#decrimination

[mvuselelo]

MY SORRY SELF

By Mvusi Dee

My sorry Self.

“I can’t understand how can you accept a dog in your house but can’t accept a person because of their race, religion and where they come from”.

Don’t blame me for loving all people even though there is a high possibility of me not liking them all but I still love them. I am an ocean I can accommodate many fishes yet I spit some when they become useless and just…

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[raceawayfromracism-blog]

Would You Like a Side of Segregation With That?

                                            I love getting up really early in the morning to go to work! (sarcasm)

A successful restaurant is like a well-oiled machine; business runs smoothly when everyone is doing their job to their fullest potential. I recently started my first job taking on the responsibilities of a predominantly female occupation at a fairly popular Japanese restaurant.  As one of my coworkers said, “The job of a hostess here is to do everything to keep the customer happy and look good while doing it.” Initially, I took these words rather lightly and it wasn’t until my first couple weeks on the job that I began to understand exactly what was expected of me. It takes extreme patience to deal with customers and their complaints with a smile on your face as well as major leg muscle to endure the ache of running around in heels all day as part of my uniform.

After observing the operations of my job, I find restaurants are perfect examples to illustrate the sex, race and ethnic inequality in U.S workplaces. For instance, kitchen and busboy duties are filled by colored minority males, mostly Hispanic. Jobs at the sushi bar are primarily done by Asian men. Waiters and waitresses as well as the job of hosts and hostesses tend to hieratically segregated, expressed with Asian women taking the majority of these positions. I notice myself being further segregated as the only female Hispanic employee to be working directly with customers. The organization of the disbursement of these occupations proves to have some logic, as customers tend to gravitate more towards female employees. They (including myself) tend to receive a larger tip on average as opposed to an equally qualified male coworker.

                              You may think that female employees would advance faster because they are, on average, making more sales are rated higher on customer service; but you would think wrong. Even in a female dominated occupation, men continue to rise up the job ladder faster than women. Recently, one of the male waiters was given the position of assistance manager, though there had been waitresses who had been employed longer than this young man (kudos to him on his progress).

My current job clearly illustrates the concept of the dual labor system similar to what is described in Glenn’s “Cleaning Up/Kept Down” article. I definitely do not fit in with the Asian majority of my fellow coworkers. My gender has also determined my position as a hostess. If I were a Hispanic male, I would almost surely be working in the kitchen deskilled labor. It seems there is strategic plan for me as a hostess. The job required one to dress formally and must have an outgoing personality. I am required to speak with confidence and always remember customer service is key. When working my shifts, I find myself being the only Spanish-speaking employee in the dining room. I am often asked to help translate for some of the customers. Many times I am also singled out by customers, questioning whether or not I know the meaning of Japanese phrases I am required to announce when seating guest simply because I am obviously not if Japanese decent. I am the black sheep of the hosts.

Though the job may not always be a breeze, facing minor forms of discrimination based on both my race and gender and answering to rude customers; it shows just how far we are from a society that truly values equality.

To all of whom like to complain at restaurants:

                                ;)

-Patricia Sandoval