Blog #5: Embroider's assistant to Civil Engineer

The first job I had, I worked as an embroiders assistant of my cousin’s embroidery company. It was a small company consisting of only my cousin and his mom, but during the busy season (the summer) I would be the third addition to the team. Starting out the job was fairly simple, I was responsible for folding and packaging the products, but as I became more familiar with the processes my cousin began to trust me with more responsibilities. Loading and unloading the embroidery machine, preparing products for packaging, fixing errors in the machine and stitching, answering emails and phone calls, my simple job became more complex. 

At the beginning, learning how to do the job just took repetition and muscle memory. The majority of the products were all the same. They were nursing scrubs, which were fairly stiff and easy to fold, bag and box. The process was simple, almost mind numbing. I would pick a shirt off the finished pile, follow the creases to fold, put it in a bag and then a box. There were days when I had to fold upwards of 300 shirts, so I had to develop a technique that would allow me to get through the piles quickly. But, occasionally I would come across a grouping of a different product. For instance, groupings of polo shirts, which were made from a softer fabric, would be harder to work with, and the fold could easily become sloppy when they are bagged and boxed. So, I had to develop a new technique for dealing with such products.

Learning the new aspects to the job was a bit more challenging. During the times I was employed, the shop was swamped with orders, and there was little room for error. When I started fixing the machine errors (meaning errors in the machine’s ability to stitch) I had to first drop what I was doing and access the problem. Once the issue it clear I quickly manage to fix it while staying mindful about the product so that it does not become damages. Although this task does not seem to resemble any aspect of the restaurant service, it is similar to how a server, preoccupied with many tasks, can be interrupted by a customer. The servers must instantly access which discourse to use when addressing the issue, and quickly fix any such problems while ensuring quality service. 

In the restaurant industry, according to Mirabelli, servers must learn to be able to communicate is man different ways. The discourse they use when talking with customers is largely dependent on who these customers are. Servers must be able to judge which discourses are appropriate, and must be able to switch between discourses as they rotate between tables. Servers also must be able to transcribe variations of orders from the customer to the cooks in a way that is quick and easy to understand. 

One aspect of the civil engineering profession is to work with communities to understand their wants and needs or their infrastructure, so that they can be taken into consideration when planing for these projects. Meetings are scheduled so that engineers and the community can meet face to face. In such situations, engineers  need to be able to read the community’s reaction to understand if such a project is wanted, and if it isn’t, how it can be designed so that it is more appealing.

Servers are stereotyped because people typically only understand this occupation to be a relay of information and food from the table to the cook and back to the table. But, what many fail to realized how complicated the communication of information between the two points can be. Mirabelli makes this clear and depicts servers not as an individual incapable of doing any other job, but rather as a super hero. Civil engineering professions are usually thought to have little to no social aspect to them when in fact communication is an integral part of the profession. Analysts could avoid stereo typing this profession by taking a closer look at the dynamic process plans undergo as they migrate from person to person.