Читать книгу Mapping the Social Landscape - Группа авторов - Страница 74

At Bazooms, formal power can be undermined by informal means. Challenges to the established power structure at Bazooms mainly take the form of gossip. Waitresses often expressed negative sentiments and shared complaints about management’s constant exercise of authority.⁹ During any given shift, one may overhear comments made by waitresses such as: They always pick out the bad instead of rewarding or encouraging us on the good stuff (Lori), or You know we aren’t respected at all (Trina), or I’ve never been in a restaurant where the workers are so badly treated (Kelly), or They are on a total power trip. Especially since they are in control of a lot of girls, and because they are men, they are taking that authority a bit too far (Teri). Thus, by coming together and sharing grievances, gossip can be a form of resistance.

In some cases at Bazooms, waitresses have been known to challenge managers directly on their policies. One waitress, after being denied a break for eight hours, let one of the managers know how she was feeling: I was so mad I was pretty much crying and he said, “Get in the office. What’s wrong with you?” I said, “You know, you have no respect for any of us waitresses.” He said, “You know, I should just send you home for good.” Then I shut up (Trina). This was a clear use of the interactional technique of threatening a waitress with the loss of her job to sustain the established power structure at Bazooms (classical management dominance and waitress subordination)….

Another waitress became defensive and upset when she was told that her hair wasn’t styled enough. In talking back, this waitress challenged authority and used informal power to get her way. (The manager on that particular day decided it was not worth arguing about and let her keep her hair the way it was.) In both of these cases, established power boundaries were consciously tested by management and waitress alike.

It is clear that even after indirect and direct challenges to the established power hierarchy by waitresses, management retains its ultimate power over workers. Direct challenges to authority generally are squelched, as reflected in Teri’s statement: You can’t talk back or you will get fired or written up. It’s a power play. Bazooms wouldn’t be Bazooms without the established power hierarchy (males on top). Nonetheless it is important to note that the women who work at Bazooms do not simply accept these power relations. They struggle to create solidarity and actively resist the passivity management wants from them.