Post 12: Learning to Serve

I think Mirabelli’s research question is aimed at proving that the service industry is much more complex than the general public and universities assume. He wants to disprove the myth that serving is only for “ignorant and stupid (people)…(who) contribute little to society” (540).  He even states, “I hope this work will contribute to the development of understandings and policies that built more respect and recognition for service work to help ensure it does not become equated with servitude” (541).

Mirabelli addresses the concept of multiliteracies, or using communication channels other than text as a literacy. The first item he looks at is the menu, which he refers to as the “most important printed text.” He looks at how knowing the terms on the menu can make or break a job at a restaurant. In order to be successful, you need to know how to read customers by using verbal and non-verbal communication. You need to be able to know what kind of interaction they will enjoy most as well as how to appropriately respond to their questions and comments. Since there are no long or drawn-out monologues while serving, it is important to be friendly while being brief and to be able to convey your message accurately and in the shortest manner possible. This is a technique that is not taught in standard education, but rather one that is mastered over time and with practice.

Mirabelli ultimately proves his original point that serving is much more complex than assumed and is a field often taken for granted. In order to understand the nature of the profession, one would have to be a part of it, like Mirabelli. This is just one example of a profession that gains little respect and suffers from prejudice simply because the public doesn’t understand the complexity required or the “innovate and creative ways in which such workers use language” (554).