Untitled - ScholarWorks Home - California State University, Northridge
Untitled - ScholarWorks Home - California State University, Northridge
Untitled - ScholarWorks Home - California State University, Northridge
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Pecking Order<br />
Annamarie Midtlyng<br />
certain fast food chain changed its name to an acronym because some CEO<br />
A somewhere decided customers might perceive the restaurant as more healthy if<br />
"Fried Chicken" were not part of the name. That was the first deception. The<br />
second was my official job title, Team Member. There was no team, just a hierarchy in<br />
which speaking English and a high school diploma were suddenly irrelevant in the social<br />
order. It was my first job.<br />
The order was tri-level as follows: The store manager, Thelma, was on top, fol<br />
lowed by the shift manager, Javier, then came the cooks, and myself and the other team<br />
members. In theory I was on the bottom, the same level as the cooks, but I didn't speak<br />
Spanish so really I was off the chart somewhere below all the order. I had tutored seniors<br />
in math skills during my freshman year of high school, but I wasn't permitted to count<br />
out my own drawer at night.<br />
Thelma trained me during my first week Afterward, she was the mother of us<br />
latchkey employees, stopping in every so often to make sure that the store was running<br />
correctly and that we were staying out of trouble. Thelma was round, had dark hair and<br />
olive skin. She seemed gentle and understanding, but wasn't afraid to pull out the belt, so<br />
to speak She adored me for the excellent job I was doing, especially after I received a<br />
bonus when the corporate offices sent a mystery shopper and I passed.<br />
Javier was the shift manager every shift I worked. He was tall, slim but muscu<br />
lar, and had olive-yellow skin. His smile gave him a childlike quality undeserving of fear,<br />
however his frown could intimidate a pit bull. His eyebrows scrunched together so that<br />
they looked like one and his lips adhered to each other in a downward arc. The tone of<br />
my shift was determined by the expression I noted on his face when I began my shift<br />
each day.<br />
First I learned about selling and appearance, the duties secondary to what was<br />
most important. I learned how to work the register and what words I was supposed to<br />
use when taking an order. These words were meant to be rehearsed, but sound like a per<br />
sonal greeting with each customer.<br />
"Hi. Welcome to KFC. My name is Kim. May I take your order, please?"<br />
I couldn't figure out how I was supposed to deceive the next person in line<br />
when they'd already heard my dialogue. I also couldn't figure out how I was supposed to<br />
maintain the grotesquely huge smile that Thelma always wore when she helped cus<br />
tomers. I never saw anyone else smiling around that place, so when Thelma wasn't<br />
around, I gave my own speech, minus the corny grin.<br />
"Can I help you?"<br />
I didn't quite understand why we fussed over proper order taking procedure.<br />
This fast food restaurant was ill-defined as it was. It could take up to twenty minutes for<br />
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