Thursday, May 3, 2007

Blogging as Restorative Therapy

Waiterrant is a wonderful example of how blogs serve as a sanctuary to seethe about work. Waiters go to work and talk to customers like everything is peachy keen. “Peachy” like the peach cobbler with the homemade crust and luxurious vanilla ice cream that they insist you try because it is a renowned favorite, when in reality the manager is trying to clear it out of the freezer to make room for next weeks delivery. Yes, these are the type of things that waiters need to rant about, and blogging is conducive to this for it doesn’t result in getting fired. At least as long as the blogger has enough sense to leave out the name of the restaurant under contention. :)

Subsequently, I think Josh brings up a very good point when he stated how Waiterant satisfies our yearning to know what goes on behind the scenes. Although the “scene” we are referencing is a restaurant and not a glamorous Hollywood hangout, the fact that we are reading about what happens in a place that we are denied access too, fulfills our yearning to dip our feet in the waters of the unfamiliar. Additionally, it is exciting to read these blogs for it feels as if we are engaging in scandalous and illegitimate behavior by exposing ourselves to the true thoughts of waiters and the work environment that they have to endure.

Accordingly, blogging can be viewed as a way to maintain ones precious sanity, for without it, a waiter would have no way to vent his frustration about the couple that refuses to sit anywhere but the table in the right corner of the back room, or the mother that covertly slips the restaurant’s crayons into her purse while simultaneously asking for more because the current ones are “dull”. These are the examples of things that fuel irritation and allow waiters to vent their frustrations through blogging, and therefore, keep them from lacing the spaghetti sauce with sleeping powder. Hopefully.

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