Blue-Collar Brilliance - An educator challenges society’s assumptions about intelligence, work,class

[BridgeTheGap]

My mother, Rose Meraglio Rose, shaped her adult identity as a waitress in coffee shops and family restaurants. When I was growing up in Los Angeles during the 1950s, my father and I would occasionally hang out at the restaurant until her shift ended, and then we’d ride the bus home with her. Sometimes she worked the register and the counter, and we sat there; when she waited booths and tables, we found a booth in the back where the waitresses took their breaks.

There wasn’t much for a child to do at the restaurants, and so as the hours stretched out, I watched the cooks and waitresses and listened to what they said. At mealtimes, the pace of the kitchen staff and the din from customers picked up. Weaving in and out around the room, waitresses warned behind you in impassive but urgent voices. Standing at the service window facing the kitchen, they called out abbreviated orders. Fry four on two, my mother would say as she clipped a check onto the metal wheel. Her tables were deuces, four-tops, or six-tops according to their size; seating areas also were nicknamed. The racetrack, for instance, was the fast-turnover front section. Lingo conferred authority and signaled know-how.

Rosie took customers’ orders, pencil poised over pad, while fielding questions about the food. She walked full tilt through the room with plates stretching up her left arm and two cups of coffee somehow cradled in her right hand. She stood at a table or booth and removed a plate for this person, another for that person, then another, remembering who had the hamburger, who had the fried shrimp, almost always getting it right. She would haggle with the cook about a returned order and rush by us, saying, He gave me lip, but I got him. She’d take a minute to flop down in the booth next to my father. I’m all in, she’d say, and whisper something about a customer. Gripping the outer edge of the table with one hand, she’d watch the room and note, in the flow of our conversation, who needed a refill, whose order was taking longer to prepare than it should, who was finishing up.

Read more: http://www.utne.com/mind-body/Blue-Collar-Brilliance-Intelligence.aspx#ixzz2ZUlcsv4n

[handmade34]

1. rec n/t

[pinto]

2. +1 Good read.

Thanks for the post.

[Cirque du So-What]

3. K&R for reminding me of the Utne Reader's existence alone

With so many options available nowadays, I sometimes forget about gems like the Utne Reader.

[Javaman]

4. There's a gal at the local beanery,

She's a pretty hunk of scenery
She can make a chocolate soda go shhhh,
You should come around and dig it when she's working at the spigot,
You can hear her calling orders like this,

Give me a Ham one down and a burger rare
Side of 'slaw and a 7 layer
OJ up, crack two in a cup and a Boogie Woogie Blue Plate

Give me a triple beef on a load of hay,
Combo rye and a bottle of A.
Comin' through with a slab of Moo and a Boogie Woogie Blue Plate

Draw one, draw two, get that coffee perkin'
Draw three, Draw four hold that mayo while the chopped eggs workin'

Give me a tuna wheat with a side of fries
86 on those cherry pies
side of greens on the franks and beans and a Boogie Woogie Blue Plate

Draw one, draw two, get that coffee perkin'
Draw three, Draw four hold that mayo while the chopped eggs workin'

Give me a tuna wheat with a side of fries
86 on those cherry pies
side of greens on the franks and beans and a Boogie Woogie Blue Plate

[leveymg]

5. Analysts were separated from field agents by a test based upon observation of 3 different types

(or measurable dimesnions) of intelligence. CIA recruits were administered a version of Gittinger's "Personality Assessment System" (PAS), which based upon differences that the author observed among patients of equal overall IQ who worked in various roles in a diner near the clinic. He determined that there is specific "externalizer" trait shown by short-order cooks and waitresses needed in those roles (external and sociable personalities comfortable with juggling many simultaneous details while getting the order right, ability to quickly process and adapt to changing conditions). This contrasts with the "internalizers" who have a different type of intelligence, Gittinger observed, the major difference being the latter's slower but deeper (internal) thought processes shown by dishwashers, who scored higher on other tests for creativity, such as synthetisizing large amounts of information, and drawing original conclusions from them. From the PAS Wike:

This very brief description is based primarily on the most recently published description of the PAS [3] although there is no disagreement with other descriptions.[4][5]

The PAS is based on premises (among others) that behavior is determined by both heredity and environment and behavior is determined by an interacting system of traits. Furthermore, these traits can be modified through learning to such an extent that some might be nearly opposite to the original genetic direction. Gittinger's original formulation defines three primitive dimensions to which must be added general ability level which is referred to in the PAS as Normal Level. There is an additional dimension related to psychological energy. In the theory, gender and age also affect the final personality description.

The first dimension is Internalizer-Externalizer which is an ability to manipulate internal stimuli or symbols without being distracted by the external world. This is similar, but not identical, to the familiar introversion-extroversion dimension. The internalizer relies more on his own experience and internal landscape and is likely to be less active than externalizers. The externalizer is dependent on input from the outside and is more dependent on relating for the sake of relating. Gittinger called this the intellectual dimension.

The Regulated-Flexible dimension can be viewed by thinking of a regulated person as one who can see details within a whole, but not the whole. The regulated person is more stimulus bound and less able to see the "big picture". The regulated person is more procedurally oriented and emotionally insulated. The flexible person is involved with relationships and has attention diverted from step by step procedures. In theory, the regulated person has a high sensory threshold which is therefore satisfied less often than a flexible person. Gittinger called this the procedural dimension.

The Role Adaptable-Role Uniform dimension refers to a person's skill in meeting demands that others make of him. It is thus a social dimension. The behavior related to this dimension is generally without awareness. The adaptable person easily plays a variety of roles, being charming and moving easily in many different situations always making good first impressions. The role uniform person is able to handle only a few social roles at best and is often said to be socially inept. The behavior is most apparent in new social situations, since the role uniform may comfortable and accepted in a very familiar situation. The role adaptive can suffer from making good first impressions and then not understanding the unrealistic expectations others place upon him. Gittinger called this the social dimension.

[Half-Century Man]

6. How to get followed around at work.

Many years ago I ran across a copy of Niccolo Machiavelli's "The Prince" at a garage sale for a nickel. I bought it, took it home, crammed it in my library (650+), and promptly forgot about it. Some years ago I read a book which claimed (in a fictional conversation) that Machiavelli was misunderstood. That if you read "The Prince" 5 times in a row your perception changes to a sympathetic one.
So, I did so. And the author was right. What "The Prince" says at face value is the opposite of the larger message buried within.

But, read "The Prince" in the break room at work while smiling at the hidden humor in front of upper management. You will get an interview with persons worried about your frame of mind.