Field Notes

I have decided to conduct my fieldwork at my place of work, as I am very rarely anywhere else.  

I work at an upscale (as far as Las Cruces goes) dining establishment which we will refer to as the silver dollar. 

Before diving into the specifics of customer and intro personal relations of the establishment, I am required to preface an interesting aspect of the restaurant. It is actually divided into two seep rate restaurants: all owned by one person,  but with two different menus and two separate wait staffs. One is considered more "fine dining" and one is considered more "casual". These are polite ways of classifying our patrons, our dining areas, and our wait staff, into economically based caste systems. 

This first blog will detail the setting so as to get an accurate picture of the environment and feel of the place I work before customer relations even come into play.

Part I: hostesses/ seating

Before I began as a member of the wait staff, I was a hostess for over a year. I saw two full sets of hostesses cycle through and was the only one to remain for quite sometime. (Turnover rate for a hostess position is high and Otis perhaps because of the following)

When you host at the silver dollar for even a month you quickly begin to understand the basic clientele of both restaurants. Prominent figures in the community are often seen in the upscale area, wealthier people and visitors who can afford plate prices of upwards of 30$. Then the lower level restaurant attracts tourists, the blue collar after work crowd, appetizer and drink crowd. Most locals know the difference between the two restaurants and able to immediately tell the hostess which restaurant they would like. Tourists or first time patrons are usually asked which restaurant they would prefer and then pick accordingly. Sometimes, however, a patron will say "two for silver dollar" and the hostess (a pretty, peppy young girl hired for her smile and ability to filter the restaurant and control of the flow) is forced to passive aggressively explain based solely on appearance of the customer that they probably can not afford the restaurant they chose. 

In short: a hostess is hired to be very pretty and very polite. She is also hired to kindly explain to people the class system of the restaurant. It is part of the hostesses duty to maintain the appearance of the upscale dining room and those who eat there. Do they look like they can't afford the food? Do they speak another language? Do they have young children with them. Try and get them into the casual dining room. (Of course if a customer insists on the dining area we will seat them accordingly, but we do our best to field them)

This separation and classification of who is allowed to eat where is a fundamental aspect of how the restaurant functions on the basic and grandeur level, as well as giving the hostess the idea of superiority and mindset of judgment. This is not a commentary on the hostesses: it is a comment on what is expected of them, and the way they are forced to judge and look down upon people based solely on appearance. This can be used as a microcosm for classification issues we see in every day society and current affairs. 

Operating within a skewed paradigm of economic and social privilege that you may or may not fit into, the staff of silver dollar have already effectively judged, classified, and formed a perception of how we must treat you as patron and how this you will likely treat us: all before you've even gotten past the door.