One of the themes that Carl Pritchard brought up on Friday is avoiding barriers between you and your audience. The more barriers you put between yourself and the people you're attempting to relate to, the more likely they'll sense it, or start rationalizing a reason for it, and none of it is to your benefit.

On Friday I stopped into a nearby HEB supermarket to pick up a couple items.  It seems they decided to rearrange their cashiers station so all the equipment is between the customers and the cashiers.  It's a fairly high barrier, up to my chest (and I'm tall).  I noticed one cashier behind mine who could barely see over the equipment. In the last year or so they've started requiring their cashiers to ask you if you want to make a purchase of some item they store at the cashier station, and watching the woman's arm snake around to show it to me just looked convoluted. 

I have to wonder what went into the decision making process, because it says defensive and separatist things to consumers standing there.  It may be for ergonomic purposes, but it certainly looked like a cumbersome set up to me.

The card reader device between cashiers and customers was one thing, as it was on a surface that people could use to write checks, get out coupons and such, and was still low enough that you could chat with the cashier.  Friday, I couldn't help but imagine a cage around the cashier. I actually found myself unable to stop thinking about these barriers, and how I didn't want to shop at a place that put them up.

Think about the barriers you're putting up, and the messages associated with them.