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Waiters And Waitresss

Satisfactory Essays

“Learning to Serve: The Language and Literacy of Food Service Workers” by Tony Mirabelli is about how waiters and waitresses communicate during their job. According to Mirabelli many people overlook the difficulties waiters and waitresses have to face. This is strange to him because so many people have held food service industry jobs. Waiters and waitresses have their own unique way of using language and literacy. Mirabelli re-evaluates how we understand literacy by looking at patterns of thought and behavior in the restaurant Lou’s, where he previously worked. There is more that goes into being a waiter or waitress than most might think. They have to be both knowledgeable workers and skilled in interactive services. Mirabelli shows how …show more content…

The most obvious being that the server must be friendly. Mirabelli explains how the servers must be able to do this on the unconscious level. Also Mirabelli states, knowing what the customer wants is an example of a good waiter or waitress. Emotional labor is also a huge part of being a waiter/waitress, being able to connect with the customer is a must in this line of work. Emotional labor is defined as, “Requiring one to induce or suppress feeling in order to sustain the outward countenance that produces the proper state of mind in others” (Mirabelli 204). This means that waiters and waitresses have to be able to hide bad emotions and always have a friendly face in order to keep customers happy. Building respect and recognition for service workers is very important to Mirabelli. He shows pathos in this piece having emotion for the workers in the food service industry. In “Learning to Serve” Mirabelli shows the many different ways waiters/waitresses use language and literacy in their line of work, but often these workers are still not respected. Many people still look at the service industry as servants, treating them as lesser than equals. As shown, being in the service industry is tough work and they must be both knowledgeable and skilled in interactive

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