beyond, you know, this paradigm.”

The tone of Bob’s answer expressed slight agitation. Although Bob seemed to enjoy his work, the time mandatory commitment discouraged him. His true passion was art.

            I then asked “What drives you to arrive at work every morning?” Bob’s answer to the opened ended question was illuminating:

“Well, it’s making money. On a practical level, with my art, I don’t have an agent and I am not necessarily pressing it on others that much. So I really don’t have a steady income for my art, and paying my rent [cogitates for moment]. Also, as a Christian, I do believe that it is good to help others and to be diligent. I mean, ‘a man that does not work should not eat.’ In order to thrive these days, one needs to work. In addition while scanning the fields (i.e. given all the choices), I do enjoy dealing with technology. You know, one of my friends recommended that I work at one of the art schools (e.g. SPA). But I think/fear that it would morph into something more rigid. It is fun and fascinating putting tools into to artists’ hands, and helping with the creative process. And in twenty twelve I’d say one of the best tools is computers.”

Despite Bob’s qualms about his work hours, the artist understood that in order survive in this world you have to work for money. His religious convictions also seemed to play a role in driving him to work. In addition, Bob expressed gratitude for his CEfix position in that he finds CEfix to be more fulfilling than all the other employment options that were open to him.

            Bob talked fondly about work at CEfix. I wanted to know, however, whether or not most of his co-workers had a similar attachment to their work. I followed up with another question: “What motivates your co-workers through a day?” Bob’s reply consisted of the following:  

“Well, it depends upon the person. Some are genuinely [paused] looking out to help others. And a percentage [voice drifts] are just there to see the pay check. So I like to say that people (we), you know, go through the application process. We have a good employee chart department. They can really read people. And they try to bring people in who genuinely enjoy what they do.”

As one will probably agree with me, although Bob responded honestly, as recorded above, to my previous question, I sensed that my interviewee was offering me a generic answer. This was my fault in that I am the one that asked the cliché question. I decided to ask a more specific question such as “What are the requirement and desired skills in order to work at CEfix?” Unfortunately, Bob’s reply to this question yielded similar results. Bob’s answers were becoming steadily less informative as the interview prolonged. I finally made the tactical decision to ask to a scenario question.

           I presented the question as follows: “So I understand that NOVA likes to send customers to CEfix whenever they face a problem that they are unable or unwilling to resolve. Why is this? Are you able to give some specifics?” Bob responded by saying:

“Well if they have older machines, we tend to have technicians that have been working since the store opened in 1987. There are some technicians that go back ages. At the NOVA CEfix technicians they might have a system set up that are only dealing with computers from the past five years, with some exceptions. So it just makes more sense to them, rather than really crunching the numbers on older machines, they send them our way so we can process them through. And sometimes if it is a really complex arrangement and they’re dealing with a lot of raids, you know, they are looking for a big video/audio pro solution that’s more than fixing someone’s desktop/laptop. [NOVA] sends them our way so that we can map out systems that will work for big companies.”

I found Bob’s response to this question particularly interesting because I believe it provides insight into CEfix as a business. Prior to the interview, perhaps I would have viewed CEfix as a technology store with highly competent and knowledgeable technician workers. However, I would have never thought of CEfix as place that has more specialized equipment than NOVA.

            Observing that I had gained more momentum from my interviewee, I asked Bob to state the most challenging parts of his job. Bob’s answer was twofold:

“The [first] challenging part of my job would be the system in terms of having to deal with, you know, asking permission to go on vacation. ‘Can I go this week or that week?’ The 45 hour mandatory a week, and yeah, just that system thing is challenging for an artist. Clocking in and clocking out is insulting, from an angle. But yeah, you just curb that because you know it’s necessary to have order. However, during those weekly 45 hours, I often think of all the studio time that I could have. You think of a lot of musicians, and actors who clock out and run.

[The second would be] well, to break the news to a customer that a recovery is pretty challenging because of complex procedures and it’s expensive. So, if someone loses his data and brings in the machine and the costumer would like to retrieve it, you know, it’s not like ‘give me 50 dollars.’ [Rather] it’s like ‘give me 150 dollars.’”

A common theme in Bob’s work struggles is that he has to deny himself certain things. In other words, in order to perform his job professionally, he has to sacrifice studio time and sometimes present costumers with bad news.

           Seeing that Bob possessed many opinions about his workspace, I asked him whether or not there was anything else that he would consider changing at his job.  Bob responded with the following answer:

"Yeah, I’d mentioned it to one the owners. I would like to see a satellite store in lower eastside. I think that would be very cool because there are a lot of artists around there. And, yeah, it would be advantageous for me. I could simply walk to work. As it is, I bike to work, which is fine. And yeah, Greenwich Village is a great place. I am not complaining, but I think it would be a need for the City to have another go to location.”

Although Bob holds to certain viewpoints, Bob seemed to like CEfix. If given the opportunity, Bob indicated that he would expand CEfix’s presence and service within the City. In other words, Bob supports CEfix as a business despite having personal setbacks.

            Sensing that Bob was becoming weary of my questions, I concluded with the questions “What are some perks of working at CEfix?” And “Is there anything else you would like to add or say?” Bob replied to these questions by saying:

“Well sometimes the company will pay for movie tickets for all the employees to go to a movie that relates to technology [and] kind of relates to the attitude of the store. Those are fun times. [I enjoy] bonding with co-workers outside of the office or store. I also like the freedom, the autonomy, where friends are showing up and I can [claps quickly] catch up. And a lot friend do come in through the week and check in. So I really like just that human element. The more I see that, the happier I am. The flip side would be just a big sky scraper full of cubicles. [I find such type of work] very dehumanizing. So when I do see a workplace where people are being human, it makes me happy.”

Again, Bob expressed deep gratitude for where he works. The overall culture of CEfix seems to be appealing to Bob. According to Bob’s final words, CEfix performs a good job of promoting community within and outside the workspace. Despite being around computers all day, Bob enjoys the human element of working at CEfix.

            While conducting the interview, I believe that my interviewee has offered me insight into CEfix as a culture and business. Prior to my conversation with Bob, I would have never imagined that a technology store could act as a hub for artistic expression. Bob fondly describes CEfix as a “creative club in the city.” After reflecting upon Bob’s words, it makes sense that CEfix would engage with Greenwich Village’s art community. Nonetheless, I believe that CEfix stands in stark contrast to many other technologies stores in that the workplace possesses a unique clash between art and technology. Also, although Bob communicated frustration over certain aspects of his work, these challenges seemed more inconvenient than burdensome. I hold to the position that Bob genuinely enjoys working at CEfix. Throughout the interview Bob stated that he liked his diverse job description, the human component, and the technological work at CEfix. Of all the fields available to him, Bob was thankful that he fell into a job that involves human interaction and technology. CEfix seems like a place for artists, technicians, and community builders.

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Disclaimer: In this version of the interview narrative, the worksite address and name of my interviewee were fictionalized in order to protect the privacy of my informant.