Why do southwest employees cover thier badges when customer ask them their name?

[bec102896 · Accepted solution]

You can always send an email to southwest with your feedback about a said employee be sure you have a good description like the tall white guy with brown hair about 6ft tall working the ticket counter at X time on X date and they can pass on the feedback good or bad. 

[YeahNoMaybe]

Most customer-facing employees at Southwest have nametags or wings on that show their first name.

There is NO reason a passenger should ever need more than that if they have a complaint. 

Southwest can go back and see who was working at any gate or on any flight on any given day with just a first name.

I do not work for Southwest but I DO work in a public-facing job where we are required to wear ID badges with our full names on them.  I can tell you MULTIPLE stories of co-workers being tracked down and sent messages on social media, Facebook, etc by customers who read full names off of ID badges.  I can tell you that my coworkers who have experienced this have found it quite unsettling.

With the way the world is these days, it can actually be quite a safety concern for a disgruntled or irate customer to know an employee's full name.