Mike Rose explains “The Working Life of a Waitress” through a series of interviews with his recently retired mother and other veteran waitresses. He asks her questions concerning relationships between employee and boss, cook, and waitress. Although Mike never mentions his mother’s name,any person who has experience in waitressing can relate to her benefits and viewpoints towards waiting on clientele such as;
- Taking Orders
- Serving Drinks
- Serving Food
- Clearing Tables
- Check
^^ Try achieving these necessary goals with a smile on your face! (Even if you’re not happy)
- Slow Business vs. Rush-hour (7)
- Consequences of Low Staff (7)
- Tips (6): (Profit = Time)
- “Time-zones:” A customers expectation of time from arrival to check
- Memory (7,8,11,12)
-Factors of Who Gets What
- Specific Conversation
- Personality/appearance
- Male vs. Female
- Children
- Skill of Transportation of Entrees (9)
- Speed walking without looking like you’re stressed out and running
- Pleasing both Cook and Customer (13)
RESPONSE
As Mike Rose filters information from his mother’s experiences to our eyes and ears, I found myself, on several occasions, narrating my own familiarity of serving my community through waitressing. Through this chapter, I thank Mike Rose for opening society’s eyes to the true “working” life of a waitress. He films a movie in our minds so that even with no past reference of waitressing, people can still imagine live the life of a hard working waitress. It is true that “There isn’t a day that goes by in the restaurant that you don’t learn something” (Rose, p. 30). Put yourself in Mrs. Rose’s shoes and picture having to prioritize a million and one tasks as well as meeting every tables “time-zone” expectation. Like Mike Rose did, I challenge you to scratch a portrait in your mind of how you would handle the valuable responsibilities of a waitress because I could not imagine taking on life’s duties without the prioritizing and problem solving skills I learned from being a waitress.
“I’m struck by the fact that particular kinds of work can be defined and perceived in ways that mask the range of human abilities that make the work possible. And I’m struck, quite struck, by the way we try to shape our lives and gain a little control by the work we do.”
Mike Rose (p. 30)
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