This reading really hit home with me. The examples he uses I normally see when I work at the Diner depending on the waiters and waitresses working that night. But I digress...
I believe Tony Mirabelli's question was “How do waiter and waitresses compare to workers that have a 'higher education' job (Ie: working for a big business or office)? ” In gathering data, Mirabelli worked at restaurants and interviewed other members to get a better sense of how they interacted with customers. He also took notes about the customers he served and many text based items from the restaurant. He was able to see how the senior waiter (John) evolved through his time there and how far he's come. Mirabelli talks about how the knowledge of an item on the menu affects the customers he serves. If a waiter doesn't know specifics about an item, customers normally don't order them. In a restaurant like Lou's in the text, there are a significant amount of items that a waiter would have to memorize to be able to explain to customers. Knowing what main course meals are, what they come with, what can be substituted, and so on can be a staggering amount of information.
His findings seem to be that waiters not only have to know basic literary skills, but they have to go above and beyond to really interact with customers to make them feel like a member of the family at the restaurant. Also, waiters need to be able to think quickly and be good at 'suggestion' to be able to make a sale and to excel with getting higher tips from customers. Reading not only the menu, but people themselves, is a difficult skill to learn. Waiters and waitresses have to be creative to succeed, and Mirabelli suggests that being a waiter could be even more difficult than a white collar job because of the interaction with other people. It's harder dealing with a customer face to face than it is through a telephone.
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