Tableside Racism – The Lack of Professionalism, Research Paper Example

It is quite tempting to consider that human differences are no longer viewed as reasons for discrimination and that segregation and racism are terms of the past. Unfortunately, contemporary reality is entirely different, and racism is still a part of our everyday life. This is particularly evident in matters of everyday racism in public and private sectors’ services. The aim of the present research is to review relevant literature on the topic of table service racism in restaurants and compare the findings of literature to the practical exploration of the topic by the researcher. In this context, personal observation of the table service in one of the low-cost restaurant is used to verify data from the literature. The chosen restaurant was Swiss Chalet. Three sessions of observations took place in different days of the week and in different times of the day.

Literature review.

Although it may seem surprising for many people that tableside racism still exists, it is, in fact, a common phenomenon. In this context, one of the articles argues that the main reason why the topic may be so surprising for various categories of society is that most of the white people do not realize that it exists because they do not experience it and simply do not have time to pay attention to it (Boatright-Horowitz et al., 895). In this regard, it is not ignorance that drives this perception but rather the lack of experience of being under-served due to the racial factor. It is argued that White individuals are “unaware that they enjoy unearned privilege because they do not experience racism” (Boatright-Horowitz et al., 894). Thus, the main resolution of the problem is viewed in social awareness of the problem and desire to change the very environment which allows for the existence of racism.

In this regard, the aforementioned article corresponds to the general literature discourse. Most of the literature on the topic of tableside racism argues that this type of racism is largely conditioned by the environment the server is working in. The research conducted by Zachary W. Brewster and Sarah N. Rusche did not only found evidenced of the table service existence in full-service restaurants, but also outlined the main ways in which this racism was taking place and its conditionality. They argued that servers were likely to treat Afro-American patrons as second-sort clients due to the complexity of relations between managers, servers and clients (Brewster and Rusche, 2012, 362). In this context, managers who used special words to refer to the Black clients were introducing the atmosphere of inequality and difference in treatment. As a result, servers became prejudiced even before the beginning of service and were likely to expect more problems with the service. In this context, regular demanding attitude of the client to the service was viewed as a customer being “picky” and “messy”, “belittling” and “runs you” (Brewster and Rusche, 2012, 370).

While, in the latest research, Brewster and Rusche concentrated on a quantitative method of the problem identification, in their initial research, attention was paid to both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The findings showed that Black customers were considered to be undesired patrons in 54.6 percent of answers while White patrons were viewed as ideal in 64.7 percent (Brewster and Rusche, 2008, 2013). In this regard, most of the servers argued that their attitude was based, not on prejudices, but on their experience of dealing with the Black customers. Most of them argued that Black patrons were more demanding and treated White servers as lower level individuals, and also tipped less than estimated norm of 15-20 % (Brewster and Rusche, 2008, 2013). Therefore, according to servers, the service corresponded to the patrons’ attitude.

Method.

The chosen method for the data verification was observation. In this regard, the covert observation was chosen in order to preserve the studied environment in its authentic and natural condition without making studied subjects deviate from their regular behavior. It gives an opportunity to view interpersonal relations from within without changing them as a researcher. For instance, if the open observation with my introduction as a research took place, servers would try to change their behavior and show their best attitudes, which might be entirely different from their regular behavior. On the other hand, in order to achieve a clear picture, and not to consider certain observation as a one-time incident, observation was repeated three times in different times of the day and in different days of a week.

In order to achieve certain clarification of the observed situations, an informal interview occurred during the third observation. In this context, since the interview was not conducted during each observation and not with all servers observed, informal interview cannot be considered as means of cross-verification of observation or triangulation of the data collected. In this context, a single interview is viewed as a source of additional data and explanation or justification of certain actions. In general, it contributed to a more systematic understating of the situation and subsequent behavior.

Discussion of Observation.

Overall, the observation of table service in Swiss Chalet did not contradict the findings showed in the general literature and conformed that tableside racism does exist and is wide spread on an everyday basis. Due to the limited opportunity of discussing the issue with servers and managers, certain aspects of the issues were not verified. For instance, it is difficult to say whether there was a secret code for tables with African Americans and whether tables were swapped between servers or not. On the other hand, even without access to this data, there were more evidences of table service racism than needed.

First of all, the striking difference was not only placing table for different races, because customers had an opportunity to pick up any table they liked. The main difference was in the quality of service. When a server served a White customer, he was more likely to please him and used various polite expressions like “Good Evening!”, “How Are we doing today?”, “Do we have any particular preferences or dietary requirements?”, “May I recommend special dish of the day?”. In this case, server’s gestures and face expressions were more relaxed and welcoming. Therefore, the whole service was moving swiftly and pleasant for both parties. On the other hand, when the same server had to serve an African American couple, the attitude was entirely different. Although he had greeted them and gave them menus, no extra politeness and concern was shown. The whole service and food delivery were delayed. The server did not even consider coming to the table and let the couple know that there was a delay. The general impression was that the couple was entirely abandoned by their server. It is no surprise that, in the end of the evening, they left no tips, just the exact sum of money on the table. They left without saying goodbye or anything else. The waiter was quite irritated, murmuring something to himself and then talking to the manger about the issue. Even without knowing the exact words, one could guess that the manager for comforting the server and from what I have see let him go home earlier.

Therefore, the observation corresponds to the outlined above discourse of tableside racism. Unlike comments given by servers in Brewster and Rusche research, the clients were not picky or too demanding they asked for the regular meal and acted like anyone else. It was the server who acted with prejudices and was quite slow in his service, which was particularly contrasting with the efforts he applied in order to please White customers. The observation also proved that the quality of service in respect to Black patrons largely depends on the managerial environment and training of personnel. In this context, just as Brewster’s and Rusche’s findings showed that 22.4% of management uses specific words to describe Afro-American patrons, which was one of the reasons for the development of unequal treatment; in this case, server acted so daring because he had support of the manager. If the manager did not support him and told him off for the unprofessional behavior, the server would not act in such way. Obviously, the lack of tips was due to the poor quality of service, rather than perceived reluctance of Black customers to tip White servers.

On the other hand, the observation also showed an example of a professional and quite welcoming service. During the lunch time, one of the waitresses was exceptionally hardworking and attentive to all clients, irrespective of their demand, color of skin, age or gender. When a customer in his fifties asked for a gluten-free menu, which was not available, he asked whether he could order something from the breakfast or evening meals. She did not only ask chef, which gluten-free options were available, but even asked what the customer might like, so the chef would cook that for him for the price of a regular meal. In the end of the service, he tipped her with $15, which was far from the average 20% of the meal.

This case proves another aspect of the tableside racism; it is largely conditioned by a server’s attitude and subsequent working environment. Talking to the waitress, who proved to be from the Eastern Europe, later on, it became obvious that, for her, all customers were alike and that they were to be treated equally, “because they come here for food and good service, that is what they pay for and what they expect…I always think that if I were on their place I would want to be treated like everyone else” (Interview). In this regard, it can be argued that the essence of tableside racism is not in simply conditioned by the working environment and societal tradition of interracial actions, but also by general attitude of an individual to work. Professionalism is a key to the problem resolution, but it should come both from top and bottom of managerial ladder.

Overall, from all mentioned above, it can be concluded that tableside racism is a common phenomenon of everyday life and that it is largely conditioned by the existing working environment of services delivery. The main rationale for this situation is the observation of an individual in terms of bias – connection of skin color with social status, which is particular strong in the contemporary American perception. As the case of the Eastern European waitress showed, the main problem is in initial attitude and lack of professionalism. It is difficult to talk about equality in service delivery, when one considers himself superior to people with other colors of skin.

Works Cited

Boatright-Horowitz Su L., Marraccini M. and Harps-Logan Yvette. “Teaching Antiracism: College Students’ Emotional and Cognitive Reactions to Learning about White

Privilege”, Journal of Black Studies, 43.8 (2012): 893-911. Print.

Brewster Z. and Rusche S. “Because They Tip for Shit!: The Social Psychology of Everyday

Racism in Restaurants” Sociology Compass, 2.6 (November 2008): 2008-2029. Print.

Brewster Z. and Rusche S. “Quantitative Evidence of the Continuing Significance of Race:

Tableside Racism in Full-Service Restaurants”, Journal of Black Studies, 43.4 (May 2012): 359-384. Print.