A is for Apple…

So if I mentioned the ‘hey, what’s going on’ tag question before, I probably mentioned my theory on the rhetorical questions as greetings thing. Just to recap… I find it interesting that some people respond to the rhetorical greeting, some people simple acknowledge the greeting, others respond and elaborate, and most people ignore it all together (verbally speaking at least). This fascinating came to the forefront of my mind when reading about the SPEAKING grid and classifying speech events (Hymes). SPEAKING is an acronym for classifying specific parts of a speech event, such as a toast at a wedding, a eulogy, ticket purchasing, or conversation between an employee and a boss. (S=situation, P= participants, E= ends, A= act Sequence, K= key, I= instrumentalities, N= norms, G= Genres). How does this relate to the abercrombie tag line? Originally, my view was that for some of the customers, typically older ones, they didn’t understand the rhetorical question as a form of greeting, and thus felt the need to respond. By doing so, they made me uncomfortable because they were breaking the interaction norms as well as my goals for the utterance. However, as Dr. Kiesling so graciously pointed out, perhaps it is the fact that I am following other norms which leads to the odd interactions. The customers could perhaps think that I am asking to help them in some way, because it is typically the salesperson that speaks first, and thus by speaking to them, I am opening up the door to conversation. This then lead me and Scott (aka Dr. Kiesling) to discuss other sales discourse. Why is it that we feel uncomfortable starting conversations with sales people. We will wait until they notice us, try to look lost (especially in Lowes haha), or make some sort of coughing like noise to get there attention so they can initiate the verbal dialogue (i would say conversation, but technically the cough or no verbal gestures are part of the conversation). This led me to think about the other day at giant when i could find peanut butter, a staple food for me but not so much for the British guy who was at hooters on Sunday, who happened to share my love of nutella, which i pronounce wrong apparently. Anyway so i was at giant and had to ask someone where the peanut butter was. I felt compelled to say “sorry to bother you, but could you tell me where the peanut butter is”. Why did I feel the need to say “sorry to bother you” when they were there to help me find something, when it was/ is their job to help me find something? Is it because of some politeness theory, I would guess Lakoff’s politeness strategy (1990) of don’t impose, also possibly could be related to the other strategy of giving options, because I formed the utterance in a question, “could you tell me…” and they had the option of saying no. Or could it be related to a social or linguistic based norm? Anyway… so now I am considering other ways in which I would ask a salesperson (which I can’t decide whether or not to make a compound word) for help. The first thing that came to my mind started off with “excuse me”… which is pretty close to “sorry to bother you”, and still seems to resonate the idea that I am at fault in some why for asking a question. Would a the salesperson think I was rude if I didn’t say excuse me or apologize in some way?  If I has said “Hey what isle is the peanut butter in”, they probably would have thought I was inconsiderate and demanding…

Off to school

At 9:15, I stood waiting for the 9:21 shuttle to Upitt, not the city bus, the Walnut Capital Shuttle. I felt like an elementary school kid, waiting for the bus, backpack and all. At 9:22, when the shuttle failed to appear, I became increasingly more nervous about not making it to campus. Then it appeared, a small van plastered with Walnut Capital stickers. The driver was incredibly friendly. He seemed to know almost everyone’s name and showed me where he would pick me up, if I was taking the shuttle home. Aside from the religious music quietly humming from the front of the van, it was a pleasant ride. There wasn’t much traffic because we came through the park. It was, however, a very awkward silence that filled the van. If I had to guess why  no one was social, I would guess that 1/2 of them were carnegie mellon students- most likely engineers or some science studies, which makes them incapable of communication or perhaps most grad students are very social…

I found my way into the cathedral… enjoyed an hour of nervousness… and it was time for phonetics class. To my surprise, there were only 5 people in my class, me being one of them. Later in the day, I found out that we 5 were the only incoming graduate students. I was shocked. I knew not many people we accepted into graduate programs, but 5?!? Three of these students are studying hispanic linguistics. Let me briefly review some credentials. One student comes all the way from Spain. She can be hard to understand at times, but still. Another students already has his masters in ESL (teaching english as a second language) and is from Utah. The girl next to me grew up in Seattle, went to school in Wisconsin, double majored in modern foreign languages and theatre, and spent the last year teaching English in Morocco. The last member of my class came from an satellite pitt campus, but sounded more like he spent most of his time in South America. 

[insert bus adventure]

[insert book store adventure]

In the elevator, on the way up to our meet and greet with the faculty and other grad students, Meredith and I stumbled on a guy in the elevator… who asked us casually, “how was your first day”. We got into a petit chat… and he said something about how his classes had participation grades and actually expected him to come to class. I didn’t know what to say. Obviously, he had to have been an undergrad. I didn’t want to respond, “uh i’m a glad student so I don’t skip classes”.  After we got off the elevator and the doors closed, Meredith turned to me and it was clear she had been thinking the same thing I had. Considering our small liberal arts education, both of us are used to going to class, never skipping, that sort of thing. We pondered together what alternate universe (or if you’d rather, university) we had stumbled into. (I hate ending sentences with prepositions but w/e).

long story short– i met professors, grad students, realized how few people get into the program, and got home… i might expand later… but for now… that’s all.

Honey and Vinegar

Nothing too terrible exciting happens at Hooters. I’ve quickly been jaded by the passing glances of men and their feeble attempts at ‘flirting’. However, last saturday, one caught me off guard. I was walking by a table, and this guy said, “you have really nice hair. Whoever does it, does a really nice job.” As you can imagine, my immediate reaction was that he was gay, so I responded in a more pleasant way the normal. This quick judgement error was my downfall because he took this as a suggestion that I was interested in him. He continued to ask me questions and it was completely obvious that he wasn’t interested in my responses at all. Then he proceeded to tell me why he was in town and how he was ‘looking for a relationship’. To make a short, yet much too drawn out interaction, even shorter, he ended up giving me his phone number, which I immediately threw out. But all in all, I began to wonder if there are actually relationships that start off on such a superficial level and how could they ever survive. If that is how that guy knows how to meet women, then no wonder he is still single. 

 As I mentioned before, the many advances of guys has become boring and uninspiring but instead, my focus has become my coworkers. They have become increasingly more frustrating and agitating. There is a hierarchy of the female employees at Hooters. On top, are the old, trashy females that have been there for years and years. They are bitchy because they have realized this is what their life has amounted to.  Just below them dwells the self-entitled hoes. These girls have been there long enough to boss people around, but instead of being kind and building a sense of unity, they have instead chosen to ostracize those who they deem below them in rank. They call upon the girls below them to do whatever it is they don’t want to do and most willingly do their bidding because acceptance by those above them is the only escape from indentured servitude. The higher-ups claim they in fact have risen from the depths, have paid their dues to those who were above them. But that’s not what I see. I see jealously. I see laziness. I see selfishness. It takes a stronger woman to be welcoming, to accept her own downfalls in concordance with the success of others. 

So how to beat the system? I don’t know. Revolt can lead to a successful overthrow of the ruling hand, or to to one’s own demise. It must be an intelligent coup. However, bitterness and anger becomes a driving force behind more bitterness and anger. This seems to be something that these women, still girls really, have not come to accept. I have learned not to burn my bridges, but I do not travel over those leading to undesirable locations. I am determined to kill with honey and only use vinegar when necessary.

Nutella

Before I went the uncouth establishment that is Hooters this morning, I had a fingerful of nutella. I just wanted to write and say how much I love nutella. No matter where I am when I eat it, as soon as I smell it or taste it on my tongue, I am immediately transported to Paris. I lived off of nutella in paris, whether it was nutella and pretzels before the 8am trek to the metro or the late night crêpes in the quartier latin. Nutella has become more than food to me. It is a edible piece of memory.

Mickey?

There was a mouse in my apt last night. He came out of the heating vent then went back. I am not happy about this new development and am praying that the maintenance guys get here very very soon.

Hey! What’s going on?

I started working at abercrombie yesterday (which was a nightmare by the way because I had to work 10-3 and then work at hooters 4-close but anyway). At first, I thought that the owner of the company must have a severe case of OCD. I refolded clothes that were already folded, made sure hangers were evenly spaced, placed all of the tags in their designated place. Not only are there instructions for every piece of clothing, but there are diagrams showing you exactly how to achieve the correct fold and ‘look’. However, no one wants to buy clothes that have been worn my other people. The clothes in the store look like they have never been touched. I think that the intent is to create an experience which makes the shopper feel like they are having an exclusive, personalized experience. From the “tagline”, which is changed to reflect popular greeting and language (currently “hey, what’s going on?”), to the loud music(which is on a loop that a. I don’t know how many more times I can listen to techno mixes of decent songs and b. wonder why they chose these songs and how many people were involved in the decision) that makes it so you can’t hear anyone else in the store, the ambiance of the store is isolating. As a shopper you wouldn’t hear anyone else, smell anyone else (yes, they spray concentrated cologne every hour or so), or see any evidence of other shoppers being there, unless it was a crowded day. Fascinating.

 

I have a lot of time to think at abercrombie, seeing as it is hard to talk to any of my coworkers unless I am right next to them. I’ve taken an interest in customer response to the tag question of ‘hey what’s going on’. Initially, I have noted that they only people that tend to respond are adult women, usually mothers. They not only will respond with more than a word, but many times they will proceed to expand. Hopefully, I will be able to observe this phenomenon more.

479

She dealt her pretty words like Blades-

How glittering they shone-

And every One unbared a Nerve

Or wantoned with a Bone-

 

She never deemed-she hurt-

That- is not Steel’s Affair-

A vulgar grimace in the Flesh-

How ill the Creatures bear-

 

To Ache is human- not polite-

The Film upon the eye

Mortality’s old Custom-

Just locking up- to Die.

 

Dickinson 1929

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Yesterday was my first Saturday night working the Hooters crowd. Wouldn’t you know it, there were special events going on so it made it even more hectic. UFC was on (which i totally abhor and think is a barbaric sport, if you can even call it that). Also there was $1.99 Bud/Bud Light Drafts, $7.99 pitchers. How and why is this stuck in my brain? because I had to repeat it over and over and over… and I ordered it for customers over and over and over. Before the UFC crowd came in (which was just as rowdy as you would imagine. Most of them fit all stereotypes that came to mind), I was lucky enough to help serve two bachelor parties. Oh the joy of drunk men. It is amazing how even the most polite man can be turned into a perverted boy after a few pints. One of the parties came in from a ‘party bus’ so they already had a few to say the least. A few of the guys looked me up and down whenever I came over, would wink, etc. I am constantly amazed by people- I feel like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman when Richard Gere confronts her about the floss claiming that very few people surprise him. To which, Julia Roberts replies, “Well you’re lucky, most of them shock the hell out of me”. 

When I realized that I wasn’t going to be getting home til after 2am, that my ‘trainer’ wasn’t going to be sharing any of her $200 tips, that I didn’t give a shit about whether the buffalo chicken sandwich come with baked beans or cole slaw( all I could think of was the guy from 21 shouting “winner winner chicken dinner”), and that $7.15 isn’t nearly enough for the disgusting stuff I was doing- i’d much rather clean diapers at the daycare because at least the children are cute and have an excuse for being gross, I came to conclusion that I hate the person at UPitt who decided I wasn’t academically successful enough of get a TA position. He will be the man, because we all know it was a guy, to whom I am constantly swearing because I gave up so much time, so many opportunities to go out with friends, hell even to make more friends. I guess three straight semesters of a 3.9 weren’t enough. I’m not implying that I am God’s gift to linguistics, but if I am not deserving of some funding, then please impress me with the academic accomplishments of someone who is. Once again, i’ll have to prove myself and be grace under pressure. But rest assured, I will earn myself respect in this academic community, build bridges and never burn them even though they have been drizzled with the gasoline of cold-shoulders, and be the cutest, little hooters girl I can be.

As a side note, my biggest accomplishment of the night was getting my ‘trainer’ (trainer is in quotes because the only thing she demonstrated to me was the ability to be a complete selfish bitch– and that is the nicest way to put it) to give me the menu test by saying I wanted to take it and see what else I needed to study. In actuality, I just wanted the test so I didn’t have to memorize any more stupid shit about cheese and the number of onion rings then I had to. So victors was mine (because she’s STUPID but I won’t go into a rant about that or I won’t make it to work on time)!

What Works

Before Jeopardy the other night, I caught the end of the news. In the series of “What Works”, they presented a story about dogs and their role in reading development. As a linguist, who has studied reading development in both education classes and psycholinguistic classes, I was eager to hear the report. In low-income Chicago school, they have implicated a program called ‘Sit, Stay, Read’.  The dogs are brought into first grade classrooms with the students who are struggling with reading development. Under the claim that the dogs provide a ‘non-judgmental’ listener, the animals sit and listen, along with a trainer, to the students read orally, either one on one or in groups of three or less students. The newscast claimed that the students showed a 24% improvement in their oral reading and their behavior also improved.  So should dogs be incorporated into every reading program? Are they the answer that scholars and researchers have been searching for? 

While this is a cute, happy, ‘oh the sun is shining’ story, there is a lot more underneath this tale. As students who grew up in low-income communities, they are likely to face a lot of problems that interfere with their reading development. In 1995, researchers concluded that low SES students not only hear less words, but the quality of what they hear greatly differs. Low SES students are more likely to prohibitions than affirmations. Also, they typically receive only a fraction of the oral reading time that higher SES student receive. Without opportunity to develop their reading skills before they reach school, these under-privileged children start off their education having to play catch up. So why does this program work? One of the reasons is that it is giving one on one instruction in reading development. Reading is an incredibly difficult and unnatural process (for example, see the link below that tracks eye movement while reading). With overcrowded classrooms becoming more of the norm, individual attention is difficult to come by. The program brings in anywhere from 4-10 extra adults into the classroom. Their sole job is to listen and help the students read. They don’t have to worry about what little Timmy is doing or if Jane is actually completing her assignment, while listening to a group of five students read out loud.  While the dogs are a cute touch and might excite the students, the tutors and extra hands make the difference. Imagine the improvements we’d see if every subject incorporated more one on one attention. 

 

like to news article: http://www.newsvine.com/_video/2008/08/04/1720652-dog-days-of-summer-school-canines-help-students

eye tracking research link: http://www.mpi.nl/world/tg/eye-tracking/eye-tracking.html

You can sell the sizzle, but you have to deliver the steak

So it seems that a lot of people are curious about my first few days as a Hooters Girl. It’s been interesting to say the least. I’ve taken three tests, which were actually difficult because they were pure memorization. I worked during the week, and for the most part, it was fairly calm so they basically decided to give me sheets of information and have me take tests. The seating chart test, which I learned the actual importance of the next day, is based off of the seating chart (imagine that), which seems in many ways random. Another test that I took was the “ticket times” test. I had to memorize how long it took for the items on the menu to be made. My personal favorite was the bar test, where I learned all of the beers on draft, bottles, mixed drinks, and prices.

Besides all of these tests and information that I won’t remember until I actually use it, I learned a lot of things that I can’t do, like wear chipped nailpolish, rings, bracelets, wear my hair up… etc. I wonder how many other jobs have at least three hair straighteners plugged in behind the counter. Anyway, if it’s any surprise, I found out just how different I am from most of the other girls. Just for starters: About 80% of these women smoke, they don’t have a problem being sexually explicit, and they wear so much makeup that I probably wouldn’t recognize them without it. 

As far as my customer interactions, it’s been fairly quiet. The words ‘gorgeous’ and ‘beautiful’ come up a lot. I can’t imagine that I would go into a restaurant and tell my waiter that he is sexy or anything like that. Do guys go there to practice hitting of women?  Also, what’s up with referring to someone as honey or baby, as in ‘baby, can you get me more water’ or ‘honey, can i have fries instead of onion rings’. It might be shocking, but no one would ever dare to call me baby in the classroom. I would probably give them an earful if I did. However, Hooters seems like a place where you would expect to hear that so I don’t really give it much thought. My biggest complaint is that people are messy. I must be a rare breed because I would never leave a table in the conditions that I’ve seen. I always stack plates and try and clean up what I can. I had a party of 12 that destroyed the tables. I was amazed that they could even be that messy. I am sure that when I have my own tables I will have many more interesting stories… and hopefully more money in my wallet.