Final Project Blogpost

For my final project I decided to talk about my experience working as a server through a public Instagram account that I made.

(A) Fantasy Waitress, 2018

(B) Reality Waitress aka ME, 2018. 

An interesting aspect of my project is that I was allowed to speak my mind without any limitations. At first, this was a challenge for me because my job requires that I filter myself. Basically, I’ve been conditioned to be silent and have gotten used to it which is a concern.

Upon creating my Instagram, I had to think like an advertiser because I wanted to attract audiences to my account. I chose a mix of unique cartoons and realistic images that I found on the internet and underneath wrote a little story or opinion piece about sexism, racism, class, etc. that I see on the clock.

Insta Bio, 2018.

Looking back at my account now it might sound like I’m ranting but that’s only because I was really passionate about the topic I chose to focus on, which was a surprise to me. I didn’t realize how much I kept in and still keep in being a server and all.

The rules in the restaurant biz is #1 the customer comes first. So obviously, rule #2 is servers don’t mean shit (the irony in that being rule #2 haha). Anyways back to the point, I have no choice but to listen to customers and their constant complaints so it’s wayyyy overdue that I get to say something for a change. My final project is literally turning the tables and recentering the conversation of the dining experience on those actually serving.

Instagram Account Icon, 2018.

Even though the stories I posted are personal, I tried to word it in a way that others in the same or similar positions as me could relate to. For instance, a small detail I intentionally made was making all of the “i’s” lowercase because even though these are stories taken from my experience, they are not the only ones out there.

Example of a post using the lowercase "i" 2018.

Resources (aka Inspirations):

• Bell Hooks - Understanding Patriarchy
• Berger - Ways of Seeing
• Laura Mulvey - Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema
• Bell Hooks - Feminist Manhood
• Kimmel - Misframing Men
• Jessica Nydia Pabón-Colón - Graffiti Grrlz
• Kilbourne - Cutting Girls Down
• Wolf - Culture
• Kate Bornstein and S. Bear Bergman - Gender Outlaws
• Judith Butler - Subjects of Sex/ Gender/ Desire
• Gloria Steinem - Sex, Lies & Advertising
• Danae Clark - Commodity Lesbianism
• Jean Kilbourne - beauty and the Beast of Advertising
• Bordo - Hunger as Ideology
• Wykes Gunther - Conclusion: Body Messages and Body Meanings
• Harris Perry - Crooked Room
• Lorde - The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action
• Peggy McIntosh - White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Backpack