12. Learning to Serve

Mirabelli, in "Learning to Serve: The Language and Literacy of Food Service Workers" was asking just how rhetorically demanding waiting is.  In the introduction he addresses a lot of stereotypes that have been formed about waiting as an occupation.  He mentions the claim that to wait requires just a ninth grade education.  The ethnography basically serves to counter these sorts of claims by saying that waiting tables requires a variety of different types of literacies.  Waiters must be able to read the customers as well be familiar enough with the menu to answer any question asked about it.  Mirabelli conducted all of his research at the diner where he worked for some time.  He studied  conversations between the waiting staff and the customers and carefully broke down the various techniques used to construct meaning.  The main thing that he found was that waiters are required to practice a lot to acquire the linguistic skills and knowledge of the kitchen's capabilities to succeed in the field.