sequential organization: of a quick & affective food-order

7/27/2019 Sequential Organization: of a Quick & Affective Food-Order

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Sequential

Organization:

of a Quick &Affective

Food-Order2011University of California, Los Angeles

Abstract. The organization of embodied participation

frameworks, established social hierarchy, and affect isinvestigated using as data the patterns of a local American

restaurants food-ordering sequences. The sequence generally

consists of an un-reciprocated ritual greeting, an ordering

directive, many supportive interchanges, a quick payment, and

a queuing process for food pick-up. Such phenomena are

projected into the big picture for various types of cognitive,

moral & affective stances that are fundamental to both social

organization and structural expectations, and how participants

unconsciously categorize themselves into particular social

stratums throughout the performance of mundane activities

that constitute daily life.

An Ethnography of

Everyday Speech

By Wendy Choi

Fall


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Nogales Burgers: Sequential Organization of Food-Ordering Choi 1

A Brief Introduction

This article investigates the sequential organization of an attentive and time-efficient food-order.Particular attention will be paid to the interactive organization of participant frameworks,including the dependence on body-to-body orientation and the supportive practice throughvarious components such as ritual greetings, minimal eye-contact, and code-switching in the

midst of question-to-question order-customization process, and the consequences of violating thecomponents of mutual respect.

Time Interval of Date Collection

Due to the lighter flow of customers in the morning, the 6am to 11am interval for breakfast isselected for to collect fieldwork for this particular ethnographic study. The local diner NogalesBurgers operates uniquely from other diners in that food-orders are largely self-served ratherthan delivered. Its sequential organization represents that of a fast-food restaurant, withemphasis on quick service. During the breakfast period, most customers visit alone. They sitwithin their own private space, finish their customized meal in peace, and leave thankfully afterthey finish. Personal conversations within the food-ordering space tend to be brief, and they are

not generally preferred by unfamiliar customers. It appears perhaps an implicit taboo againstdisrupting the food-ordering processes is in circulation.

The Restaurant Workforce

With regard to the restaurant management, the owner of the restaurant Peter Tsiramanes has alsoassumed the role as a head chef and often works overtime. Recognizing to the generally lighterflow of customers in a weekday morning, a single waitress Sol Sayune has been assigned thetask of carrying out food-ordering operations. 1 Moreover, she is also accountable for assistingthe chef in preparing toasts and performing the basic food preparation tasks (e.g. chopping,dicing). Due to the fact that Mr. Tsiramanes is normally present at the restaurant, waitresseshave learned in time to routinely make-work. As Goffman described: It is understood inmany establishments that not only will workers be required to produce a certain amount after acertain length of time but also that they will be ready, when called upon, to give the impressionthat they are working hard at the moment.2 Waitresses became accustomed to resuming theirperformance of cooking duties as the assistant chefeven if there was no immediate order to beprepared forwhenever they are free from serving customers at the ordering counter. (Thedesignated servers for my chosen time frame were Chef Peter T. and Waitress Sol Sayune.)

Characteristics Leading to the Popularity of Nogales Burgers

With respect to the fact that this is not an actual fast-food chain restaurant but, rather, a localburger-joint-style diner, food orders are highly customizable. The menu merely functions as aquick-order guideline. For example, instead of ordering a listed item breakfast platter whichconsists of two eggs, two bacon strips, two breakfast links, & two pancakes, customers

oftentimes issues an ordering directive for a customized breakfast platter that contains threebacon strips (extra bacon strip), one sausage patty (instead of links), two pancakes and specifiesfor two scrambled eggs (food-processing). Refer to Figure 1, the relative price for each menu

1 From 6am to 11am on a weekday, there is about 15 plus or minus 3 food orders per half hour.2 Goffman, Erving. (1959) "Regions and Region Behavior." The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Garden City,NY: Doubleday. p. 109


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item is greatly comparable to the prices of menu items of the popular quick-service chainrestaurants McDonalds, Jack in the Box, Burger King etc., and Nogales Burgers is known for itssupersized portions. Furthermore, one cannot request a sunny-side-up style egg fromMcDonalds, nor can one ask for extra Hollandaise sauce. Recognizing this fact establishes ahealthy mentality for customers because they feel like they have found a great bargain at a local

restaurant that is an advantage of local in-groups.

Figure 1. The glass-front entrance is completely covered with attractive promotional deals, such as

$15.99 family meal deals with 4 large hamburgers, 4 bags of fries, & 4 cups of medium-sized soda.


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Spatial Structure Promoting Hierarchy & Food-Order Functionality

Most verbal communications occur at the front region of the restaurant, where the servicecounter is located. The service counter itself acts as a symbolic hierarchical divider separatingthe restaurants staff and their consumers. Interaction within the restaurant space, however brief,establishes a private and friendly environment in which customers are the first priority. Aside

from the waitress supportive guidance throughout each food-order, the spatial arrangementgenerally educates customers with respect to the food-pickup process, the availability of diningutensils and condiment assortments, as well as the accessibility of entertainment.

Authority in Space Arrangement

It is important to notice that the food-ordering counter does not only serve as a spatial dividerbetween the kitchen and the dining area. It also serves to reinforce the modern restauranthierarchy between the restaurant staff members and their customers. Whereas service providersare consistently standing in their make-workposition in the area enclosed behind the counter,the customers being served are free to utilize the large dining space in any socially-acceptable

mode. There is no seating arrangements or entertainment available in the open kitchen forrestaurant staff. Moreover, the only television in the restaurant is positioned so that it faces thedining section, and the back of the television faces the kitchen staff. However, viewed fromanother perspective, the kitchen is off-limits to customers, whereas the staff members on duty arefree to access all parts of the restaurant (though they may not be using the space in the samemanner).

During the order-taking process, the waitress is usually engaged in jotting down the order detailsonto her notepad. Thus, the waitress is rarely optically engaged with her customers after theinitial ritual greeting. Even so, the counter functions as a medium to draw a mutual attentionfocus: customers orient their body towards the counter and sometimes even rest their hands on it

when making the order, while the waitresss body is oriented toward the counter and hercustomer while recording the details of the order. See Figure 2 for a better idea. It orients bothparties party toward each other and preserves a zone of mutual attentiveness.

Figure 2.

While the waitress is busy jotting down

the order onto her notepad, the customer

leans toward the ordering counter and

stares at the menu above the counter.

Both parties have their bodies oriented

toward each other, nevertheless.


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Quick-Service Restaurant, Self-Service Counters

Spontaneous spatial structures such as the Order Here and the Pick-up Here signscommunicate to customers the mechanism of the queuing process. Customers automaticallylearn to wait for their number to be called and pick up their order at the pick-up counter. Duringthe wait, customers are free to select the condiments they need along the pickup counter and

gather dining utensils for use and even to pour water, tea, or coffee

Dress & Adornment in Expressing Identity and Sanitation

Unlike other restaurants, the kitchen staff is not assigned hair nets to guard their hair from fallinginto the food they serve. However, kitchen staff (unless bald-headed) is given a plain coloredcap to keep their hair tied away from the front of their bodies. They are generally required towear a shirt with sleeves and an apron which matches the color of their caps. The chefs, on theother hand, dress in a traditional white outfit with a white apron in all occasions.

Figure 3. Dress & AdornmentWaitresses are given color-matching apron and caps to guard their hair against falling into the

served foods, while chefs generally wear a white hat and a white apron. The man at therightmost picture is the owner Peter Tsiramanes, who usually does not wear a cap.


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Sequential Organization of Food-Ordering

According to Hutchby and Wooffitt, "there are describable ways in which turns are linkedtogether into definite sequences," and this analysis aims to reveal this sequential order in a fast-food restaurant's ordering process.3 Also, we will demonstrate how mutual acknowledgment canstill be established without the use of adjacency pairs, such as greetings and return-greetings.

As mentioned earlier in the section of spatial organization, we can infer that a customerssuperior authority is established upon entering the restaurant space. In initiating the food-ordersequence, a waitress awaits the customers indication of readiness as they move directly in frontof the ordering counter. The waitress would then move on with a ritual greeting to demonstratetheir respect and recognition of their customers presence. This ritual greeting in almost all thecases is unreciprocated. The majority of the customers would, instead, move on to issuing afood-ordering directive. With consideration to the information embedded in this directive, thewaitress asks questions in a series of supportive exchanges to finalize the customized meal.Finally, a payment is made and the customer receives a queuing number. Spatial structures suchas the Order Here andthe Pick-up Here signs encouragecustomers self-education of the

queuing process so customers would wait for their number to be called and pick up their order atthe pick-up counter.

I. Unreciprocated Ritual Greetings & Ordering Directives

Waitress Initiates Food-Order Through the Ritual of Greeting

After mentally taking note of the customers presence at the ordering counter, the wa itressverbally expresses her recognition with a brief greeting of Hi, Hey, or Yes? in initiatingeach food-ordering sequence. It is most routinely accompanied by direct eye contact between

the waitress and her customer as an indication that the waitress is ready to receive the order. Insome cases, a nod also with direct eye contact may substitute for the verbal greeting. Only inrare cases when the waitress is heart-warmed by a previous customer or by some event thatlightened her mood, she greets her customers with a How are you? A face-to-face greetingwith direct eye contact from the waitress becomes established as a ritual that affirms thewaitresss attention for her next customer, thereby acknowledging each others role in the food-ordering process.

In all cases, these greetings are received as a yes for customers to begin their primary food-ordering directive. Surprisingly, none of the customers reciprocate the waitresses ritual greetingwith another Hi, Hey, Hello, and nocustomers truly replies to the question How are you?

Nevertheless, the friendliness of the ritual greeting opens the possibility of access by both parties.At Nogales Burgers, we can infer that a waitress Hi, Hey, or phrases that we often receiveas greetings merely serves as an instrument of mutual acknowledgment.

3 Hutchby, Ian, and Robin Wooffitt (2008). Conversational Structures: The Foundations of Conversation AnalysisConversation Analysis 2nd ed. Cambridge: Polity, p. 41.


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A brief ritual greeting also serves as a marker in the hierarchical relationship of the restaurantenvironment, where the waitress job is to attend to her customers. As described by Goffman,Ritual is a perfunctory, conventionalized act through which an individual portrays his respect &regard for some object of ultimate value or to its stand-in.4 The conversations initiatorinevitably the waitressdesignates her position as one of less authority in an environment

where the customers are the first priority. In the food-ordering sequence, customerswho payfor the services they receiveare the message sender; and the waitressthe messagereceiversasks questions that operates as modifiers to achieve the objective of an interpersonalconversation, or the food-order.

Mutually Acknowledged Characteristic of Food Order at Nogales Burgers

The length of time of most food-ordering encounter is preferably short and objective because:

1. Most customers enter the restaurant with an appetite understanding that it is a quick-service restaurant. Most oftentimes, when a customer does initiate a conversation, thewaitress would quickly end the conversation. (See Sol & Andras example below)

2. Kitchen staff assumes customers do not want to engage in personal conversations.3. Kitchen staff acts very professional and consistently engages in different tasks, leaving

no time for personal conversations.4. The limited amount of kitchen staff members in the morning creates a busy environment,

one that does not welcome non-objective conversations.

Even though the brief food-ordering interchange is largely impersonal (with regards to how itdidnt involve each partys progress in life) and almost purely informative of the food order, afriendly environment and a familiar sequence are nevertheless established by the welcomingritual greeting & customization. After the brief greeting, most customers do not hesitate to beginwith a directive on their orders, as demonstrated in section one. It is usually followed by

supportive interchange during the customization of the specific order.

Food-Ordering Directive & Unreciprocated Ritual Greetings

Contrary to our social expectations of appropriate behavior and adjacency pairs, no returngreeting answers to the waitress ritual greeting. In reality, most customers do not hesitate tobegin with a directive on their orders. It happens in every order. Even though customers fail tosupply a greeting in reciprocation, there is no humiliation or embarrassment generated. Thephenonmenon of responding to greetings with an ordering directive instead of a return-greetingis the result of an established norm in fast-food-ordering sequence over time.

When hungry customers first enter the restaurant and see the wall full of distractive menu items,they became indecisive over what to order and the order primes their mind. With the modernprinciple the customers always come first in mind, the embedded superior identity of thecustomers is recognized once the customer enters the restaurant arena with the ritual greeting. Ineach set of food-ordering data I gathered from Nogales Burgers, the customers responded to the

4Goffman, Erving. (1967) "Supportive Interchange." Interaction Ritual. Pp. 62-94.


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greeting with a directive on the simple order they have in mind, which is then further modifiedthrough supportive interchanges between the order-taking waitress and the customer. Other thanthe unconsciously function of exposing underlying social hierarchical structures, the directivesare issued with the food-ordering objective of declaring the customers order.

These unconsciously authoritative directives are softened by compromising clauses such asLets have a, Lets see, Ill take, et cetera. In most cases, customers display certaindoubts over their order and inserts pauses of thought through an un-breaking uh::::h to extendthe duration of their turn in conversation & to indicate that they are ready to order whileconstructing a confident decision. In the initial directive given, intonation changes are not soprevalent. Some examples are shown below.

1 Sol: Hi2 Rene: Lets huuf uhh.. Brekfust~Special~wit~huevosas well

1 Sol: How are you?

2 Todd: Okay (0.4) let's see uh::hm.. egg~&~bacon sandwich... uhh, mm, uhhWheat~toast.. to-go please

1 Sol: ((nods and gives direct eye contact))2 Max: no:w Ill just eat my breakfast burrito.

1 Sol: Yes?2 Carlos: uh::h, Ill take a breakfast platter an::d

Supportive Interchange in Food Order-Customization

Identification of Restaurant Hierarchy

Supportive interchange during a food order occurs in the form of positive ritualistic modifierquestions. The objective of the conversation is to carry out a customized food order for thesatisfaction of the customer. Perhaps Nogales Burgers does not have the best customers servicein the quick-service restaurant industry, but mutual respect and politeness in affirming andsupporting the restaurant service hierarchy classifies the interchange as a positive ritual.Throughout the conversation, each request, question and answer identifies the customer as theauthorized individual with preferences different from other customers. The waitressattentiveness to the customers order, her supportive guidance by asking questions ofmodification, and her overall focus on the conversation all serve to generate a sense of authority

and respect to the customer. Most commonly, the food-ordering interchange occurs as follow:

1 Sol: Hi2 Rene: Lets huuf uhh.. Brekfust Special wit huevos (0.8) as well3 Sol: Bacon?4 Rene: *hh uh wer~u~sayin?5 Sol: Bacon?6 Rene: u::::::h~naw!


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(.98)7 Sol: ((Writing)) algo ms?

(0.7)8 Rene: ((murmur)) mm NUtin,9 Sol: ya=

10 Rene: = ThatsiT!11 Sol: ((nods)) mm

Again, the waitress Sols greeting is reciprocated by customer Rene Solis directive on foodorder. In this case, the waitress interrupted with a modifier question when Rene paused for aneighth of a second, absorbed in his thoughts over his order. For a moment, Sols question wasleft unanswered as Rene continued on to complete his previous sentence without providing anynew information. Trained to detect her customers approval, Sol did not immediately interruptagain and allowed Rene to finish his chain of thought. Upon realizing that Sol has spoken, Reneinitiated a turn-repair concerning what Sol was saying. This gesture authorizes Sol to repeat herquestion. In all the food-ordering interchanges, the questions and answers are brief and objective,

and each order is structurally similar. Each modifier question is generated with relevance to theprevious selected modification and each caters to the customers preferences, most commonly:

1. Eggs: Scrambled/ Sunny-side-up2. Potatoes: Fries/ Hash-Brown3. Drinks: Size (Small/ Medium/ Large)4. Toasts: Wheat/ White

Most often, supportive interchange in food orders functions as a mechanism of mutualconfirmation. It is not often accompanied by eye-contact because orders are taken down by penand the order-pad and the waitress is writing the order down in every case. This is because every

order, instinctively, positions both individual in a body orientation that faces each other. Thus, itis implied that each question and answer is directed at the two individuals oriented at each other.Here is an example:

1 Sol: How are you?2 Todd: Okay (0.4) let's see uh:hm.. egg & bacon sandwich... uhh, mm, uhh

wheat toast.. to-go please3 Sol: o::kay, bacon & egg sandwich, togo?4 Todd: Yea, th:ats right.5 Sol: O:kay $4.30.


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Figure 4: Waitress Sol Sayune looks directly at customer Rene Solis to prompt an answer and to

confirm that the food-order has been completed.

Most often, direct eye contact occurs at the ritual greeting and during the payment time frame.Occasionally, however, a customer may take longer than usual to complete their food-orders dueto external distractions: phone calls, their children, side conversations when more than onecustomer is making a single order. In these cases, the order is taken in the same manner,sometimes with slight disruptions, and more eye contact occurs as the waitress makes an oftenfutile attempt to regain attention. Note the orange highlights, indicating Sols attempt to regainattention from a couple making an order while tending to their ex cited daughter:

Example 3:

1 Sol: [nods to indicate she is ready for an order]2 Andra: Okay, Ill get a breakfast.3 Sol: Yeah, well see.4 Andra: Uhh, lemme have a... bacon, with sausage5 Sol: Uh:h p~late?=6 Andra: =Ye:a7 Sol: Bacon & Sausage? Howd you like eggs? ((stares))8 Andra: ((look for daughter)) Scrambled. (1.07) & uh, lemme have u:h brunch


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((Turns around and walks to her child at the entrance))Come back! ((Sol stares)) Max, you ready to go?

9 Max: no:w Ill just eat my breakfast burrito.10 Sol: okay~salsa? ((stares))11 Max: Irma dont do it again. Ou:uah t mira. uh:h CokeEl Coke.

((turns to own daughter)) ((turns to Sol))12 Sol: What size? ((stares))13 Max: uhh, medium, general.14 Sol: Just one? ((stares))15 Max: no:o, medium? What size did I order?16 Sol: ((Spanish)) Medium? ((stares))17 Max: ((Spanish)) Grande.18 Sol: Y la medium por qu?19 Max: ((Points to daughter)) She!20 Andra: Howre you ther: back home?21 Sol: Its going fine. ((turns to machine))

22 Max: ((lightly to Andra)) Going fine, good to hear23 Sol: (9.75) $18.81.

In this supportive interchange, confirmation on the order occurs more than in other conversationsas a result of the daughters active distraction. The waitress Sol also expressed a genuineconcern over Maxs choice of beverages in the order with regards to the size of his family, whichestablishes a friendly and caring relationship between the staff and their customers. In return, thefemale customer (who seems to be previously acquainted with Sol) make an inquiry regardingSols well-being. Reinforcing my pervious observation, Sol had ended the friendly conversationwith a brief Its going fine and her return to the machine to input the order and calculate theprices. Unquestionably, the most common form of supportive interchange in quick-servicerestaurant (especially at Nogales Burgers) occurs to confirm or modify the clarity of the food-order itself.

It is interesting to note, that, with a more familiar customer, the chef himself came out to greethim, and turn-repairs and supportive interchanges occurs more often, more naturally, and withgreater intonation differences. It can possibly be explained by the familiarity of the staff and theacquainted customer:

1 Peter: GONzaLO!=2 Gonzalo: How it goin?3 Peter: It is fine. How arre you?

4 Gonzalo: ALright. I ordered a steak sanwich.5 Peter: Steak Salad?6 Gonzalo: Sanwich.7 Peter: Steak~Sa?=8 Gonzalo: = a steak sandwich.9 Peter: You already ca::ll?10 Gonzalo: YA! I already calledhere.11 Peter: ouu, oh-kay. [to Sol] This steak salads for Gonzalo?


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12 Sol: Ye:ah13 Gonzalo: Ya~yaya~ya.14 Peter: Gonzalo is here. Ou:kay. Hold on, its coming up.

ConclusionThe organization ofthe restaurants spatial structures guides its participants social interactions within therestaurant space. A restaurants hierarchy is thus established from the embodied participation frameworks:a mandatory ritual greeting demonstrating the waitress subsidiary position, a moderated food-orderingdirective to demonstrate the courtesy of the customer, the waitress assuming an attentive andunderstanding position, et cetera.

Such phenomena are projected into society for various types of cognitive, moral & affective stances thatare fundamental to both social organization and structural expectations. For example, a bartender atStarbuckswho is lesser in position when he is at workmay gain a more superior position as aconsumer at the restaurant Black Angus, where a waiting staff attends to the off-work bartenderspreferences in his food-order; or, in a discussion to identify the most broadly suitable method to educatestudents who have no college-awareness, a high school teacher may be more empowered by experiencethan a university professor who does not experience these types of issues. All in all, these all serve todemonstrate how spatial organization can drive participants to unconsciously categorize themselves intoparticular social stratums and transform the performance of mundane activities that constitute daily lifeinto activities that gives a unique identity to each individual.

References

Goffman, Erving. (1967) "Supportive Interchange."Interaction Ritual. Pp. 62-94.

Goffman, Erving. (1959) "Regions and Region Behavior." The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life.Garden City, NY: Doubleday.

Hutchby, Ian, and Robin Wooffitt (2008). "Conversation Analysis" 2nd ed. Cambridge: Polity, pp. 41-65.

sequential organization: of a quick & affective food-order

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