Last Thursday, Brittany Morgan was invited by a special needs school to come down and talk about her job as a waitress at Hooters. You think I am going to take a dig at the school, but I am not. One parent complained that Morgan spoke. Morgan came dressed in sweatpants and a sweater and not a Hooters outfit. The mother, a paralegal says it is telling the children they are all losers and that they will be nothing more than a waiter. Apparently Brittany was one of very few people who actually could find the time to go speak to the students about their career. Most parents were too busy with other things, including the mother who complained.
Morgan also explained that most of the waitresses go to college or some other kind of school and that Hooters is just a job and not a career and stands by her presentation. The woman who complained referenced Sasha Grey and her reading to kids at a school here in Los Angeles. A former porn star is a whole lot different than someone who works as a waitress at Hooters. What do you think? Overreaction?
I really don't see the problem with Hooters in that I've seen women with fewer clothes on at my neighborhood grocery store.
ReplyDeletePeople that look down on others for what they do for work really sadden me. We are NOT defined by our jobs. As a younger person I also was a waitress - I was terrible at it - but a good waitress can use those skills in other areas for customer service, time management, etc.
ReplyDeletePeople always have to complain about something. It's just a restaraunt. Lame.
ReplyDeleteAnd that was sweet of that girl to come and speak I think.
What the hell is the Mom complaining about? If she wanted a different speaker then she should have gone down on her lunch break. I was a waitress at Pizza Hut going through college. There were other girls that were dancing at a certain "club" to make some extra cash. This lady needs to stop and sit her ass down. And I agree with Meg that I have seen less clothes at Target or the Mall than at Hooters.
ReplyDeleteIt's laughable to me that the parents who complained are far too busy to show up and waste their time on Career Day or reading to kids but bitch when Hooters waitresses or (former) porn stars aren't. Somebody's gotta get their priorities straight,
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing wrong with being a Hooter's waitress or any other kind of waitress. It's a job, something which is rather rare right now. Waiters/waitresses often earn pretty good money. High-falutin' parents need to wake up and be grateful that this girl and the porn star are willing to take the time to go to the schools and help out.
ReplyDeleteI think 6 months of waiting tables should be mandatory for all. It teaches you people, customer service and stress management skills that you won't learn anywhere else.
ReplyDeleteAnd Hooters may have those awful little outfits, but they're not the only establishment that has a dress code/ body type code for their servers. It's just that they are honest about theirs. At least the girls get to wear stripper hose.
@Syko: what you said. Being a server is a decidedly unglamorous job, but it's not easy, and it's not easy to be good at it. I know a lady who has made restaurant service her career, and it's because she is good at her job. She makes good money for that reason.
ReplyDeleteOne of the biggest problems right now is that no one wants to work. In my city, every young man I know wants to maximize profit with a minimum of work. Work at McDonald's for minimum wage, or sell nickel bags on the corner?
Decisions, decisions.
Thank you, Ms. Morgan, for standing up for what you do.
As a parent, I would worry about my kids idolizing a waitress and wanting to be like her. I have higher aspirations for my kids than being a waitress. I expect them to work whatever jobs they need to, to get themselves through school.
ReplyDeleteYes, I look down on having a career as a waitress. Yes it takes all kinds of jobs to make this country run. Yes if my kid is happy being a waitress that should and probably would be good enough for me.
So I guess I don't really know what to say about this one!
I wouldn't be offended just because it's Hooters, and yes if that mother had such a problem with it, she should have volunteered!
And how many of the parents at that school go to Hooters? It's ok to eat there, but not work there?
ReplyDeleteWorking your way through college is a bad message how????
ReplyDeleteWorking through college is not a bad message. I thought she was done college though, and was waitressing as a career?
ReplyDeleteWaitressing is very tough. I did it myself for years, part time and full time.
My best friend got her master's degree while working at Hooters. Management was very supportive on working around her school schedule. In two years she became an assistant manager and in three became manager of her own store!
ReplyDelete@Doc Girl: I don't want my kids to work in a restaurant either, but the job does provide some pretty important life-skills. You have to learn to deal with all types of people, all types of situations, and can be a solid training ground for basic people-skills.
ReplyDeleteSome lessons can't be learned from books, or college.
No right to complain, no reason to complain.
ReplyDeletenot everyone becomes a doctor a lawyer or a movie star...some of us work real everyday jobs...there was nothing wrong in her speaking to the class.
ReplyDeleteWaitressing as a means to an end is totally fine. I just don't think it's a career to aspire to. I also wouldn't want my kids to work as a cook or chef, because it's a very difficult job and lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteI have a problem with a recent porn star reading to kids, but not with a Hooters waitress speaking realistically about her job.
ReplyDeleteIs she a mother also? Perhaps this job is what works for her to balance mothering and making some cash. So, who am I to judge?
ReplyDeleteBut, let's get one thing straight: Waiting tables and working on porn films are two completely different things. And yes, I will judge you if you are involved in the porn industry vs. waitressing. Even if you are a former porn industry employee and have washed your hands of it all, I will still wonder about your judgement. And I would be pissed as hell if a porn industry employee came to my kid's school.
I think the problem is the sexualizing of women more so than the actual profession. Sure, there is nothing wrong with being a waitress, however there is a sexual undertone to being a hooters waitress and there is a specific body type required that also comes with a special uniform. If you don't think our kids are being sexualized go to any elementary school and look a what the 4th, 5th, and 6th graders are wearing. Many of the outfits would make me blush.
ReplyDeleteWould have to know more about her presentation to know what its message was.
ReplyDeleteI waited tables for years through college and grad school. Everyone should do it. BUT, I would not want it sold to my kid as a career, Hooters or Chilis or anything. If that turns out to be your career, fine, but let's not pretend people ASPIRE to be waitress after college one day.
Maybe you bring a waitress in to give the kids a reality check and to teach them the value of education and hard work to achieve that education. If i was in school and heard 'keep going to school and you too can be a waitress!" we'll i'd be rethinking things pretty quickly.
Putting yourself through school as a Hooters waitress is a lot better than doing it as a stripper (although it takes longer).
ReplyDeleteAnd the food is pretty good, too.
Apparently it was a special needs school so I'm wondering if waitressing might not be a viable career goal for some of them rather than doctor or lawyer. If you are really good at it, you might actually take home more in tips than you can make daily as some of the more "prestigious" jobs.
ReplyDeleteI have a "career" which gives me a great deal of stress and which I'm not really enjoying and where I wish almost every day I'd stayed in my unionized clerical job where I'd have a pension and benefits. I told my kids I didn't care what they did for a living as long as they enjoyed doing it even if it didn't make them a whole lot of money or gave them prestige. One listened, one didn't.
I respect any kind of honest work. Cleaning man or woman, waiter or waitress, grocery checker, day care provider, banker, doctor, lawyer, whatever. You show up every day and contribute to society and your community and you're a hero to me.
ReplyDeleteI have a bigger problem with people who have fancy reasons why they can't possibly work and, instead of being grateful for society's support, sit around and bitch all day. You can find a lot of them on comment forums, usually with ultra-right-wing or ultra-left-wing comments about how awful the rest of society is.
Hooters or not, being a waiter or a waitress is a respectable, honest job. If you work in the right places, you can make some decent bucks, based on your personality, your ability to multi task and your reflexes (really!). You can't make money as a waiter unless you have a killer work ethic and a lot of patiences and good instincts about people.. It is very very hard work and you often take a lot of abuse (I'm sure those Hooters girls take more than their share.) Paid my way through school & Europe partly on saved tips. This is the problem with America today. Not everybody gets into a career right away - or even, at all. And what is wrong with that if they are living a good honest life, contributing to their families & communities, paying their taxes? What is wrong with simply having an honest job? (though I am VERY anti-"Hooters the concept" in principle, the people who work there put in an honest day's work like any other waiter or waitress and are just as deserving of respect as I was when I worked in a 5 star in a white tux.)
ReplyDeleteI take offence to the fact she wore sweatpants to give the talk. You can't dress up a little?
ReplyDeleteShe's a gorgeous girl, though. I guess I've gotten so used to seeing young women with weird waxy, overly tanned faces and dry, over-processed disgusting hair.
I'm sure if she was a waitress at most any other restaurant, nothing would be said but it's Hooters. Hooters hires based on looks/body type so it's kind of discriminatory.
So after commenting on how refreshingly gorgeous this girl is, I scroll down to see the nastiness that is Betheny Frenckel. My monitor is mad at me now.
ReplyDeleteI think that busybody mother ought to be ashamed of disparaging this young woman for doing an honest day's work. Do I like what Hooters sells? No -- but waiting tables is hard work, no matter where you do it, and it was kind of Miss Morgan to come and share her time with those kids.
ReplyDeleteWhat Nutty_Flavor said.
ReplyDeleteWell, maybe the mother was busy doing her job so that she can put food on the table and couldn't afford to be there on career day? Maybe she has to earn money to be able to pay the medical bills for her special needs child? Maybe there is no father who's supporting that specific mother and the child with his salary or alimony? Are we honestly saying that just because she wasn't there for career day that she doesn't have a right to complain about who's going to be there to influence her child(ren)?
ReplyDeleteYou've got to be kidding me!
I wouldn't mind the girl talking about her profession as a waitress, but I would mind her talking about being a Hooters waitress. Those women are being objectified. I can't believe that people are so nonchalant about this. What would be next; strippers and 'glamour' models telling the kids about their jobs? I bet a lot of them are enrolled at a college/uni as well. Does that make their choice of being in a profession where they're being reduced to sex objects any more legitimate and appropriate to recommend to kids, respectively?
@kltx:
Exactly! It's funny reading people on here whining and moaning about 'Toddlers & Tiaras' but it's totally okay if a Hooters waitress might tell them that they have to start saving for their first boob job already so that they will be able to afford those new d-cups in high school. Yay!
"I have a bigger problem with people who have fancy reasons why they can't possibly work and, instead of being grateful for society's support, sit around and bitch all day."
ReplyDeleteTHISTHISTHISTHISTHISTHIS!!!
Nutty Flavor is spot on! Nice post!
ReplyDeleteIt seems a lot of people missed the "Morgan also explained that most of the waitresses go to college or some other kind of school and that Hooters is just a job and not a career and stands by her presentation." That's the only reason I'd be against her going to Career Day - she said herself it's not a career!
ReplyDeleteAlso, a lot of people are assuming that one presentation is going to set their kids for life. It is the parent's responsibility to offer guidance and instill a good work ethic. As long as they like it and it's legal, let them support themselves. I didn't decide to go into Advertising until halfway through college.
LOL Parents behavior amazes me. Ever seen them at a ball game? You would think the whole families future is dependent on that one game. The poor kid is 5 and just hoping to get a hit and get to run because hes bored.
ReplyDeleteMaja. With a J. said...
ReplyDeleteI think 6 months of waiting tables should be mandatory for all. It teaches you people, customer service and stress management skills that you won't learn anywhere else.
^THIS!!
Umm, so confession...I have been to a Hooters on multiple occasions, (NOT by choice) when we first moved here & I would have to go out with the guys. There were no other sports bars in town. I was always AMAZED at the number of families that dined there with kids. I think they fancy themselves "family friendly" and sell really creepy kids clothes. Those outfits are hideous and IMO, the most un-sexy outfits ever.
After reading the article it doesn't seem like Morgan went into detail about Hooters, but just talked about being a waitress and how her employer gives her opportunities to do other things. She didn't show up in her 'uniform' and she talked to middle-school kids, so there's a good chance they don't know what Hooters is anyway, let alone understand the connotation that the restaurant's name carries. But of course, this one parent (as according to the article the district received no other complaints) overreacted based on their own assumptions and prejudices instead of evaluating what was actually presented to the kids.
ReplyDeleteAs to the mother who complained, I take exception to the way she presented her argument. She seems to be very classist in her perception that bringing in a waitress is like telling the students that they are "losers" - it doesn't take a huge leap in logic to see she thinks people who are career waitresses are "losers" - and then goes on to equate a Hooters girl with a porn star. (Side note, I had never heard of that story till now, but I'm going to also assume that those kids weren't told "And now Ms. Grey, former porn star, is going to read you some Dr. Seuss stories!")
Anyway, back to the waitress. It seems that her presentation was very realistic in that waitressing isn't normally a long-term option, but something that people do to help themselves pursue other goals. I think that is something that should be presented to kids. College is expensive but working your way through it can cut down on costs and instill work ethic that will be valuable once you're ready to move on to your "real" career. And even if someone does end up 'only' being a server this hardly makes them a loser. If someone truly feels that way then frankly he/she shouldn't ever eat out. God forbid you be served by one of these plebeian losers.
Parents think that their kids are going to Harvard and fear that any outside influence might sway their child away from that. Not every child is going to save the world, someone has to paint houses (and wants to!) and someone will work at Hooters.
ReplyDeleteWhat kltx and Mina said.
ReplyDelete@what is eight past six & Me - Very well said & good points!
ReplyDelete