You hand out status without noticing

Every exchange between two people quietly settles a small question: who matters more right now. If your work puts you in front of people, you are answering that question all day, mostly without thinking.

Picture a family dinner in Riyadh. The table is booked in the mother's name, and she orders for everyone. When the bill comes, the waiter puts it down beside her husband. No one meant any harm, and that is the problem.

People have always ranked each other. What has changed is how rarely we notice it, or stop to ask why. We turn to whoever looks most in charge and call it good manners.

If you stand behind a counter, sit at a front desk or answer messages for a small shop, this is not a side effect of the job. It is a large part of it. Who you greet first and whose question you answer properly both tell a person where they stand.

Seeing the habit will not make the ranking fair.

But once you see it, you are choosing every time: keep the old order going, or start a better one.