Just Your Average Buisnnes Man

Posted on December 20, 2006 by Ted Thompson

For the first time since we opened our doors, the 826NYC staff has business cards. We have mixed emotions about this. On the one hand it's rather convenient to be able to hand someone our information when they ask without having to explain that our name comes from a street address in San Francisco. On the other hand there's something beautiful about being card-free—it means that we get to know people on a community level rather than a business one, that we know them primarily by their first names and from face-to-face interactions. I know it seems absurd to complain about the organization growing. We just hired our sixth (!) staffer and that means we're able to serve many more people beyond our community. It's just that when I asked Alex, age 8, to fill in the details of my card yesterday, it's funny that "Buisnnes Man" was the first thing that came to his mind. I always thought of us more as "Comunnitee Membrs".