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.