What a nice change of pace for the HN front page. :)
Exactly! I love when every so often a random "life-style" article comes up :)
Bad waitress: Dying on your feet
141–150 of 153 posts
Re: Bad waitress: Dying on your feet
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because it prioritizes exercises that are easy for a teacher to mark over exercises that develop real writing skills. Everything is broken down into elementary mechanical tasks and marked with rubrics. Writing is taught as if it were mathematics, that you can just follow a simple algorithm and you are done! Turns out, neither great writing nor mathematics work that way. Both are very hard and require non intuitive le…
Following the algorithms for writing makes you neither a bad nor a good writer. If you learn and follow: tell them what you'll tell them, tell them, tell them what you told them; you writing will be formulaic and boring, but competent. If you do all the things, you'll be an ok writer.
I struggled with a teacher in high school who expected me to write essays with a formula I could never really master, there might have been other things going on but a big one was that I read so much that I had so many examples to work from that her formula didn't make a lot of sense to me.
Even though I struggled to get a "D" in her class I am certainly not a bad writer, I've made a living at times writing, I've written book chapters, blog posts, contracts, standards documents and all sorts of things. I struggled to master the language used in academic writing though.
Re: Bad waitress: Dying on your feet
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
Every Ph.D I've met has been a very hard worker, on par with the people I worked with in the military.
I never seen PhD as a program that is attempting to teach people write. There is absolutely no reason to expect someone with PhD to write better then other people.
My writing definitely improved tenfold.
Re: Bad waitress: Dying on your feet
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why do you say that the food service business is the least threatened by automation?
Cost: Wages for food service workers are extremely low. Automation is extremely expensive. Capability: Industrial machinery struggles to meet many of the requirements of a professional kitchen. Plating alone requires the ability to handle and place aesthetically, both solids of different consistencies and liquids. Avoiding cross-contamination is another concern. Setting aside a set of pans and chopping boards is very…
why can’t Starbucks replace its cashiers and baristas “easily”? for drinks and warming food, etc
Re: Bad waitress: Dying on your feet
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
Every Ph.D I've met has been a very hard worker, on par with the people I worked with in the military.
Weirdly I have personally never considered PhD to be indicator of being particularly smart. Probably above median, but not special. On other hand it sure requires lot of work to be done. Or at least time spend.
That tracks. I’d add that Ph.D. laureates tends to be people who like to pursue knowledge in depth. I think it’s this, combined with the work ethic and discipline, that make them excel in certain fields.
Re: Bad waitress: Dying on your feet
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hard disagree. Being able to go pee when you need to, or a checker having a stool to sit on instead of standing still on concrete all day, or having a boss that offers an encouraging word after an insane customer yells at you because the computer isn't working instead of also treating you like the source of the problem. Things like these bring dignity, and would enable people to work while still having dignity.
Of course. What can people do about it though? If you don't have enough leverage, you'll have to swallow it when a bunch of managers start shitting on you because you went to the bathroom. That leverage can come from many sources. Maybe you have enough money that you don't actually need to be there. Maybe you're unionized and if they screw with you the union can screw them back. It doesn't matter what it is, you need…
That's true, I see what you mean. It was an important realization for me that the cost of things is often more than just the money on the tag.
Re: Bad waitress: Dying on your feet
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
Everyone learns to write in school. A waiting job most can pick up but not all. I couldn't get past serving training. Carrying four plates and keeping them straight takes without spilling is for others.
Everyone learns to carry plates while growing up. There's a lot more to being a good waiter than just writing down orders and carrying plates. And there's a lot more to being a good writer than just knowing how to write sentences.
If you can't carry the plates all of the other stuff stops mattering..
Good writer is a qualification that could mean millions or the top 5.
Re: Bad waitress: Dying on your feet
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
Cost: Wages for food service workers are extremely low. Automation is extremely expensive. Capability: Industrial machinery struggles to meet many of the requirements of a professional kitchen. Plating alone requires the ability to handle and place aesthetically, both solids of different consistencies and liquids. Avoiding cross-contamination is another concern. Setting aside a set of pans and chopping boards is very…
why can’t Starbucks replace its cashiers and baristas “easily”? for drinks and warming food, etc
Flipping this on it's head: fully automatic coffee machines have existed for decades, as have conveyor belt ovens. Why hasn't Starbucks replaced its cashiers and baristas "easily" in that time?
The answer is likely to be a combination of the financials not making sense, along with a reduction in quality, and the type of service that people go to Starbucks for.
Re: Bad waitress: Dying on your feet
#149I read this like hearing the voice of Max from 2 broke girls.
Re: Bad waitress: Dying on your feet
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
why can’t Starbucks replace its cashiers and baristas “easily”? for drinks and warming food, etc
Flipping this on it's head: fully automatic coffee machines have existed for decades, as have conveyor belt ovens. Why hasn't Starbucks replaced its cashiers and baristas "easily" in that time? The answer is likely to be a combination of the financials not making sense, along with a reduction in quality, and the type of service that people go to Starbucks for.
Flipping this on its head:
Starbucks workers are human and very rarely are consistent with making drinks/proportions. I would almost consider paying their outrageous $6-$10 per drink prices if I knew there wasn't a 60% chance a new, untrained employee is just "winging it" on making a 3-4 ingredient drink (my girlfriend likes a frozen (blended) frappuccino with caramel drizzle lining the cup, no whipped cream topping, and almond milk)
They get this "wrong" consistency wise/modification wise 70% of the time, multiple stores.