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Nadia Sharpe

Mrs. Griffin

UWRIT1101

April 5th, 2017

The Literacies of Jakes Diner

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

culture of restaurants and expect to receive a comprehensive response. Instead, I formulated

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

thought this would be a great place to study because of my experience.

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,

management practices and policy changes, globalization, or commodification. Among restaurant

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

research, which I attend to in this exposition.

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

most commonly the reason people remain servers.

In the dictionary, the distinction between job and career is rather subjective and

difficult to distinguish. For instance, a job is a post of employment and a career is an

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

than the next competitor for a job.

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

their lives can be changed as well.

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Work cited

Ehrenreich, Barbara. 2001. NickeledandDimed. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company,

LLC.

George, Linda K. 1993 Sociological Perspectives on Life Transitions. AnnualReviewof

Sociology19:353-73.

Interview Moore, Lashawn

Interview A. Wallis, Clara

Interview Blythe, Mary

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