Women and Media SP2011: sunny disposition and alphabet soup problems; this...: Gosh, who am I? This kind of self-descriptive writing makes my palms sweat as I type. Providing a summary of self fills me with an odd pan...
post for medp384
2/2011
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Eyelash Prayers
Women and Media SP2011: Eyelash Prayers: The male gaze is the ever-present eye prod, the tape measure, reflected in all physical gestures of approval and disapproval. The male gaz...
post for medp384
2/2011
post for medp384
2/2011
Brief portrait of Carine Adler
Women and Media SP2011: Under The Skin; Carine Adler: Carine Adler was in her 40's when she wrote and directed "Under The Skin". "Adler has always worked with themes of 'dramatic sexual situa...
link to post from medp384
4/2011
link to post from medp384
4/2011
The Four People You Meet In A Restaurant
a brief history of my part-time employment
New York is an expensive
town and being 20 something is costly. Beyond the price of tuition, fun isn't
cheap. Dinner and drinks have replaced the 'freevenings' of our youth-nights of
board games and trolling AOL chat rooms have lost their edge. Many of us work
part-time while we study, encountering some eccentric personalities in the
process. I’ve compiled a list of restaurant types based on my own experiences.
The "Friend" of
the Owner
Customer who will attempt
to use real or imagined social clout- (usually imagined)- to get preferential
seating or free booze. This type might lock you into a strange half-glare and
loudly say- "Hey is*name of owner*
here? I'm a friend of *owner*'s!"
in an expectant tone bordering on aggressive. More often than not, my boss has
no idea who they are because he met them two years ago at Gray's Papaya or
something. The name-dropping is tinged with desperation, increased when the
Friend is on something resembling a date.
The Lush Co-worker
In the case of my last
job at a cantina in the West Village, the hostess was perpetually drunk. I
recall her yanking my arm and whispering some non-words akin to "bee ba
boo" into my ear. Because she is over 40 years old, you might find this
disturbing rather than quirky. The Lush's friendliness gets progressively
friendlier as dinner service progresses. By 9:00 pm she may forsake the seating
of guests completely to eat cheese in the kitchen.
The Loose Cannon
The Loose Cannon is prone
to wild torrents of misplaced emotion, which vacillate between pitiful and
terrifying. He may be balding and compensate with gold jewelry in the would-be
mafia style. My first restaurant job was as a hostess at a loosely dog-themed
luncheonette on the UES. The floor manager would intercept the phone line and
monitor my brunch performance from a camera in the basement. His outbursts were
frequent and bizarre. In one particularly confusing
instance, the LC screamed at me for forgetting to Windex the menus, then
barreled back down into his basement lair in badly concealed tears.
The Curious Patron
They might ask seven
questions about what falafel is and then order a hamburger from an exclusively
vegetarian menu. The Curious Patron does not have an adventurous palate, and
apprehensively ask if the “gwokamol” or the “kaysadila” is spicy. They might
complain that their bottle of Malbec isn’t chilled, failing to realize that red
wine is traditionally served at room temperature. The CP’s attitude of stubborn
condescension is supremely obnoxious.
I look forward to
applying all I’ve learned from the restaurant dynamic to my professional
future. Within the next decade, work will come to mean something entirely
different. A career in advertising will probably involve an office, more
clothing and less drinking. I look forward to the time when I'll be spending
money on a Saturday night instead of busting my butt to make it.
Pretty=Pressure+Pills
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUGg4RCoF0s
first production piece from medp384
a (very) rough biographical sketch of a friend & her issues with self-esteem & chemical dependency.
5/2011
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