Clay dupree



Joseph DupreeUWRT 1103-021Inquiry Project #35/1/2018The Trick to Making Tips“Hey, how are y’all? Welcome to Pizza Inn.” This was how I would usually greet new customers entering the Pizza Inn along 40/42. The act of a server always starts with the greeting. It doesn’t necessarily make or break the rest of the experience for the customer, but it certainly sets the stage for what’s to come. Among the greeting, there are so many techniques, tactics, telepathy, tips, and tricks that a server must know in order to flourish financially. The trick to being an amazing server is allowing the secondary discourse of a server become second nature to you. You have to play a “role” and act a part to get the big tips; every good server knows this. After spending over a year at Pizza Inn, I pretty much have that acting role down pat. Now... what can I get you to drink?Before starting as a waiter, I was shy and antisocial. In deciding to become a waiter, I knew it would push me out of my comfort zone as a person. One of my main fears about being a waiter was being awkward in front of the customers. Despite these inhibitions, I wanted to be a waiter to make me social and outgoing. Like all plays, you have to dress the part. Like almost all jobs, there was a “dress code” at Pizza Inn. Much to my dismay, it was not a particularly stylish dress code. As a waiter, I had to wear khakis(or black pants), a short-sleeve button down, non-slip shoes(black or otherwise), a full-length apron, and a big red bow tie to top it off. During a promotion, we actually had to wear these Pizza Inn construction hats to promote a sale. There could be no dangly jewelry or long-length hair. So, girls had to pull their hair up into a bun, etc. In addition, they couldn’t have their nails painted or be wearing fake nails; many girls broke this mandation without a peep from a manager. We also had to be carrying around a big serving tray at “all times.” Also like in most jobs, there was a training period to get workers acclimated to working their jobs. The training for a server was only 3 days at Pizza Inn. So, during that training we could have up to three different official “trainers.” My first trainer was a guy named Ralph. Tall, heavier set, with a kind face, and a kind of annoying/joking personality. He taught my first lesson in being fake. He demonstrated to me as he went up to a table and made a corny joke that you have to “joke and play around” with customers so they like you. My second trainer, Jacob, was a more heavier set guy that worked half his time at Pizza Inn as a manager. I also picked up some techniques from him by his actions when dealing with customers. He would always greet customers with “Hi, sweetie, welcome to Pizza Inn, how many do y’all have? ... You can follow me.” He would say this in a very country down-home dialect, which always made even me crack up. I quickly figured out that these two waiters were the “personable” type of waiters. In my learning the secondary discourse of a waiter, I observed different waiting styles while developing my own. The “role” you play can affect your tip in a big way. I would say there are 5 main types of servers: personable, professional, flirtatious, pity-party, and uninterested. All of these waiting styles, with an exception to uninterested, are a variation of the “fake” persona that a server takes on.A personable waiter assumes a role as your friend or pal from grade-school. They start out by greeting you with your name(if they remember it), or a soft term like “sweetie.” Then they hold their hands together like a little b**** waiting to receive orders. They’ll say something like “What would you like to drink darling?” Jacob was notorious for acting this way towards customers, when in reality he never acts like that outside of waiting. The other servers would always joke around about how Jacob interacts with customers because it is so over-exaggerated and nice. Ralph, for example, would tell stories and make jokes to act friendly in hopes of a higher tip. Personable style type waiters would usually go to the tables excessively, which to some customers is annoying or tedious. When a personable server hands the customer the bill, they usually will leave them with something like, “Have a blessed day.” This is to suggest that the waiter is religious or moral, validating their character in the customer's eyes.The next style of serving is professional which is exactly what it sounds like: stark, mildly friendly, with only necessary interaction with customers. These type of waiters greet with “Welcome to Pizza Inn, how many?” We had one strictly professional waiter at Pizza Inn, named Ian. He was around my age at the time, like 18. Ian wore glasses and walked stiffly as if he was not in a comfortable situation. We would always joke that he was like a robot with customers, but customers always seemed to like him pretty well. The professional-type waiter is attentive and knowledgeable about the menu, answering any questions a customer might have. A flirtatious-style server is pretty much an offspring from the personable type server. These type of waiters will be overly nice, and giggly with particularly opposite-sex customers. There were definitely a few of those at Pizza Inn. One in particular, Tammy, would give all the men a little nudge or put a light hand on their shoulder. Tammy was an older lady, probably about 60 with dyed blonde hair and a pretty trashy-acting personality. She would always greet customers with, “Hey doll, (name if she knew it), do you want to sit in my section?” Of course when a waiter asks if someone wants to sit in their section, the customer is most-likely not gonna say no. So, this became a problem when Tammy would “overseat” herself, which is basically giving herself most of the tables and not giving anyone else many tables. (Jacob would also overseat himself, which got him into some trouble with the other staff/managers). Flirtatious servers will talk in a sweet voice(women) and treat the customer as if he is the only one they care about. In addition, this is where body language really affects the tip because if a waitress “accidentally” drops their pen in front of you and bends down to get it, that might lead to a better tip depending on the customer. It sounds distasteful, but in a not so upscale restaurant, quite a bit of the clientele will be more than willing to give a couple extra bucks to a “sweet” waitress. I even had a saying, “The tighter the pants, the tighter the wallet.” It might sound bad to sexaulize the waiting job, but honestly that is a huge part of servers getting good tips. The next style of waiting is giving the customer the ol’ “pity-party.” At Pizza Inn, we were strictly warned to not suggest money troubles or struggles to try to guilt-trip the customer into a good tip. The managers actually told us we could get fired. So, that just sets the stage for all waiters to put their “happy face” on and pretend like we just love working at the Pizza Inn. Anyways, some waiters/waitresses would still intentionally act “pitiful” or act like they are struggling in order to coex the customer into giving a better tip. Tammy would do this some times and many times it worked. She would talk about her struggles as a single mom, hint that she had a lot of college bills for her son. Most people would fall for this scheme and feel bad for her thinking she was just a poor old lady struggling to make ends meet working as a waitress. Not to say, that Tammy’s story wasn’t true(many workers at the Pizza Inn had money issues like that) but as customers, Tammy’s life shouldn’t be of concern to them. Another waitress who would pity-party customers(whether intentionally or not) was Jessica. She was a heavier white, younger middle-aged woman with brown hair. She would always walk around the restaurant sweating like she just ran a marathon and it honestly probably made some customers feel for her. There is a lot of walking involved when being a server, especially at Pizza Inn. The Pizza Inn I worked at was an old Golden Corral, so there was a lot of ground to cover. It being a buffet-style restaurant, there was a lot of plates to take to the back and requests to fill, so walking was strenuous. Besides that, Jessica’s sweating was on another level and when should would go to her tables she would sound short-of-breath. I’m sure this resulted in pity from some customers, whether it was intentional on Jessica’s part or not. The last type of server is the uninterested server. This server is the worst type of server because customers don’t usually get what they need and they end up leaving unhappy. We had a few waiters/waitresses that were like this. One of them was a guy name Jakob. Jakob was around my age at 17 or 18 and looked pretty sleazy overall. His pants were slightly baggy, he walked around with a slouch, and he just didn’t engage with the customers. An uninterested waiter only checks on their tables every now and then and has only strict “order” and “receive” conversation with customers. This is usually the house least-favorite for customers because customers want to believe that servers actually care about them and their day-day life.All of these types of waiting styles can be utilized depending on the customer. Some customers do just want the waiter to fill up their drink and then leave them alone. Gauging the needs and wants of a customer is all a mind game. Playing one of these “roles” can lead to a very good tip or a very not-so-good tip or even a non-existent tip. In more cases than not, a personable and professional style of serving is the best way to go. Customers like to feel like you care about them and their day-to-day life(trust me 95% of the time we couldn’t care less that your child won their baseball game). However, being too nice can result in neglect of duties, so a customer always wants their server to be nice but knowledgeable and attentive to their needs. God only knows the trouble that will come if someone has to drink slightly diluted sweet tea (I actually had this happen). Sometimes being a flirty server can lead to a bigger tip(typically when a waitress has a single guy at her table) but it can be risky because when a customer’s feelings are involved they can get offended easily. Also, managers would not want to see a server flirting with customers. I can’t fathom the number of notes that some of my waitress friends have received from customers asking for their number. When developing my own waiting style, I saw all of these conflicting personalities from staff and customers. My personality outside of work elicits a more professional style of serving. However, I knew I had to learn how to become personable and friendly because that is where the big tips lay. At the end of the day, that is where most of our pay comes from; tips. So, I adopted this persona that I’m a social butterfly and I even inherited this “laugh”(every server has one of these laughs that is so fake, but undetected by customers). As hard as I tried I couldn’t resist giving a fake smile, laugh, or giggle here and there. It becomes instinct… second nature. Most servers don’t do this, but I tried to be genuine in my interactions with customers. I actually did care about these people at first because I couldn’t extract myself from the situation. As a waiter, you can’t do that. You are almost forced to have some degree of “fakeness” because genuineness doesn’t get tips. I did this just by working more and more...It only gets better with time. At the start of my career as a waiter, I was awkward and standoffish with customers. I cringe thinking about it but I would even give customers a thumbs up when they left and told them to “Have a nice day.” Slowly though, I realized that as a waiter I am allowed to play a different me and act a part in this huge movie that is waiting on tables. Once I abandoned that shy part of my personality I relied on my professionality before I adapted to being personable.There are many stages to becoming an amazing waiter. There are even more duties and responsibilities. It is not easy. You have to answer calls, memorize the menu, take to-go orders, check people out, dump off dirty plates, sweep carpet(yes carpet), mop, clean bathrooms, etc. At the top of the hierarchy is tending to your tables. Any good waiter knows that this is of utmost importance. The managers don’t always understand, but what they say isn’t as important to our wallet at the end of the day. Despite what customers may think, all of our actions as servers are calculated and precise with that end goal always being a large tip. The title of “server,” requires us to serve you, but you are not God. You may pay the bill but at the end of the day, we are the ones collecting it. Are you ready for your receipt? 1). Basketball: I played basketball for Upward from around kindergarten to 5th grade. Playing on a team, you have to know your position on the court and your teammate’s positions. It is imperative to not “hog” the ball or in other words be selfish and try to take the ball down the court and shoot it with no help whatsoever. Many times this will lead to the ball being stolen or angry teammates. Instead you have to look to see who is “open” and cooperate with your teammates to hear if someone says “ball.” That means they want you to pass it to them. It is short words or slang words like “ball” that are important to know and understand in order for your team to succeed in a game or practice session.Band: I played in my middle school band from 6th grade to 8th grade. I started out playing the clarinet and then I switched to the tenor saxophone. I participated in Jazz band as well and achieved first chair in all-county and all-district competitions representing Clayton Middle. There are so many words that you have to become second nature to you while playing in the band. You have to know what the notes “G”, “A”, etc. and know what gestures to make on your specific instrument to produce the intended sound. If even one person plays a wrong note, it will cause the whole band to become “unharmonized.” Everybody else can be doing exactly what they need to, but if one person is off it can ruin the whole concert song. In band you have to know what gestures to make with your hands, mouth, and body as a whole to present a successful performance to the audience. All of these actions/knowledge have to become second nature to a band performer.Serving: I started waiting on tables about a week or two before the beginning of my senior year in highschool. I worked at the Pizza Inn in Garner, NC for over a year(right before the beginning of college). Being a waiter changes your whole perspective of people, restaurants, and social interactions. As a waiter you have to be conscientious of every single action, word, and motion you make around customers. You have to learn to leave out your personal emotions or feelings when dealing with customers or other staff. You also have to be very good at reading customers. Should I be personal with them? Should I be distant towards them and have little interaction with them vocally? Or should I be about in between? What’s more important than the vocal language you have in a restaurant setting is your physical interactions and encounters with customers. Just a ‘tap’ on the shoulder or a slight smile could be the difference between a 5 dollar tip and a 10 dollar tip. As a waiter you have to become accustomed to “playing a role” and being very convincing at it.2)Serving: I’m choosing to write about the literacy and secondary discourse of a waiter. I know that I have a lot of stories that will really contribute to making this paper interesting, funny, and enlightening. Being a waiter has really changed my mindset about people and my social life. I have always been a shy person when interacting with people and so being a waiter has really helped me overcome that in a lot of ways. I wanted to be a waiter not only because my cousin and twin brother already were servers at Pizza Inn, but also to help me with my social anxiety. I’ve learned so much about other people and about myself in my time as a waiter. I think the topics about basketball and band are good topics, but they happened quite a while ago, so I think I will remember a bit more about the secondary discourse of a waiter. In addition, the language and discourse working in a restaurant is super complex, so I will have more to work with doing this topic. Being a waiter required me to juggle between my role as a server and my role as a person outside of that. When I first started, even a warm greeting was challenging because I would dread being awkward in front of a customer. Then I gradually learned to remove myself from the situation and play this “role.” Under my role as a waiter, I was friendly and more confident when it came to social interaction. I would cycle through this routine with every customer. Greeting, seating, getting drinks, taking orders (most customers would order buffet/salad bar), refill drinks/take finished plates (throughout), ask if the bill is “split” or “together”, give customers the bill/wish them a nice day, and clean off the table after they leave. Every customer is different, so it is very difficult to stick to this routine, but I managed. In addition you have to adapt to different personalities in an instant. Older people tend to want more personal/genuine interaction. With young people I had to put more of myself into interactions with them because I could relate to them. Middle-aged people/families are kind of a toss up; some just care about how fast you can fill their drink and don’t really care about interaction, while others are offended if you don’t give them a huge smile. I won’t get into the whole discourse/literacy of a waiter right now because it is simply too complex to put into one paragraph. I will go into my role as a waiter and all of the different relationships that a waiter has to address during the course of being “on the clock”(dealing with other staff/managers and customers). It isn’t just simply taking orders and filling drinks like many may believe.Joseph DupreeAnnotated BibliographyProfessor BlaireUWRT 1103-02110 April 2018Secondary Discourse of a Server: An Annotated Bibliography“Doing the Dirty Work: Emotion Work, Professionalism, and Sexuality in a Customer ServiceEconomy.” ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2000. The article investigates how service workers (mainly waitstaff and sex workers) achieve some control over their wages and working conditions. It attempts to explain how workers are seen by customers and how that image affects their pay, etc. Another crucial point to this article is how it compares and differentiates these interactions in three, similar but different, working environments. The writer, Dr. Judith A. Howard describes how she gained employment at a fine-dining restaurant, a breakfast diner, and a strip club, and goes into detail on her interactions there. She highlights the necessity for emotional, professional, and sexual tactics in these workplaces. This article is important to include for my paper because it acknowledges the comparisons of working in a restaurant to working at a strip club. Many people don’t realize that being a waiter (or stripper) requires more than just physical actions. It requires a huge emotional and sexual aspect while still maintaining professionalism. It provided affirmation to me that emotional and sexual tactics do affect a waiter’s/waitress tip. I appreciate how Dr. Howard acknowledges how a lot of this type of work service is “unseen”, which is so important to recognize in order for people to understand the waiting job. I believe this article can really contribute to enlightening people who view the waiting service as being for “dumb people.”Damrosch, Phoebe. Service Included : Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter. WilliamMorrow, 2007. Service Included: Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter brings the reader into the world of the writer during her time as a waitress. Phoebe Damrosch was a young, skilled writer and attained a job as a waitress at Per Se, a cafe in New York City. During her time as a waitress there, Phoebe spends much of her time writing about the intricate job of a server. The servers at Per Se were all in the arts and many would leave to pursue those aspirations, such as singing or dance. Phoebe “art” was writing and in this book she goes to great lengths to capture a career of a waiter in this writing. She goes in depth about restaurant table service as she experienced it.This book is crucial to include in my paper because it is a first-hand account of a former waitress. It can provide specific insight to the career of a server that is impossible to capture without Damrosch’s knowledge of the waiting service. Service Included provides many different interviews/comments from other servers at the restaurant Per Se as well. I think this book is important to include because it does give a different aspect of a waiting job compared to where I worked. This book takes place at a cafe in New York City, while I worked at a Pizza buffet-style restaurant in Garner, NC. In addition, the waiters/waitresses at Per Se were aspiring artists and that is quite different from the type of staff I was working with at Pizza Inn.Choi, Choongbeom, and Atul Sheel. “Assessing the Relationship Between Waiting Services andCustomer Satisfaction in Family Restaurants.” Journal of Quality Assurance inHospitality & Tourism, vol. 13, no. 1, 2012, pp. 24–36.,doi:10.1080/1528008X.2012.643186. This article displays the results of a scientific study. This study explores the relationship between the services offered to waiting consumers and customer satisfaction. Five key constructs were arrived at as a conclusion. These significant areas of waiting service are “human service, visual media service, menu service, sitting service, and notice service.” These five conditions were found to affect customer satisfaction. The goal of this article is to provide restaurant owners/managers and even staff with useful knowledge to improve customer satisfaction in a restaurant environment.I find this article useful for my paper because it provides are more concrete scientific approach to the waiting service. Using this article, I think it will help balance my paper by backing up claims from the other article/books. This article can help dissect the proponents of the waiting service from a perspective counter-intuitive to that of a first-hand account, perhaps. I am interested to see the alignments and also the contradictions between the data presented in this article compared to my personal experience and the experience presented in other sources. “Restaurant Orientation.” Films Media Group, 2006,fod.PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=149262&xtid=36504. Accessed 10 Apr.2018.Restaurant Orientation is a informative video that gives the viewers a general sense of working in the food industry. The video was filmed at an assortment of popular Philadelphia eating establishments. It is a mashup of different clips and videos filmed at these various eateries. Restaurant Orientation gives unexperienced viewers an inside look of what a job at a restaurant would entail. This video includes the viewpoints/commentary of “waiters, bartenders, managers, owners, hosts, busboys, dishwashers, and cooks and chefs of every type.” It really nicely shows the diversity of staff, occupations, duties, and pay within a restaurant. In addition, the video includes significant commentary from staff and owners of the “upside” and “downside” of their specific jobs and includes good intel on why those people ‘do what they do.’I wasn’t expecting much from this video going into it because it would be difficult to capture the essence of working in a restaurant while cameras are rolling. However, I was surprised to find that the clips included did a nice job in giving a general overview of the occupations of not only a waiter at one of these establishments. They also give a significant view of other types of workers that a waiter has to work alongside with or come in contact with during a shift. In Restaurant Orientation, I think it is important to note the commentary of why these workers do what they do. Their comments were universally about getting to meet new people and working with and around other people, which was a huge part of why I was a waiter for over a year. Wassersug, Joseph D. “Every Doctor Should Work as a Waiter: When You Rely on Tips, YouQuickly Learn How to Make the Customer Happy.(Column).” Medical Economics, vol.83, no. 4, 2006, p. 40. This article explains how it would be beneficial for doctors to have waiter experience before becoming doctors. The author, who now lives in a retirement home, has heard many complaints from other residents about the “poor service” they receive from the doctors. Just a few complaints being, “Doctors don’t listen, doctors don’t spend time, doctors are always hurried, doctors don’t return phone calls…” The writer, Joseph Wassersug, suggests that learning to wait on tables be a part of medical training. Wassersug furthers claims that his earlier job as a waiter provided him with the best training to become a “good” doctor. He states, “When you earn your pay primarily from tips, you learn very quickly how important it is to please the customer.” Wassersug is suggesting that because doctors are paid a salary, the customer isn’t put first, as in the case of making tips (waiting job). This is a really interesting article I would like to include in my paper because Wassersug has a really good point. Waiters/waitresses do learn to please the customer because it is how they make most of their money. Making doctors learn that same training could be very beneficial for patients. I also think it is essential to recognize that “good” servers are required to excel in these social factors in many cases more so than a doctor. A waiting job and an occupation as a doctor are at completely different ends of the salary spectrum and being a server is usually considered menial compared to being a ‘knowledgeable’, ‘well-educated’ doctor. So, it is ironic how more would be required of servers in the social aspect than that of a doctor. Part II4) Integration 3-Day TrainingUncomfortabilityBeginning mistakesDifficult/Rude CustomersDoing other peoples jobs because they don’tJuggling DutiesConfidence buildingConfrontation with other employeesConfrontation with managers/ownersDoubts/Contemplation of quitting(throughout)Seniority-(gaining respect)More and more confrontation...I would say the most difficult stages where I felt trapped were when I had to do other people’s jobs because they wouldn’t do them and the first confrontations with other staff/managers. I learned I often had to take over people’s jobs, such as cashier, to go orders, host, and manager because they would be on a “smoke break” or they just didn’t feel like doing their duties. This was hard to juggle my job and other jobs that I shouldn’t have to do in the restaurant, leading to stress. I also learned the only way to fix this problem is to confront either the other staff or managers directly. That would bring another problem which was how to get along with some of the other workers/managers. All you can do is do your job and not worry about other staff unless you have to work around them. My first real argument with a manager, I told to “shut up” which is not “ok” even if they are rude to you. So, I got into a little trouble, but eventually working at Pizza Inn longer and longer I gained respect and people learned to value what I had to say. All you can do is pick your battles and I picked a lot and I believe argued with almost every manager in addition to the payroll woman and one of the owners. This may seem like I didn’t learn anything about coexisting with other staff, but I quickly learned that Pizza Inn was not being ran the way it should have been. That resulted in arguments and as time went on I got better at dealing with those people and they learned that I don’t argue with someone if I’m in the wrong. So, being a waiter you learn to handle doing other people’s jobs while also learning to put people in their place when something is not right.5)Pizzert- dessert pizzaCut- when you’re “cut” that means that you don’t get any more tables and you have to start cleaning up and finish up with your current tables.Sat- when you’re “sat” that means that you have a new tableX-Top- when you have a “2-top,” “4-top,” “7-top,” etc. means that you have a new table with “X” amount of customers.Checking out- this just means when you undergo a transaction with a customerClocking in/out- when you “clock in” you are officially starting your shift by pressing a button on one of the monitors and when you “clock out” you are ending your shift on the computer and leavingClaiming tips- this is when you type in the amount of cash tips that you “made” during the shift when you clock out(rarely does a server claim what they really made that shift)Cash out- when you get cash for your credit card tips from the cash register after you clock outStation- there were 3 “stations” and they are basically work stations that contain fountain drinks, supplies, needed materials, etc. Close- when a server “closes” (usually two) they have to shut down the rest of the restaurant(closing work may vary based on ever-changing duties) such as cleaning the bathrooms, shutting down the stations, sweeping/mopping buffet area, etc. This server or servers are supposed to be the last servers there. “GM”- slang for general managerSalad Prep- the salad bar would be filled with its contents that morning/night before by a server or salad prep/kitchen worker“The front”- workers such as the cashier, servers worked in this area which the general public inhabit“The back”- slang for the back of the restaurant which is the kitchen/dishwashing/supply area(typically called this by “front” workers)“Do silverware”- this just means to sort the silverware into the steel cup containers“Do your/the napkins, condiments, ice, plates, etc.”- restock the napkin containers, etc.“Double-sat” (possibly triple-sat)- this is when a host/server seats a server twice in a row back-to-back resulting in delay of service for the “second” tableRevenue- amount of money you sold over the course of the shift“Print your revenue”- you have to print your sale receipt before you can get “cashed out.” 6) As servers we had to wear black or khaki pants, a white short-sleeved button down, a black apron, a red bowtie, no-slip shoes(preferably black), and our name tag.In addition we couldn’t wear dangling earrings/jewelry and you either had to have short hair or put your hair up. Girls(or guys) couldn’t have their nails painted or fake nails. Even though most servers broke this “rule,” we were urged to always carry around a tray wherever we went.7)Bill- main ownerAnnette- partial owner, short dark brown puffed up hair, glasses, smug/”upity” face. Hillary Clinton apparel(pantsuit). Annette was the owner I argued with about the payroll woman claiming tips for me. No one really likes her and she is really a b**** to be frank.(general manager at the time Ms. Kathy sucks up to her) She tries to lead the meetings and tell the workers to clean up more, but has no clue of our job duties or responsibilities. She absolutely despises when anyone “interrupts” her when she is talking during a meeting.(one server was reprimanded because she “interrupted her.” She “just doesn’t like to be interrupted” and makes a huge ordeal about it if she is. Occasionally comes in to eat just to spie on the servers and stare at us to make sure we’re doing our jobs.Ms. Kathy- manager and general manager at one point. She has short spiked up gray hair(with blonde highlights at one point). She is really really loud(can be bossy) and will yell at the servers from across the room(to go do something) with no care in the world about what the customers may think of that. Will “get on to you” about cleaning a table, etc. One customer said to my brother that she quote, “Seems like a b****.” Her loudness is just her personality, but she is like a mother-figure when she wants to be.Sasha- one of the managers(typically in the kitchen)Christina Kelly- payroll woman… at least that’s what I call herKeturah- main cashier that is there most oftenJacob- sometimes he is a server, sometimes a manager(no longer a manager). BossyTammy- older waitress who stole a tip off one of my brother’s tables and tried to cover it up and explain.Melissa- a really negative and argumentative middle-aged waitressHunter- my twin brother who was also a waiter at Pizza InnCassidy- my cousin who was a waitress at Pizza Inn8) Training- I first was trained by Ralph who was super bubbly in front of customers. He told me to joke around with customers and create conversation pretending to be interested in what the customer is saying. This was the first slap in the face of how fake some servers can be.Difficult Customers- Many customers come into Pizza Inn with a bad attitude to begin with and I learned that through many instances where customers were impatient or irritated by issues with food, etc. Some customers come in thinking that they know how to do our job better than us. One of my customers even told the cashier that “we” (the servers) did not know how to properly clean the tables. So, I accepted that everyone has an opinion and many people have a bad attitude or are negative when they go out to eat.Confrontation- I had many instances our arguments and confrontations with staff. One time I told Jacob to “shut up” because he came at me being rude asking why I said another server. It turned into a whole ordeal because he snitched about it to the GM Ms. Kathy and I ended up crying because I came into work a little upset anyways. This was before I had worked there quite a while. It taught me to not take things to heart and don’t let anyone affect your mood but you. At the end of the day it’s a job.9) The setting was at a Pizza Inn, which happened to be in an old Golden Corral I went to occasionally before. The floors in the dining area were carpeted for the most part with nasty, moldy dull blue carpet. Everything was very dusty, except the tables and the sanitation was just very bad overall. The “renovation” from the old Golden Corral consisting of mainly just paint.(khaki, red, and black)10) The values that serving implied was a combination of both acting(in front of the customer) and personal(in front of staff). As a server you have to throw your own feelings out the window. You can’t be sensitive in front of customers and you can’t let them know that you actually are a human-being(that was kind of a joke). But, no you have to extract yourself and apply a new happy-go-lucky, I’m your b**** persona. Many servers are very fake, but what I tried to do was be genuinely nice, which some people don’t prefer. Even though you are usually under constant high pressure, as a server you have to “put a face on” because it isn’t the customers problem. 11) Like I said in #10, you have to be a kind of little b**** in front of the customer, so that they believe they are in control of the situation. THE CUSTOMER IS NOT ALWAYS RIGHT, but you have to make them feel like they are. It is all about the customer’s perception and getting a bigger tip(honestly). You have to convince the customer that you just really care about their life, when it actuality you don’t really or you don’t even know what they are saying. Managers are above you as a waiter and you can sometimes tell them when they are wrong, but they have the majority of the authority in most cases(or you make them think that). Other staff you have to work in cohesion with and you can be bossy, but then they probably won’t like you. You can help them out and then they usually try to take advantage of you. Or you could you work along with them, which usually works best. The owners come at the top of the totem pole and you have to always act like you’re working in front of them and paint a pretty picture that their restaurant is running smoothly(when it is not at all).12) I will definitely interview my brother and cousin and possibly some of my friends or co-workers that I used to work with. I will definitely go eat another meal there just to get a feel for the job again and interact with anybody that is left working there that for some reason still decides to work there. I could also interview my sister, who was also a waitress(not there). (Field research, interviews, re-visit site)13) Being a waiter, it is all about playing a part. It’s difficult at first to put your own feelings, emotions, thoughts, and stresses aside just to portray this “I know what I’m doing/I have everything under control” kind of attitude. A lot of the “unseen” parts of being a waiter is the psychology behind it. At the end of the day, servers work mainly for tips, so we will do what we have to do to make the customer believe that we are working solely for them. We will give a generous “giggle” or slight smile just to make you think that your joke was funny(even if we didn’t even hear it). We will greet you with a warm welcome and ask you and your family “how are y’all doing?” as if we care. As a server, we will make sure your drinks/food is as fast as possible and that you are not left wasting your “precious time” that is so scarce to you. Not only do we have to make you happy, but we have to make our managers/the owners happy and do as we’re told even against our better judgment. We are forced to choose between fulfilling the orders of our superiors or getting you that marinara sauce that you are dying to have. We (at least I did) have to juggle being not only your personal servant, but a cashier, telephone operator, manager, social worker, dishwasher, janitor(because they won’t hire any), and more. We have to always be the ‘right person’ or the help that someone needs and if we can’t help you we find someone who can. Becoming literate in the secondary discourse of a server you have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. For me, I am a shy person, so being a waiter required me to extract myself from it and play this “role.” If I ever tapped into my personal self, I could get awkward or shy with the customers occasionally. You have to be like a robot and not involve your feelings with the affairs of the restaurant. Once you learn the art of being fake(to a degree) and acting, the rest is history. ................
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