A Comparison of the Attitudes of a Career Waitperson and a Waitperson Who Has Different Aspirations Essay

Waitressing is a difficult job that is the number one profession of non-college educated females in this country. Servers make 2.13 an hour in most areas of the country. Federal labor laws allow this low wage because tipping is customary in the United States. One benefit of waiting tables is the quick cash. Servers walk out of their shift with most of the money they have earned, but, at most restaurants, severs are required to "tip out", or share a percentage of their tips with the bartender, busser, hostess or other members of the staff. After reading the interview of the waitress, Delores Dante, in Working, by Studs Terkel, I thought it would be interesting to compare and contrast the attitudes of a career waitperson and those of a waitperson who has different aspirations and plans for the future. I interviewed my good friend Maureen Walsh who has been a server at various local restaurants for seven years. She is also a full-time college student, and will earn her Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education this December.Delores Dante has been waiting tables in the same restaurant for twenty-three years (Terkel 279). After her marriage broke up, she started waiting tables because she needed fast money and didn't want to work an office job (Terkel 294). She feels that she learns a lot about people in her line of work, and enjoys talking to her customers. She invents ways to keep her job interesting, and likes to converse with her customers about a great number of topics. Dante says that giving service and being servile are two different things (Terkel 294).Delores Dante takes pride in her work, and aims to please all of her customers. She says that she does certain things to make her customers' experience more enjoyable, like emptying ashtrays, so that her station looks nice, not in order to increase her tips (Terkel 297). She also never looks at her tips as she is...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Character Analysis of Basil Hallward in The Picture of Dorian Gray, a Novel by Oscar Wilde Essay

The main character in The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian, is a man too easily influenced by his surroundings. He is quoted as saying, Basil Hallward is what I think I am Lord Henry is what the world thinks me Dorian is what I would like to bein other ages, perhaps (Wilde). This comparison falls in line with the moral of the story because Dorian is stuck with eternal youth and beauty even though he has a wicked soul. This causes different views of him by people who observe his daily life. Dorian is a sponge throughout the novel that absorbs everything and allows it to shape his personality, morals, and actions. Dorian Gray takes influence from Lord Henry, Basil Hallward, and the culture of society during which the novel was written. Lord Henry is the epitome of a wealthy, hedonistic gentleman seeking only pleasure, with little regard to cost or consequence. Lord Henry Wotton outwardly propounds hedonism, but it is his extreme egotism that drives him to manipulate both Basil Hallward a
Read more

Religious Symbolism in The Blessed Damozel, a Poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti Essay

Dante Gabriel Rossettis poem The Blessed Damozel is full of religious symbolism. There is talk of saints, and the poem itself takes place in heaven. But underneath the religious symbolism is a deep sensuality, that makes one wonder if the white rose of Marys gift referred to in line nine is the gift of Mary the Virgin, or the somewhat less virginal Mary Magdalene. While the Damozel is in heaven, her appearance in heaven, her behaviors in life, and what happens when she and her lover are reunited suggest some less than virginal dealings, yet the damozel is blessed and resides in heaven. Rossetti was the child of liberals kicked out of Italy a heavily catholic country for their extreme political views. While Rossetti himself was not political, he may have espoused similar views regarding politics and religion as his parents. In the poem The Blessed Damozel, Rossetti was given the chance to essentially create his own heaven. Most everything he wrote seems to show that Rossetti espoused
Read more

An Analysis of the Character of Chichikov in the Poem, Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol Essay

Dead Souls takes place in the Russia of the late 1800s, where, unlike in America, one must be born into a prosperous family in order to have opportunities. The main character, Chichikov, is clever enough to develop a scheme in which he can rise from being a petty clerk to a respected landowner. In order to do this, Chichikov moves into a new town, pretending to already be a landowner, and begins a quest to buy the names of dead serfs who have not yet been officially reported dead. Each person that Chichkov presents this offer to has a different reaction, starting with the shy and introverted Manilov. Though he does not understand Chichikov's need for the names of these dead serfs, Manilov is a character that is so desperate for company that it does not take any effort to trick him into selling his dead souls cheaply. However, as Chichikov continues his journey, he starts to deal with more clever landowners who become suspicious of his scheme. Chichikov finds that the townsmen know
Read more