Myca Scaglione

UWRT-1101-002
Olivia Rines
23 March 2015
Micro-Ethnography: A Day in the Life of an Applebees Employees Micro-Ethnography
Working in a restaurant is like joining being in a new world of itself. Every restaurant has
their own unique characteristics to them that which you begin to learn when you start working
for one. Applebees is no different and has those various characteristics that are particular to
Applebees. The main goal of all Applebees employees is to give the guests a great dining
experience and invite them to come back and see them again. As this is also the goal of several
other restaurants including Applebees, Applebees does a good job at working as a whole. The
way I saw it was basically like a machine and each part has to be working correctly for it to be
running smoothly.
The Applebees at Concord Mills employees served as my discourse community for this
analysis. While I observed the employees as they worked I noticed that there are 4 main groups
within the community: Hosts, Servers, Bartenders, and Managers. If I was able to have observed
the cooks a little more than there would actually be 5 groups within the community. Each group
has its own special responsibilities for throughout the work shift. Hosts and Servers wear black
dress pants and black button up shirts. Bartenders wear black dress pants and red button up
shirts. Managers and Cooks basically get to wear whatever they want to wear to work that day.
Just like the dress code is specific to each group the tasks of each is specific as well. The only

significance to wearing the different colored uniforms is to distinguish between Server and
Bartender because Hosts wear the same thing as Servers.
The beginning of a Hosts or Hostesss shift usually begins at 10:30, if it is a morning
shift, or at 5:00, if it is a night shift. When I went to observe at Applebees, I observed a Host
during the night shift. They came in right at 5 oclock and the first thing they did after clocking
in was walk around the entire restaurant and get all of the menus to bring back up to the Hhost
stand. The Hhost stand is at the very front of the restaurant right when guests walk through the
front door so the Hhost can greet them as they come in. The Host then checked and cleaned the
bathrooms making sure everything was stocked such as toilet paper or paper towels. This is one
of the many responsibilities of the Host during their shift. The main job of the host is to greet the
customers as they walk through the door and take them to their appropriate seating. When
seating the guests it important that the Host try to stay in rotation which means trying to give
each Server an equal amount of tables. If you walk to a table and when you get there the guests
dont want to see there, bring the guests to wherever they would like to sit in order to keep the
guests happy. Keeping the guests happy goes back to the main goal of the restaurant as working
as a whole.
A Server shift usually starts anywhere from 10 to 12 for a morning shift and 3 to 6 for a
night shift depending on which Servers are opening and closing. and Iif any of the Servers are a
double, which means they work both the morning and night shifts, then this is where the shift
times vary.. The first thing each of the Servers did after clocking in was go up to the host stand
and check the floor chart to see what tables they have for their shift. Once guests are seated at the
Servers tables, the Servers introduce themselves and starts off by getting the customers those
drinks. Since Applebees is a Bar & Grill alcoholic drinks are usually pushed as option by the

Servers. Most of the time the Server will ask if they would like to look at a drink menu or
suggest there favorite drink to the guest. After the Server gets the customers there drinks they
then ask them if they need a minute to look over the menu or if they are ready to order. If they
are ready to order, the Server goes ahead and takes their order then takes the menus back from
the guests. I noticed the Server checks on the table while it waits on its food about twice, just
depending on long the order takes to be made. Whenever the order comes up, the Server brings
the food out to the table plate by plate instead of on trays like some restaurants do. The idea of
bringing the food out by plates is so that there is never nothing on the table and it helps the
Servers to bus their tables as they go. The Server then checks on the table periodically through
their meal making sure they have everything they need. As soon as the customers ask for their
check or look like theyreir ready to leave, the Server brings them the check and/or checks one
last time to make sure they have everything before they go such as, to-go drinks. Finally the
Server rings up the check, whether cash or credit, brings the table their receipt, and thanks them
for coming to eat at Applebees. The Applebees slogan only said by very few Servers, I
noticed, was See You Tomorrow. The Server is supposed to say this when a table is about to
leave and walk out the door. I only heard the slogan used a couple times throughout my
observation so I asked one of my interviewees why? Keishana told me that including the See
You Tomorrow slogan was only shown in the videos during training so the newer employees
still may try to follow that script.
During my observations I was mostly able to watch Hosts and Servers at work, not
Bartenders or Managers. I did observe both as much as I could throughout the shift and I noted
down the main jobs of each. For Bartenders, theirere main focus is making all alcoholic drinks
for the whole restaurant. They also make flavored lemonades, chocolate milk, and juices for the

kids. The Manager is the boss of everyone throughout the whole shift. Their role is to focus on
each employees abilities enable to direct them in a positive way to achieve the main goal of
working as a whole. During a Managers shift they supervise the other employees working, make
table visits to guests, and expo in the kitchen. Expo means pull food in the window and prepare it
for the Server to bring out to their table. It is important that the Manager get along with Hosts,
Servers, and Bartenders to keep the restaurant running smoothly.
In The Concept of Discourse Community by John Swales he states the 6 main
characteristics of a discourse community. Swales says that the discourse community must
contain each of the 6 characteristics to be considered one. The first characteristic is A discourse
community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals (Swales 220). As I said before the
main goal of Applebees is to keep the restaurant working together as a whole. Everyone works
towards making sure the customers are happy and satisfied when leaving.
The second characteristic that Swales names in The Concept of Discourse Community
is A discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members (Swales
221). The only form of this I really noticed while observing Applebees was that when they start
getting busy they use walky- talkys to communicate throughout the restaurant. Both Hosts, all
managers, the bartender, and the person running expo all have their own walky- talky and
headset. This is really helpful in communicating with each other from different parts instead of
walking back in forth from place to place to talk to each other.
A discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide
information and feedback. iIs the third characteristic that Swales states (Swales 221). On the
bottom of the receipts given to customers there is a number to call if the customer wishes to take
a survey on their service and their Server. By completing the survey it enables the managers to

give the Servers feedback of how they work with customers. Usually theare manager prints out
comments from the online surveys and hangs them in the back by the kitchen for the Servers to
see what people have said about them.
A discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the
communicative furtherance of its aims. iIs the fourth characteristic mentioned in The Concept
of Discourse Community (Swales 221). After observing through a shift I really had to go back
and think about things that could be considered a genre. The major genre I found at Applebees
was menus. Every guest is handed a menu to read to order there food from. The order is then
written down in the Servers book which could also be considered a genre at Applebees. The
Servers have to be able to read the orders from their books to be able to put the order in the
computer. Inserts that are placed inside the menus when something new comes out or the
foldable placed on the table can serve as genres at Applebees.
The fifth characteristic that John Swales talks about is In addition to owning genres, a
discourse community has acquired a specific lexis (Swales 222). From being around the
employees after observing them I noticed that they said things I had never heard anywhere but
Applebees before. BOH, back of the house, and FOH, front of the house, are two acronyms
often used around the restaurant. POS is another acronym used that means the computer system
we use to put the orders in the computer. Open Menu Count and 86 are two of the words that
I noticed being used around the restaurant also. An Open Menu Count is a total count of each
person with a menu in front of them. 86 simply means that they are out of something or dont
want it with the meal, so in the kitchen when it comes up 86 bacon they know not to put bacon.
whatever they 86. If I was able to spend more time around the Applebees employees then Im
sure that there would be more words specific to Applebees.

The last characteristic mentioned by Swales in The Concept of Discourse Community

is A discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant
content and discoursal expertise (Swales 222). At Applebees there are several various levels of
employment ranking from the top to the bottom. The top three positions offered at Applebees
are District Manager, General Manager, and Assistant Managers. These people have the highest
authority over the rest of the employees and are considered the boss. After the Managers goes the
Bartenders and Servers. Below the Bartenders and the Servers is the Hosts and then below that
the SAs, which means Server Assistant. The higher your position the more experience you have
had working at Applebees.
The overall experience of observing and interviewing the Applebees employees showed
me a good example of a discourse community. After reviewing Swales, it made it extremely easy
for me to decide whether Applebees could be considered a discourse community or not.
Through observing I was able to see how the restaurant worked together to keep everything
running with ease. It was obvious to me that the goal of all the employees was to keep the
customers happy. Giving customers the absolute best dining experience is important to each of
the Applebees employees.

Works Cited
Swales, John. The Concept of Discourse Community. Genre Analysis: English in Academic
and Research Settings. Boston: Cambridge UP, 1990. 21-32. Print.
This is a strong draft, and I really enjoyed learning about your discourse community. In order to
improve, I would consider the following suggestions. First, your paper does not seem to have a
clear purpose indicated in the introduction. What are you trying to do in this paper? Second, you
seem to have two sections in the body of your paper: your description of the roles and the
descriptions of Swales 6 characteristics. Currently, they are not blending together well. I would
reconsider how you are organizing your paper in order to try to find a way to make these sections
seem more cohesive. Third, how does this Applebees differ from other Applebees? In order for
this community to be a discourse community, it must be discrete. Otherwise, you are just
analyzing a subsection of a larger discourse community. Try to show your audience how this
Applebees community is different from others. Fourth, I would like to see you incorporate your
data more. You frequently made claims but they werent always supported by information from
your interviewees or from your observations. Make sure the reader knows where you are getting
your information. Finally, be deliberate in your word choices and think about how you are
phrasing your thoughts. If you have questions regarding this aspect, either make an appointment
with the Writing Resources Center or come talk to me.
The following is the rubric for the assignment, including what you would have received had this
draft been your final draft. This grade will not be recorded anywhere. It is simply a chance for
you to see where you stand.
Category

Scoring Criteria

Content
(65 points)

Is focused, clear, purposeful, and meets the needs of the audience

Properly addresses the question, What are the most important things for
an outsider to know about this community?
Describes Swales characteristic #1 (common public goals)
Describes Swales characteristic #2 (mechanisms of intercommunication)
Describes Swales characteristic #3 (participatory mechanisms)
Describes Swales characteristic #4 (utilizes genres)
Describes Swales characteristic #5 (specific lexis)
Describes Swales characteristic #6 (threshold level of members)
All claims made are supported. Writer uses specific references to data
and/or sources to support claims.
Introduction establishes a framework for the rest of the paper and
includes a thesis statement
Conclusion summarizes the paper and pushes the reader to think about
specific issues/concerns outside of individual discourse community.

Total
Points
5

Score
5

10

5
5
5
5
5
5

5
2
2
3
4
3

10

Organization
(10 points)
Style and
Conventions
(25 points)
Score

Utilizes a strong internal structure and purposefully moves the reader

through the text
Sentences are all well-crafted and consistently varied in structure, length,
and beginning. Vocabulary and word choice are precise and varied.
The writer demonstrates a firm grasp of the conventions of written
English (spelling, capitalization, punctuation etc.). There are no typos.
Is formatted according to the conventions of MLA
Is 1500 2500 words
Total Points

10

10
5
100

9
5
72