Sassy Service is a spoof campaign in response to the customer culture within restaurants. Created from the perspective of someone who has worked in the restaurant industry, Sassy Service is not your typical “the customer is always right” restaurant scenarios. This project addresses types of frustrating customers and their stereotypical behaviors in different provocatively humorous ways. Inspired by personal experiences.
Artist/Thesis Statement
Sassy Service is a spoof campaign in response to the customer culture within restaurants. Created from the perspective of someone who has worked in the restaurant industry, Sassy Service is not your typical “the customer is always right” restaurant scenarios. This project addresses types of frustrating customers and their stereotypical behaviors in different provocatively humorous ways. Inspired by personal experiences.
I have worked in the restaurant industry for the past decade as my main source of income. This has given me the chance to observe people in many different social settings, such as bars, restaurants, fast food establishments, and nightclubs. And let me tell you, I have observed a lot! From the front of the house, all the way back to the back of the house, I’ve seen it all. Over the years, I’ve come to realize that “the customer is always right” is a phrase that couldn’t be farther from the truth. In a world of 7.5 billion people, it would be impossible to fulfill every persons individual wants and needs. It’s a tough, fast paced job and when something goes wrong, servers have to deal with the worst of it. It’s not the restaurant that loses money when the customer is unhappy, the server does. The food is paid for, but the tip is optional. I’ve always wondered why the server is the lowest paid by the restaurant if they are the ones who deal directly with the customer and are one of the key essential parts to keeping guests coming in. Working off a tip based income, I find myself compromising my own self worth just so that I can get a good tip from my guests. Through out my research I’ve found that there is a lot of information out there about how flawed the restaurant culture is from optional tipping to customer etiquette. What seems to be lacking is the amount of action being taken to fix it. I figured if no one was going to do anything about the problem why not throw it in their face so that it can’t just be ignored. I decided to create something that would call out the toxic culture in a provocatively humorous style and allow the viewer to engage in an environment where they are presented with facts in a light hearted manner from the perspective of a server.
