HW 2/4

“Learning To Serve: The Language and Literacy of Food Service Workers”, prepares the reader to be able to engage with the text. It asks the reader to think about their first job, and it asks the reader to compare their food service discourse with other friends. It also has questions for the reader to think about, while they read. These questions include: How is discourse different depending on the type that is being studied? How many literacies are there? How do discourse communities avoid stereotypes? The questions help the reader think critically as they read the text . Language is different at a food service place, a food service place is a distinct discourse community. The workers have a certain way that they speak to customers and to fellow workers. The food service business requires certain social skills from the workers. To examine a discourse community, someone needs to analyze the patterns of thought and behavior in the workplace. The author includes his own experience which gives the text a personal touch. The reader is able to understand his perspective, and get a feeling for what the discourse community is like. A menu is a genre in a restaurant, the worker has to know what the menu says. The worker needs to be able to have a conversation with customers, and use their knowledge to solve problems. The worker needs to be able to read the customer, they are able to do this through interacting verbally and nonverbally. When a customer asks a question, the waiter has some control over the interaction. For example, a waiter on bitter waitress.com talked about how they would give many details about food on the menu, and this would overwhelm the customer, so then they would ask the waiter to choose their meal. Then, the waiter could choose something that the restaurant needed to get rid of. Waiters use linguistic devices to sell certain items on the menu. Waiters need to friendly when they interact with customers. There is a prejudice towards waiters, some customers may make fun of them, interrupt them and make the waiter feel belittled. This text helps the reader empathize with the waitress, because they are able to better understand how much thought and patience goes in their job. This text also helps the reader understand that waiters have certain workplace language.