Southwestern Univ. Sociology Major Wins 1st Place in Nat'l Comp. on paper about restaurant servers
A paper written by senior Brianna Billingsley has won first place in a national undergraduate paper competition sponsored by Alpha Kappa Delta, the sociology honor society.
Billingsley won the prize for her paper titled “‘Literally, My Money Comes From How Happy I Make Them’: The Positive and Negative Consequences of Emotional Labor Among Restaurant Servers.” She wrote the paper for her sociology capstone class in fall 2013, which was taught by Maria Lowe, professor of sociology.
Billingsley said she got the idea for her paper because she has worked in restaurants since she was 15. For her project, she spent 58 hours observing servers at a restaurant that is part of a large national chain and conducted in-depth interviews with six servers.
The typical restaurant server makes $2.14 an hour and relies heavily on tips left by customers. Some servers, like the ones Billingsley studied, also work in a corporate setting where management dictates how servers greet and interact with customers. In this type of work environment, servers are expected to provide “service with a smile,” but what happens when they are forced to interact with customers they perceive to be rude or poor tippers?
More at http://southwestern.edu/live/news/9274-paper-written-by-senior-sociology-major-wins-first .
[font color=green]An interesting article that also reflects on racism with customers. Billingsley has also been accepted into the Teach for America program.[/font]
= new reply since forum marked as read
