Tony Mirabelli is a lecturer at University of California-Berkeley, whom wrote an essay of theories about language use in communities. He bases his arguments from discourse communities and multiliteracies.
Bitterwaitress.com is a new worker produced website within the service industry.
In societal institutions, literacy seems to be defined by standardized tests and individual students.
The menu is a text that is shared by the general public and used by the individual patron to satisfy a private appetite. It is also ready-made consumable goods sold for profit.
The use of linguistic devices like obfuscating descriptions isn’t very usual, according to Mirabelli.
Mirabelli is comparing Lou’s restaurant to other diners saying that they have just a long list of what to eat instead of those simpler ones.
Also that Mirabelli goes on to say that “Being able to take a customer’s order without him or her reading the menu are important ways of expressing friendliness and family at Lou’s”.
Mirabelli has decided in the end that the customer has ultimate authority over the waiter/waitress. I, in my opinion, feel the same way.
Mirabelli concluded in his last statement that “The low status of waitressing belies the complex nature of this kind of work and that innovative and creative ways in which such workers use language.
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