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Acknowledgments

My greatest debt is to the workers, managers, hotel guests, and others who participated in this study. I am especially grateful to the workers at both hotels, who shared their workdays and their worldviews with me. Though they had no control over my presence, the vast majority welcomed me openly and warmly; several became friends. Although I suspect that this book is not what they expected, I hope they do not feel I have misrepresented them or abused their confidence. I am also indebted to upper-level managers in my sites, who permitted an inexperienced worker and researcher to participate in daily life in their hotels, and to their lower-level counterparts, who treated me on a par with other workers. And I thank my guest interviewees, who took the time to share stories and sometimes very personal feelings about their consumption of luxury service. Hotel managers outside my sites and other industry players were generous with their time and expertise.

I want to thank the staff at the HERE local at which I volunteered in 1995-97 for introducing me to the hotel industry and its workforce. Margaret Hunt, K. O. Odsather, and Mary Jo Martin intervened in indispensable ways at the beginning of the research. I am also indebted to the following sources of funding for the dissertation on which this book is based: the Clair Brown Graduate Study Fellowship from the Institute of Industrial Relations at the University of California, Berkeley; the Institute for Labor and Employment of the University of California; and the National Science Foundation's Dissertation Improvement Grant. I am also grateful for prior funding from the National Science Foundation and the University of California and for the assistance of the Frederick W. Hilles Publication Fund of Yale University, which supported the publication of this book.

I was lucky to work with an extremely supportive and helpful dissertation committee. Readers will see that I am indebted intellectually to Michael Burawoy; what they cannot see is the personal debt I owe him. Michael engaged enthusiastically with this project from beginning to end, reading and commenting on everything from my first tentative memos about the hotel industry to the conclusion of this book. His generosity with both his time and his ideas is a model for me as a teacher and adviser. Kim Voss and Raka Ray have been both insightful teachers and good friends. Kim helped me to stay grounded in my data and to link my findings to other research in the field. Raka shared my fascination with questions of entitlement, class, and subordinating interactive labor, and talking with her helped me develop my thinking about these issues.

In graduate school, I was fortunate to have the input of many wonderful fellow students, including Amy Hanser, Bill Hayes, Linus Huang, Anna Korteweg, Amy Schalet, Teresa Sharpe, Millie Thayer (who suggested the title), Michelle Williams, and Ann Wood. Christy Getz, Teresa Gowan, and Lissa Soep were sharp readers and remain invaluable friends. Leslie Bell deserves special thanks for her unfailing comradeship in this and many other endeavors. The dissertation also benefited from discussions with or comments by Arlene Kaplan Daniels, Laura Dresser, Gil Eyal, Steve Lopez, Ruth Milkman, Sean O'Riain, Myra Marx Ferree, Barrie Thorne, Roger Waldinger, Dick Walker, and Erik Olin Wright. The staff of the Berkeley sociology department, especially Elsa Tranter, gave indispensable practical and emotional support.

Many people generously provided helpful feedback as the project made the transition from dissertation to book. I particularly want to thank those who read the whole manuscript, in various incarnations, for their attention and insightful comments: Jeff Alexander, Dan Clawson, Jack Katz, Steve Lopez, Leslie McCall, Alondra Nelson, Diane Vaughan, Diane Wolf, and Julia Wrigley. I kept Rachel Heiman's annotated copy by my side during much of the revision. The manuscript was also improved by suggestions from Rick Fantasia, Christy Glass, Christine Wimbauer, Caitlin Zaloom, the participants in Yale's Center for Cultural Sociology workshop, and the members of the Work and Welfare group at Yale, run by Vicki Schultz. I thank Sam Nelson, Betty Yip, and Christy Glass for research help, and Noel Silverman for legal assistance. I am also grateful to the staff of the University of California Press. Naomi Schneider has been an engaged, insightful, and patient editor. Robin Whitaker greatly improved the book with careful and comprehensive copy editing, and Jacqueline Volin expertly shepherded the manuscript through production. All errors, of course, are mine alone.

My friends and family have been unfailingly encouraging during this lengthy process. Besides those already mentioned, Tanya Agathocleous, Jennifer Bair, Aaron Belkin, Emma Bonacich, Carolyn Chen, Averil Clarke, Dave Herbstman, Sarah Laslett, Zahavah Levine, Nancy Kane, Jackie Olvera, Meredith Rose, Stephanie Ruby, Diana Selig, and Paul Van De Carr were my daily support system, always curious to hear about the project and equally willing to provide distraction. Lynnéa Stephen was an enthusiastic and generous friend and a model of courage and perseverance. Karen Strassler deserves special mention here: a dear friend and intellectual fellow traveler for almost twenty years, she has commented on countless ideas and drafts, offering essential encouragement and insight in this as in so many aspects of my life. I also want to recognize Nancy Middlebrook, Margaret Hunt, and Judy Feins, who have always been generous with their own caring labor. With all my heart, I thank Laura Amelio for her unconditional love, joyful companionship, and unwavering faith in my capacity to finish this book.

Finally, I am deeply grateful to my mother, Dorothy Louise, and my father, Tom Sherman, not only for their consistent interest, encouragement, and love (and, in my mother's case, detailed copy editing), but also for shaping the values and personal history that inspired this project. I dedicate this book to them.