Hey, Waitress! The USA from the Other Side of the Tray
Edition: 1 edition
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: September 2, 2002
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 330
ISBN-13: 9780520217508
Subjects: American history: from c 1900 -; American studies; History of specific subjects; Work & labour; Women; Sociology; Business; Social Science; Biography / Autobiography; Waitresses; USA; Sociology - General; Industries - Hospitality, Travel & Tourism; Social Science / Sociology / General; Anthropology - General; United States - General; Biography; United States
First sentence: HE FIRST CLASSICAL WAITRESS, so to speak, was Hebe, daughter of the Greek god Zeus and the goddess Hera.
Description: "Most of us have sat across the tray from a waitress, but how many of us know what really is going on from her side? Hey, Waitress! aims to tell us. Containing lively, personal portraits of waitresses from many different walks of life, this book is the first of its kind to show the intimate, illuminating, funny, and often shocking behind-the-scenes stories of waitresses' daily shifts and daily lives.".

"Alison Owings traveled the country - from border to border and coast to coast - to hear firsthand what waitresses think about their lives, their work, and their world.

Part journalism and part oral history, Hey, Waitress! introduces an eclectic cast of characters: a ninety-five-year-old Baltimore woman who may have been the oldest living waitress, a Staten Island firebrand laboring at a Pizza Hut, a well-to-do runaway housewife, a Native American proud of her financial independence, a college student loving her diner more than her studies, a Cajun grandmother of twenty-two, and many others.".

"These life histories take us on a compelling excursion into the American landscape. In that terrain, we also see the stark realities of the labor and social history of our country, especially how sex and class shape work. A superb and accessible means of breaking down stereotypes, this book reveals American waitresses in all their complexity and individuality, and will surely change the way we order, tip, and, most of all, behave in restaurants."--BOOK JACKET.