On Duty, Not in Charge

Rastinews —

On duty, not in charge…

We are at the airport. Four of us, traveling together. We ask the clerk at the check-in counter whether the four of us can sit together. Looking online, we can see that many seats still show as open, available for purchase. And since the flight is about to depart, it's unlikely those seats will ever be sold now. We explain all this to the clerk. They say it isn't possible. I ask whether what we're saying makes sense. They say it does. They even agree our request is reasonable, perfectly normal. But they say there is nothing they can do. The clerk is there, but they hold no authority. They sit at a desk tied to this task, yet have no power to decide on it. They understand us, they side with us, they may even want to help — but they cannot act on their own judgment. They can only do what the system in front of them allows.

In his book Situation und Konstellation. Vom Verschwinden des Spielraums ("Situation and Constellation: The Disappearance of Room to Maneuver"), published earlier this year (2026), sociologist Hartmut Rosa describes how people's room for action and decision has vanished inside modern institutions. Most of the time, people are there only to carry out a predetermined procedure. They cannot act on their own will, thought or feeling. Rules, forms, algorithms and digital systems have already decided how they must behave in any given situation. The clerk sits at the desk as though they held responsibility, but they carry no real authority to decide. Responsibility, after all, is not just carrying out an assigned task — it is the ability to read a situation and, when necessary, decide. Once the possibility of deciding is removed, only the task remains.

American sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild, whom I have mentioned in earlier columns, describes a similar process in Das gekaufte Herz: Die Kommerzialisierung der Gefühle ("The Purchased Heart: The Commercialization of Feelings"), published in Germany in 2006, drawing especially on airline employees. Hochschild shows how professionalization regulates not just behavior but how emotions themselves are expressed. Airline staff are expected not merely to carry out their duties, but to do so in a way that satisfies the customer, calms them, and makes them feel valued. So what we face is not simply a clerk with no power to decide. It is someone trained to present that powerlessness with a smile, with understanding, with empathy. The clerk cannot get angry while turning down your request, cannot show irritation, cannot openly criticize the absurdity of the system alongside you. They must make you feel understood, act warmly, and soften the refusal as much as they can.

Hochschild describes how flight attendants' smiles, tone of voice, warmth and empathy are drilled over and over, almost like rehearsing for a play. Employees are expected not just to display a certain behavior, but to produce the feeling behind it — or at least appear to. A smile is no longer a spontaneous expression of emotion; it is part of the job. The modern institution thus governs not only an employee's authority to decide, but how they are allowed to use their own emotions. The clerk cannot help you, but must look as though they want to. They cannot meet your request, but must make you feel understood. They cannot change the decision, but are obliged to make the refusal easier to bear.

To the loss of room for action and decision that Rosa describes, add the emotional labor that Hochschild documents. Not just what an employee will do, but with what expression, what tone of voice, and what emotional display, is decided in advance. Stripped of will, the clerk is then required to present that powerlessness as warmth. So the smile at the airport counter may not be a sign of a freely built human connection. That smile is the system's face turned toward the customer. The system says "No." The clerk must deliver that "No" gently, with understanding, and with a smile.

This is exactly the world we live in: everyone is on duty, but no one is in charge.

To be continued…