Mike R has been given some of the responses to his article, and asked me
to post this reply. As I noted in an earlier posting, I believe, he rarely
uses email and does not participate in list serves.
mike
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Here's a quick response to the issue about tipping raised by Phillip Capper
in his thoughtful and generous response to my MCA article, The Working Life
of a Waitress. Phillip points out that the practice of tipping varies by
culture - in New Zealand, for example, it is not customary to tip - so
therefore the stress I put on tipping as an important economic engine
driving service may well be culture-specific. Phillip is absolutely right,
of course, and it was stupid of me not to be explicit about that. I was not
trying in the article to articulate broad trans-cultural generalizations,
but, rather, to characterize, as best as I understand it, the practice of
waiting tables in the North American settings in which my mother worked.
(Mike Cole made this point in his response to Phillip.)
What intrigues me about Phillip's further speculation that the other factors
I discuss (satisfaction in the display of skill, the rewards of the social
domain, etc.) must carry more weight in NZ is this: He reminds us of the
multiple variables, other than the economic ones, that account for job
satisfaction, even in jobs that a culture defines as low-status. This is
not to buy into the myth of the happy worker, but does suggest that some
(many?) social science depictions of blue-collar and service work may be
more one-dimensional than we think. made this point in his response to Phillip.)
What intrigues me about Phillip's further speculation that the other factors
I discuss (satisfaction in the display of skill, the rewards of the social
domain, etc.) must carry more weight in NZ is this: He reminds us of the
multiple variables, other than the economic ones, that account for job
satisfaction, even in jobs that a culture defines as low-status. This is
not to buy into the myth of the happy worker, but does suggest that some
(many?) social science depictions of blue-collar and service work may be
more one-dimensional than we think.
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