| Annotated Bibliography | |
1. Doing Gender as Resistance: Waitresses and Servers in Contemporary Table Service Chauntelle Anne Tibbals Journal of Contemporary |
This article explores the ways that waitresses and servers play their gender in the restaurant setting. Tibbals uses the phrase “doing gender” to refer to the acts of masculinity or femininity. She furthers this exploration in arguing that “doing gender” is a form of resistance rather than conformity. She compares the acts of doing gender of “waitresses” in a traditional restaurant to “servers” corporate restaurant. I will use this article in my argument regarding media representation of the female waitress. Tibbals includes, “For example, Meika Loe (1996) found that women are often hired as waitresses if they epitomize stereotypically feminine characteristics and/or character types, such as the 'girl next door' or the 'prom queen'” suggesting waitresses are only/more acceptable if they are increasingly feminized, sexualized, and objectified. Other studies have shown that “cocktail waitresses adopted stereotypically feminine characteristics of passivity and the acceptance of sexual objectification by men.” Tibbals also discusses the power of the patron in restaurant settings and the “…one-sided, first-name-based relationship with a nameless restaurant patron.” I will use this article in my exploration of gender within the restaurant workplace.
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| 2. Continuance Commitment in Low-status Occupations: the Cocktail Waitress
H.L. Hearn & Patricia Stoll |
This article analyzes aspects of the waitress’s life and work. It also explores reasons why a waitress will be continually committed to her work, as hard as it is. This is an excellent article that will aid exceedingly well in my hypertext exploration. Hearn and Stoll have found that many waitresses do not enjoy their work and only persevere for the money. Waitresses, as found, feel very aggravated when disrespected and/or are tipped poorly. Many women feel disrespected, degraded and taken advantage of. They feel that customers look down on them to such a degree that they cannot perform their job with dignity. The scholars also found that the older the waitress, the less she liked her job. They also found that most waitresses only associate themselves with other waitresses, bar tenders, and musicians outside of work. This article will aid in my exploration of the tough working conditions waitresses must endure, including disrespect and isolation.
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| 3. Surveillance and Regulation: Control of Women Casino Workers’ Bodies
Jill B. Jones and Susan Chandler Affilia: Journal of Women |
This article discusses the studies of women workers in the fields of housekeeping, casino dealing, and waitresses. For the purpose of my own exploration, I will focus on their studies of waitressing. They studied the affects that this work has on women and their bodies: “…aches and pains, health, the casinos’ marketing of women’s bodies, sexual advances endured, and struggles with drugs and alcohol.” The scholars interviewed a cocktail waitress, who reveals that she only began waitressing for the money. The job interview is incredibly dependent on the sexiness of the woman’s body. The interviewed woman said that she feels degraded wearing such miniscule clothing. This article will aid in my exploration of female waitress’ degradation, body and health damage, and sexual objectification.
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| 4. Customer Satisfaction and Waiting Staff
J.D. Pratten |
This article analyzes the importance of table service to a customer’s experience eating out. This article puts much responsibility on the waiter or waitress in ensuring the customer’s wellbeing. Pratten writes on the importance of training the wait staff to ensure customer enjoyment and satisfaction. I will use this article in quite a different way than the other researched material. This article is part of the pressure put on wait staff to perfect their work, disregarding rudeness or disrespect of customers, or the challenging physical aspect of waiting tables. This article also assumes that when wait staff does not perform best, there is undoubtedly apathy in their work. Pratten writes that often “young” waiters and waitresses do not possess concern for their job, and are merely working for the money. This suggests that waiters and waitresses normally should only work if they actually desire to wait on—or be servants to—the customers. This turns waiting tables into a servant job, rather than a job that provides an individual’s income. This article disregards many facets of waitressing, which will help me focus my exploration.
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| 5. Nickel and Dimed: On (not) Getting By in America
Barbara Ehrenreich |
Ehrenreich's book is on her experiences working as a blue collar and pink collar jobs. Her jobs included waitressing, which will aid me in my exploration of waitresses as well. She discusses the physically taxing aspects of her jobs, as well as the economic struggles she faced when trying to pay bills when her wages do not reach that far. She also discusses how degrading this can be when one works so hard, but cannot earn enough to live on. This perspective will aid me in my exploration of the struggles that women waitresses faced. |
| 6. Service and Surveillance: Infrapolitics at Work among Casino Cocktail Waitresses
Lorraine Bayard De Volo |
Volo researched the way that the appearances and actions of casino cocktail waitresses have been controlled and managed through surveillance and encouragement of gendered behavior. Volo writes that “Cocktail waitresses are employed as casino attractions as well as a means for delivering alcohol.” Key to my exploration, Volo writes that cocktail waitresses have been represented on the media as essential to the visual aspects of casinos. She writes that casino waitresses have also been portrayed as prostitutes-by-night.
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