Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Nadia Sharpe
Mrs. Griffin
UWRIT1101
The purpose of this research is to advance the understanding, view of restaurant work and
workers. This project started with the idea of simply just looking to find out why people remain
around diners, people such as employees, managers, customers etc. The goal of this project was
to also find out the literacies of people in the diner. I could not merely ask people what is the
several themed questions to address this issue. I conducted a multitude of interviews for various
people which differed for each person I interview. Over time, the study developed into an
examination of the relationships among jobs, relationship with people within the jobs, identities,
and behaviors that reflect and reproduce restaurant culture. I explored the reasons people enter
restaurant work for the first time, why they remain, and how the experience of the employment
influences their identities, life choices, goals, feelings, decisions. I examine how and why the
organizational, structural, and interpersonal features of restaurant work shape the lives of the
employees. I also examine the authority figures, managers, owners, and customers. This project
will reflect the responses of several questions I have and open the path to new questions I want to
explore, in which I will try my best to answer them with interviews, quotes from theories, and
other sources.
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I decided to study the literacies that take place at Jakes Diner, located in Greensboro,
North Caroline. Jakes Diner is a small family owned business with two locations, one located on
West Wendover Avenue, and one on South Holden road. Jakes Diners menu has a multiplicity of
food ranging from short stack combos which consist of two pancakes, and two eggs, and a choice
of bacon or sausage, to an order of wings with a variety of flavors to choose from. I will more so
be focusing on the Wendover location because this is where I work majority of the time. Both of
the locations are family friendly which consist of around ten old red and black booths and ten
silver tables. The Wendover location has a small kitchen with three grills that you can see when
sitting at any of the twelve seats at the counter. The main floor of the diner is always busy with
food coming in and out, surrounded by four walls which have old school trinkets from the 80s
on the wall which makes the diner more southern and gives it a cozier feeling. This small
southern food spot was my first job, and Ive been working there since the age of fifteen. I
Considering Jakes Diner isnt a franchise, or corporate owned company its difficult to
study and forces me to dig deeper and study the business through interviews. I still have a job
with this company although Im away at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Over the
last three years Ive acquired a lot of skills specific to the restaurant business. Some skills Ive
acquired include but arent limited to stacking three to four plates on one arm, carrying four
drink, carrying two drinks in one hand, using a drink tray balancing five or more cups, taking
orders, memorizing orders, multitasking, and customer service. This job has taught me all of
these things but I had help from my coworkers. The most influential coworkers of mine Lashawn
Moore, and Elizabeth Gladding, have watched me grow since 2014 and overtime have helped me
develop techniques that work for me. In the last year I was promoted to working the day shift
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and I was able to meet an abundance of new coworkers who taught me how to deal with the new
chaotic atmosphere of first shift. These people included April Minter, Michelle Robinson,
Amanda Gain, and I became closer with my manager Natalie Martin. These ladies gave me a
new set of literacies to learn and overcome in a fast manner. These waitresses, who have so much
potential, sparked several questions such as Why work at Jakes Diner?, Why settle for this
average job, when you can go somewhere else and make more money?, Whats your
motivation for staying here, and do you actually enjoy your job?
While researching restaurants I found that Although research on restaurants has spiked in
the last 30 years, most do not seek to learn more about the employees. In other words, they focus
on the customers, the atmosphere, the organizational space, the types of foods and cuisines,
studies that have focused on the workers in particular, the concentration is on waitresses, waiters,
or chefs. I reviewed ethnographies on restaurant workers to highlight them and let them tell their
stories. In one ethnography The Hungry Cowboy: Service and Community in a Neighborhood
Restaurant, Erickson (2009) discussed the interactions between servers, managers, and customers
in one restaurant that she called The Hungry Cowboy. She addressed how the restaurant is a
commodified space that creates feelings of community and sociability. She found that the servers
invest emotionally in their work, maintain freedom and autonomy at the restaurant, but face
challenges of power dynamics in relation to race, class, and gender. This ethnography on
restaurant workers depicts an enduring stigma associated with restaurant employment. While
scholarship is beginning to note the favorable qualities of restaurant work, employee autonomy,
resistance, and agency continues to hold a disapproving connotation. Furthermore, the restaurant
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industry and employees remain an understudied and under-acknowledged topic. The lack of
primary fieldwork on restaurants and restaurant employees exposes the requirement for more
From various media sources, it is made very clear that any job in the food industry, if you
are not the owner and or manager is looked down upon. Its commonly said that jobs in the food
industry are considered temporary, nonstandard, part-time, unskilled, poor quality, contingent,
and precarious labor. Correspondingly, restaurants are faced with some harsh realities that come
along with this unskilled career. Servers also have to deal with low wages, minimal to no
benefits, class, gender, health risk, and racist interaction with customers or their coworkers.
Another problem in the food industry is the fact that people do not treat restaurant work as real
work, which further stigmatizes restaurant jobs and those who possess them. To degrade the
restaurant business and say only adolescents should hold a position at a job is discouraging to the
adults who can only have a job thats food related for their own reasons. Given this tough reality,
the question is then posed, Why do waitresses settle in this specific line of work?. Its
important to understand not everyone has a similar background and some adults can only survive
and provide for their children with these said jobs that no one else will commit to, and this is
In the dictionary, the distinction between job and career is rather subjective and
occupation or profession, especially one requiring special training, followed as ones lifework,
according to dictionary.com. To the participants, the key difference is a temporal one; in which,
they considered a job temporary, whereas career referred to the long-term. Any food
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industry related occupation can be viewed as either a career or a job depending on personal
opinion, although as a waitress majority percent of the time a person will view waiting tables as
a job because there is no special skill needed to serve people. On the other hand, a waitress may
make the argument that this is her trade and she has done everything in her power, and has taken
the extra step to perfect her craft by forcing herself to be mentally and physically more equipped
Despite the qualities, stigma, and beliefs regarding appropriate ages of employees
associated with restaurant work, restaurant industry employment remains steady, continues to
grow, and attracts a group of somewhat educated people ranging from the adolescent years to
forty year olds who stay for extended amounts of time. So this begs the question: why stay?
Looking at this pattern of employment can reveal the factors that may keep workers in the
restaurant industry and how the long-term employment durations shape their feelings, choices,
and behaviors. Consequently, these issues can contribute to the study of work and the life course.
According to George, occupations are a strategic context for studying life transitions because
job shifts and durations are highly connected to life course transitions (1993:367). From another
prospective Even though nickel and dimed workers may not have other career opportunities and
stay because they must, and some simply seek temporary financial gain, it is worth exploring the
additional conditions that influence other restaurant workers to remain employed (Ehrenreich
2001). Although much is known about experiences of work and how they shape the life course,
little is known about the single most commonly held job during the life course: restaurant work.
There is no qualitative study on restaurant workers that critiques and complicates life course
transitions and the related developmental stages throughout life. Most likely it is concluded that
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waitresses work in the restaurant business because they like it, and its not as challenging as
other occupations.
To get a better understanding of this first hand, I asked Lashawn Moore similar questions
pertaining to why she stayed around and worked at Jakes Diner for the past eight years. She
started by saying, I started working here after my first child I wanted to work and make an
honest living, so Id set a good example for her, at the time I only had my associated degree and I
wanted to go further with my education but I knew I would need money to support Kennedy and
myself. I eventually just got comfortable and made the conscience decision to put my ultimate
goal of furthering my career on hold. Within these eight years working at Jakes I built a family
and made awesome connections. (Moore, Lashawn interview). Lashawn brought a new
perspective of the restaurant business, she explained that she came into the job with the intention
of just making minimum wage to support herself and her child but eventually just became
comfortable receiving the benefits of making connections and building new relationships with
people. In my follow up question with Ms. Moore, I asked her where her life is now and if she
could would she alter it in anyway? She responded by saying shes now graduated college with
her bachelors degree with the help of her boss, Mary Blythe, Manager/best friend, Natalie
Martin, and close friend, Elizabeth Gladding. She proceeded to say, Of course I wouldnt trade
my time here for anything Ive learned so much about myself in such a small amount of time,
Ive grown mentally, and spiritually. I can honestly say if it wasnt for me working here, for this
long period of time, I wouldnt be the mother I am today, I wouldnt be pursuing my dream of
graduating college and I wouldnt be a good role model for Ken. (Moore, Lashawn interview).
Lashawn shines a positive light on the food industry with her story because her story tells how
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her mediocre job helped develop her character and significantly impacted her life for the
better.
At Jakes Diner we have customers who the waitresses see every day or just a few times
out of the week, we refer to them as regulars. The regulars are a huge part of why Jakes Diner
is considered such a feel good environment. Over the past three years of me working there Ive
noticed that the regular customers can come in the Diner feeling down and always leave with a
smile on their face, which left me with a few questions. Why did you start coming here, and why
do you continuously come here? Why this specific diner of all the places in Greensboro? Whats
your favorite part about going to Jakes Diner? To answer these questions, I asked a former
teacher at my old high school named Clara A. Wallis, but at Jakes is known by the nickname
Teacher, or Teach for short. In my interview with Clara, she answered my first question by
saying, I started coming to Jakes about ten years ago when I first moved in my house right up
the street, the food was amazing, so I kept coming back. Yall have always had friendly
waitresses, and I learned the trick of sitting at the counter so I can speak to all the girls and it just
sort of became my regular spot to get a cup of coffee, a cup of soup, or some chicken salad, and
of course to gossip here and there. (A. Wallis, Clara Interview). Ms. Wallis confirmed my
theory that out regular customers keep returning because the atmosphere is good and they like
the company their waitress gives. Teachers reason for coming to Jakes is because its
convenient for her considering Jakes is only three minutes up the road from her house. Clara
proceeded to tell me her favorite part about coming to Jakes is there is always someone to talk to
and getting to become a part of a family because her family isnt located in NC. Claras
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responses to the queries gave a customers perspective of the family oriented restaurant and
helped me better apprehend why the restaurant is always flooded with Regular customers.
The final interview was an in depth discussion with the owner and boss of Jakes
Diner, Mary Blythe, who took over the company from her husband, Allen Blythe, twenty years
ago. I interviewed Mary to compare the atmosphere of the restaurant in previous years, with the
current atmosphere, and get answers to questions that she can answer well. Primarily, I asked
Mary what make Jakes special and kept the business thriving all of these years. She responded
by saying, Natalie, is whats kept this business running and in the best shape, Ive known her
since she was fourteen and shes always had great ideas for marketing and how to keep Jakes
running smooth, shes developed new connections with customers and was able to take their
opinions and incorporate them into the business. (Blythe, Mary Interview). My follow up
question was Whats the most challenging part of owning the diner? she said, The hardest part
about owning a dinner is you can never know everything. Its not easy to know how many eggs
youll need for the week, and if business will be slow or not. Its always challenging because at
Jakes we have a wide variety of food and want to make sure we have enough of everything so
that our customers are happy. (Blythe, Mary Interview). I asked Mary why does she believe
shes had employees work for so many years and her response was quite unique, I feel I have a
great relationship with all of my employees, and I treat them well, I make sure theyre
comfortable and Im a strong believer in family, and I make sure I treat them all as my own.
Jakes opens doors for these young ladies, it provides them the opportunity to network and
experience new things with every new customer they meet, and provide good service to.
Ultimately I think they stay, not because theyre incapable of finding a better job, but because
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they genuinely love what they do and the connections they made here. (Blythe, Mary
Interview).
In conclusion Jakes Diner is family owned place that welcomes everybody. Jakes Diner
offers new and old faces to talk to and great servers. Everyone who steps foot in the restaurant
has their reason for returning, weather its to return for food, catch up with friends, make money
to support a family etc. This place brings people together and Im just thankful I was able to have
this as my first job. Ive learned so many things here, and Im sure Ive touched others and taught
them new thing along the way. I hope Jakes Diner thrives and keeps attracting more people so
Work cited
Ehrenreich, Barbara. 2001. NickeledandDimed. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company,
LLC.
Sociology19:353-73.