"The Mind at Work"

Educator Mike Roses book, "The Mind at Work: Valuing the Intelligence of the American Worker" gives society an in depth view of service jobs such as waitressing, hairdressing, and plumbing. He uses his own mother to start off the book, who worked as a waitress for many years to support her family. Which gives the reader primary insight into the mind of a waitress. His mother comments about the art of balancing dishes on her forearm, remembering orders by specific features of an individual, clothing or gender, and getting close enough with the cooks so that it is easy to tell when they are having a good day or bad day.

Rose gives his readers the psychological, sociologic, and physical aspects to these service jobs that society turns a blind eye to. To excel in any of these services jobs, you must acquire strong people skills, mastery knowledge of your service and surroundings, and do everything in a quick but effective way. These service jobs do not have to be termed as hard if one does not think those aspects are difficult to master, but these jobs should not be written off as jobs for the unintelligent, for those who have nothing else to offer, Rose clearly shows that these service job require more than just following orders, or learning a trade.

These jobs are complex and do indeed require intelligence.