Nearly every restaurant requires a certain amount of cleaning duties before a server’s shift can be categorized as complete.
There are the typical “front of house” duties – table 803 needs wiped with sanitizer to erase crayon drawings. Table 804 requires more salt. Table 805 could use a quick sweeping underneath where straw papers were thrown, and table 806 looks good to go.
And then there’s “back of house”. This is where the waitresses receive the “girl” chores and the waiters suffer the “guy” responsibilities.
A friend of mine, Andrew Strittmater, WVU student and waiter at Morgantown’s Ruby Tuesday’s, ends his shift by perfecting his table section. Followed by mop duty and breaking down boxes.
Samantha Yuvon, WVU alumni and waitress, ends her shift by clearing any unwanted remains from her section. Trailed with silverware rolling.
Strittmater is obligated to complete a larger workload. He is forced to put in more eff
ort than Yuvon, receiving the same amount of hourly wage. This is not fair!
All servers have jobs that are tedious and commanding. Dull moments do not come regularly. For instance, both servers refill drinks, type in orders, run food, prepare salads, clear dirty plates, all while remembering that table 804 wanted a medium sirloin.
With this said, all servers – male or female – deserve the same amount of work.
A customer does not notice when a server struggles to hold back an expression of irritation when a demand such as, “Um, I need a refill” is ordered, but the manager will. Therefore, if restraint is withheld for customers by both sexes then limitations should not be assumed for cleaning responsibilities.
“I take offense when assumptions are made about how girls cannot do the same amount of work as the boys,” Yuvon explains. “We both hold the same position and should be treated equally. I am just as strong as the next guy.”
Ruby Tuesday restaurants are not the only service related industries in Morgantown, W.Va. that favor one sex more than another. And it is definitely not the only city that suffers these sexist stereotypes.
Assumptions, aiding sexist stereotypes, saying that all males are stronger than others are made, but is that really every scenario? Absolutely not.
A man, for example, can complete a night of work behind a bar just as, and sometimes even better than, the expected and desired female. It is not all about the short, shorts or the low tops that girls wear for attention. The main importance is about the skill, speed and attentiveness towards customers.
Employing a male in a female expected position and receiving great results should alter chauvinism opinions. The inappropriate sexiest points of views are unjust.
Males and females deserve to be considered as equal individuals, making the end of the night’s chores and tips divided evenly. Neither female nor male should undergo narrow-mindedness. Sexism in a work environment is unacceptable!
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at WVU chapter.