blog 10

Good Morning & Happy Monday! Already starting a new week, this semester is going by so fast!

I have been thinking a lot about which discourse community I am going to focus on for my paper, and I am leaning towards my restaurant job. I'm already a part of the community, and I find the way we function to communicate and stress the importance of work together as a team very interesting.Because I am already a member of the community, I already know so much about how the restaurant functions. I know how everyone communicates with each other, our genres, lexis, and the specific restaurant code.

For my research, I do not really have an idea of which direction I will go with, but I have some ideas. I'm thinking maybe the process of assimilating into my restaurant, focusing on the hiring and training, then interviewing some servers that just were hired, and maybe the trainers that trained them. I could explain the communicative practices, literacies and values needed to be successful as a server, and what it takes for the new hires to enculturate themselves into the restaurant.

Our hiring process is very thorough, and each new hire has at least  5 shifts when they are training with their trainer. They have a day one with a manager which lasts close to 6 hours where they go over all the restaurant policies, and then at the end get to try a bunch of food. After they finish their training shifts, and before their first day they have to take a tests to prove their knowledge in the restaurant, and then they are allowed to have their first shift on their own.

Or I was thinking just focusing on the managers / or specific servers, but I don't know what I would make my research question. I'm worried to take on such a specific part of restaurant, and not coming up with enough research to complete my paper. I'm definitely looking forward to meeting with Professor Flewelling to get guidance on where I'm heading!

Blog 9

One of the most stressful parts of starting a new job, is acclimating to the culture and values of the workplace. In the article, "Identity, Authority, and Learning to Write in New Workplaces," Elizabeth Wardle explains the different ways a person has to adapt to a new work place. To become successful in the work place, one must fit in with the co-workers, and conform to the way that the business runs. 

When I started my job, I was seventeen, and all the other hosts were in college. I felt awkward working with the girls especially when they were all very close friends, and I was the new high school girl. I had to jump into conversations and make myself known socially, as well as learn how to successfully host, before they accepted me as their co-worker.

I recently became a server, and had to adapt to the ways that the servers worked throughout the restaurant, which is completely different from the hostess desk. There is different discourse communities within a work place, determined by the position you hold.

After college, I would like to get my teaching credential, and become a teacher. If I'm lucky enough to get a classroom out of college, I'm sure I would face some challenges entering my new workplace. I would have to some how come up with 180 days of lesson plans, and would probably seek help from other teachers that teach the same level and subject as me. Then, staff meetings would be a completely new thing for me, I would probably just sit back and observing the way the teachers communicate together.

On the other hand, when school gets hard, and my stress level is high, I always remind myself that I could always drop out of school, and just be a server for the rest of my life... Then I would never have to join a new discourse community, but then I deal with a crazy customer and remember that I'm finishing school and moving on with my life :) 

Blog # 8 - Servers

Hi guys! I've been slacking on the blogs lately, life has been crazy busy! But it's good to be back and focus on some readings and blog posts.

Like I've said in the past, I work in a restaurant, and I'm a server! So this blog hits close to home. It makes me so mad when people say serving is mindless, or not a difficult job. I would love to see those people try to serve seven tables at once and not get overwhelmed! I can understand if someone was given "bad service" and they're upset, but they need to remember we're all human and we all make mistakes! They're also not the only customer in the whole restaurant...

I think there is a stigma attached to servers because they usually do not have college degrees, and there is little to no training needed to become one. At my job, most of us are serving through college, or even just working on the weekend, while they have a 9-5 week day job. But, we also have servers that this is their career, and they will be servers for the rest of their lives. Another thing to point out is that at my restaurant (which I'm sure happens at a lot of others) you start out serving before they move you to a manager's position (which is a salary position with benefits, and my GM has a degree in hospitality). 

I think another reason why it is easy to "look down" on a server is because we are serving you food, and we do what you ask, but we are not your servant or slave. Yesterday, one of my co-workers said he read an article that said being a server is more stressful than a nuero-surgeon, which at first I was like no way, but then he argued his position and I could see why. He pointed out that surgeons are automatically treated with respect, and servers are treated as we are less of a person than the customer. This is one thing I see a lot when serving older customers, time has changed and serving is actually a pretty good long term career.

The claims that Mirabelli points out in his article "Learn to Serve" are logical and I understand where he is coming from, but once you are a server, you have an entire different perspective of a restaurant. I constantly have so much information running through my head, I just turned 21 and barely drink wine, and I am expected to know exactly what my customer is asking for when they want an "oaky" chardonnay. I have served people that ask me questions just to see if I know what they are talking about, but in my head all I'm thinking about is if my food is ready for my 3 other tables, if table 104 is ready to order, my drinks for 114 are ready to be ran, and look i just got sat another table, as well as answering the questions for the table I'm currently at. 

Being a server has really challenged my memorization and multitasking skills, and its definitely not a job for everyone. Yet, the argument does still come up whether or not if serving is a "mindless" job. At times, it is easy and stress-free, and sometimes rarely, something I enjoy doing. But most of the time, I would not say serving is a mindless job, especially when its happy hour, 6 pm dinner rush, having eight tables, and attempting to give excellent service to everyone.

Blog 5: Discourse Community

Hello! It's been awhile since we have had to write a blog, so welcome back! Lets get right to it. Discourse Communities. Trying to decipher exactly what a discourse community was kind of confusing for me at first, but as Professor Flewelling started to explain exactly what defines a discourse community, it made more sense to me and I realized I am a member of a few different communities.

Basically, according to Swales, a discourse community is a group of people that all hold the same characteristics, and follow the 6 guidelines that each discourse community follows.

As we were going over these in class, I kept applying it to my job at a restaurant. We all have the same goal, to first off, make money, and then to give good service. I am cross-trained in many different restaurant positions, so I get to view the restaurant differently when I am doing something different. I host, banquet serve, lunch serve, bar serve, and drink run.

Restaurant people form their own Discourse community. All servers, as well as smaller discourse communities in each restaurant. There are thousand of restaurant memes that apply to me every day I walk into work. The 6 guidelines that Swales determined characterize a discourse community apply to us restaurant people to a T.

1.  Agreed set of common public goals. Basically, when we get to work, we want to get through the shift as easily as we can, hope for good tips, busy but not slammed, and to not get terrible rude people at your tables. 

2.  Has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members. At my restaurant, we work as a "team" and are constantly communicating with each other throughout the shift. We are lucky enough to have a really cool computer system that we use to put in our orders to the bar and kitchen. But we all make mistakes and then have to verbally communicate to each other. My entire kitchen is staffed with cooks that speak Spanish. I always struggle with trying to use my best Spanish and Spanglish to communicate with them.

3. Uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback. Working in a restaurant is a very social job, as we are constantly communicating with everyone we work with, and our customers. We are expected to give good service, which includes socializing with our guests like they are family. Our managers stress giving excellent service, which also means better service = better tip.

4. Utilizes and hence possess one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims. Like I said before, as a server I am constantly communicating with others around me, and I have to switch genres if I'm informing my customer about the menu or to my busser to bring out waters. We also have an app that posts our schedule online, this is the only was to access our schedule. Our managers post important information through the messages, and we can release and swap shifts with our co-workers.

5. Has acquired some specific lexis, in addition to genres. Us restaurant people have a whole language of terms that we use everyday, and that other people would have no idea what we were talking about. Just a few: phased, bus, ALOHA, 2-top, clear, expo, hands, side work, I could go on for hours.

6. Has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise. My restaurant has a whole system of hiring people. The new employees start out their first shift with other new hires and a trainer, and basically get a summary of how everything works, and then they sit down for dinner and get to try a bunch of food. Then they have about 4-5 training shifts and will finish off their process with a test to make sure they are knowledgeable before their first shift.

Blog 4: Op-Ed and JSTOR

Goooood Morning classmates! Here we are already on week 3 of classes.. As the semester picks up the time goes by faster and faster. Hearing that we are already being introduced to our first paper really made me nervous because I did not know what a JSTOR or Op-ed article was.

Once I started reading the articles I realized I have actually read articles like this on my own time. So bring it on!

I am more familiar with Op-ed articles because I come across them more in my daily life. Scrolling through Facebook, everyone has those friends that are "knowledgeable" about the election and other current events, who use their Facebook page to post their opinions about these topics. Most of the time, they have attached some sort of media, a meme or an article to support their claims. This is where I have stumbled upon some opinion articles. Basically, Op-ed articles are articles written to inform, but are full of the author's opinion as well. I feel like these are easier to read than JSTOR articles, because they feel less academic, but still arguing about a particular current event. I read all the Op-ed articles and this genre is really important. The articles are short and get to the point fast, and their argument is easily recognized. Anyone who stumbles upon these articles can quickly agree or disagree with the author. Because of the election and the publicized rape cases, these Op-ed articles follow along with the current events, disguising news with the author, or websites opinions.

On the other hand, this was my first time fully reading a JSTOR type article. This genre of articles is very similar to the Op-ed articles, just subtract the opinions! These articles reminded me more of a academic research paper, just shorter. Its almost like a summary of a scholarly journal, so it reminds me of an abstract of the journal that you read to determine if you want to read the whole thing. The author gets straight to the point, provides the evidence you need to determine whether their argument is valid or not. Even though these articles are short and precise, they were still harder for me to actually read and not gaze over. These articles also follow along with current topics, but provide an unbiased report with evidence and claims to their audience. They are not trying to persuade their audience, just provide the facts so they can form their own opinion.

Im not sure which genre I will chose to write for my first paper. I am leaning towards Op-ed because they seem more fun and creative. I would be writing in a way I'm not used to, and be able to include my own opinion on a topic. Op-ed would probably be more of a challenge. Writing a JSTOR daily article could be easier because I am so used to writing in a structured way, not providing my own opinion and summarizing different journals and other scholarly articles. We will see which way I go in a few weeks....

Blog 2: Genres

When thinking of genres my mind definitely first went to the different media genres. I think because our generation is constantly surrounded by technology and multiple outlets of media, we now crave media and the entertainment that comes with it, like TV, music and movies. There are so many different genres of these media outlets, to appeal to all different types of people. Even TV shows and specific genres of music are created for a certain audience, and the producers have to be aware of the genre they are trying to appeal to.

The way Devitt writes about different genres in everyday life got me to reflect on the different genres of communication I use everyday. When communicating with my friends and peers I obviously speak in a more casual tone, using slang.. even cussing more than I should be.. On the other hand, I work in a restaurant and when I am serving in the dining room, or hosting at the front desk, my language genre is very professional. When in the dining room, the customer expects to be wined and dined, so I put on an act of a professional server that has so much knowledge in the food and wine industry.. But in reality, I just turned 21, I can barely taste a difference between wines, and have only been serving for 8 months and barely know all the ingredients in our food.  I also work in the bar for more causal dining, and my way of speaking even changes from the professional dining room server to a different tone. People in the bar come for a more casual dining experience and I can speak in a more casual genre to all my guests. "Good evening and welcome to the Brigantine, My name is Katie and I will be your server. I was wondering if I could offer you a glass of our house pinot noir" turns into "Hey how's it going! My name is Katie. What can I get started for you to drink?" 

I believe that even the appearance and clothes of a person plays a huge role in determining the genre and tone of an interaction. When serving in the dining room my uniform is a white Oxford button up shirt, and in the bar I wear a blue v-neck shirt. Even in the same restaurant, I can use two different genres of serving. Going back to the different genres of music, the appearance of the artist sets the tone for the genre they are appealing to. A rapper would not be wearing a cowboy hat and boots. I feel like stereotypes of different media genres also correlates with the genre awareness of the artists.

I think that Devitt emphasizes such an importance on genre awareness because if a person uses the wrong communication genre in the wrong interaction, two people cannot communicate effectively. I probably would not use the same language that I use with my friends that I would if I was serving a table of 6 old women. 

When writing for school assignments, my writing style is very formal and structured. Writing for educational and professional purposes give off a different genre of writing than a casual Facebook status or text message, I would not write out an email to my professor that I would send a text message to one of my friends! It would be inappropriate and come off as disrespectful and unprofessional. 

Writing and communication genres play a huge role in everyday communication and Amy Devitt proves how important genre awareness and using the correct genre in a situation can be.

Blog 1: Introduction

Hello, My name is Katie Yale and I am a senior here at San Diego State majoring in communication. I have attended San Diego State for the past 3 years and I can't believe I will be graduating in the Spring (hopefully)! After graduating SDSU, I would like to pursue a career in the Education field.
I was born and raised in San Diego, so I have lived in the best place for 21 years :) When I started my freshmen year I moved to live on campus. I believe that living on campus has positively affected my experience at SDSU, by meeting new people and by helping me learn how to be a some what independent college student.

Here is a little bit about me: I like to be around people and I consider myself to be pretty outgoing. I like to go to the beach, hang out with friends, and go shopping. I am an Aquarius, which I think describes me 100%. Netflix is my guilty pleasure, and when I get into a TV show I binge watch until I finish the whole show. Some of my favorites are Mad Men, The Walking Dead, Scandal, Greys Anatomy, How to Get away with murder, House of Cards, and Gossip Girl.

My roommates and I at Stagecoach last April.

I have worked at a very busy restaurant in La Mesa called the Brigantine (which you've probably never heard of) since I was a senior in high school. It's a Seafood restaurant on the more expensive side of dining in East county, so most of the people that eat there are pretty old or wealthy. I started out as a hostess, just started serving and just found out today that I have been promoted to a cocktail waitress.. which at my job is where you make all the $$$!!! I also met my boyfriend at my job, and we actually were hired on the same day! During my freshmen year at SDSU, we finally started to date, and we have been happily together for 2 years. He goes to USD and is in a program that allows him to acquire his masters and teaching credential at the same time.

During my first semester at San Diego State I had a difficult time meeting people because a giant college campus was a huge adjustment to me from high school. I decided to go through recruitment and joined a sorority. It was one of the best decisions of my life! I met so many people and gained so many new friends that I know I will be friends with for the rest of my life. Unfortunately because I support myself financially, I had to make the tough decision to no longer be apart of my sorority. But through my sorority and San Diego State, I met some of my best friends that I have lived with for 3 years. We just moved to Pacific Beach and we are 3 blocks away from the beach! This is the closest I have ever lived to the ocean and it's so nice to be able to wake up and walk straight to the beach. We've been here for a week and it feels like I'm living in a vacation home with my best friends. 
About six months ago, I decided to get a puppy, which has been quite an experience! I got him from a lady in a parking lot, I saw him, fell in love, and had to take him home with me. He is a maltipoo and is the best thing that has happened to me! Potty training was rough, but after we got through that, he has been the sweetest dog and is so loving. I named him Toby and he's such a character. I feel like a old crazy dog lady that is stuck in a college girl's body.

Toby the day I adopted him.

I have not been in a RWS class since my first semester of freshmen year, and I am sort of excited to be in this class to become more of a creative writer. I feel like in my RWS 200 class I was expected to follow a prompt and write how my teacher expected, not how I actually wrote. I wish all of you luck this semester and I am looking forward to getting to know all of you better!