Topless Coffee shop: business is booming
Well, I remember the debate about this when it first opened, a month or two ago...
It seems he does have both female and male waitstaff, which essentially makes this a unisex strip club. I personally don't care what people do: I did see a lot of quotes about "so happy to have ANY job" in the story, which raises a spectre of exploitation, of course. However, this honestly doesn't seem so bad to me: especially if the people running it aren't assholes.
Thoughts?
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Do they not have health codes in Maine?
Maine is a state where you're not even required to have a contractor's licensing to do construction. So, I would imagine they're VASTLY different in terms of consumer protection to most places.
Also, so long as they're not making the food, there's no reason for them to have this restriction. Does your server at your local restaurant wear a hairnet?
Well, "no shirt, no shoes, no service" applies to patrons, and they obviously aren't making the food. I was under the impression that requirement was due to health code.
Speaking of health and safety, working around near-boiling liquids while half naked doesn't sound exactly safe. I hope that the folks working the coffee machine have at least an apron.
No, but servers are required to wear shirts (with sleeves), at least in my jurisdiction. I have a certificate in food safety, so I know about these things.
Did they honestly name it "Grand View Topless Coffee Shop?"
Did they honestly name it "Grand View Topless Coffee Shop?"
I don't see a problem with it, obviously people enjoy the topless waitstaff as they drink their coffee.
My only thing is that I wish the waitstaff that were interviewed would embrace their decision to work there- express the empowerment they may feel behind their nudity, rather than make the claim over and over that they are just happy to have a job. To me, this brings a sense of shame to the position, that they would otherwise never do it, except for their economic hardships at the time.
The success of the coffee shop proves that this business endevor is one that the public digs, and the bombardment of applicants for waitstaff positions shows that many people do not see a moral problem with serving coffee while topless, so I think we need to celebrate people's decisions and be happy that customer's in the city are lucky enough to be able to leave $100 tips for the waitstaff!
"...rather than make the claim over and over that they are just happy to have a job. To me, this brings a sense of shame to the position, that they would otherwise never do it, except for their economic hardships at the time."
You realize that may actually be their reality, don't you, and that's why they keep saying those things? That they are not, in fact, deriving "empowerment" from working as sex workers? That they are only working in that job because of necessity?
There's a lot of reasons people might be sex workers in our society--some positive, and many negative. Part of the real truth of the experiences of sex workers is that some of them will be ashamed, unhappy, or brought to the work through sheer need. It would be lovely if that wasn't the case, and we lived in an enlightened, non-sexist, pro-sex society where shame, violence, and fear weren't an issue, but that's not the reality of society as it is here and now.
Excellent response.
It sounds like the owner took advantage of the fact that there are a LOT of desperate unemployed restaurant workers in the State of Maine, due to the economic meltdown.
Neither one of the workers interviewed said they were thrilled to be there - the guy lost his job as a cook, and the woman couldn't get a restaurant job due to her lack of experience.
Ok seriously Gular, I am from Maine and so offended by your comment. Maine is not a vast wilderness that is 50 years behind the rest of the country. Portland, out largest city, is actually extremely progressive and liberal. We were one of the first states to ban smoking in public places, people can't smoke in the car with a passenger under the age of 16, we have a vibrant LGBT community, and we certainly do have health codes in protect consumers. The coffee shop that is being talked about is out in some small rural town where I'm sure employment is hard to come by. The owners of the shop were probably trying really hard to think outside of the box to come up with a way to bring in customers. Other states have the same sort if institutions...I'm sure of it.
Hey, I LOVE Maine, first off-but it may be true that they have less by way of business regulations: that doesn't necessarily make it some sort of hellhole.
"I would imagine they're VASTLY different in terms of consumer protection to most places."
Point in case.
I'm just saying lets not make any gross over-generalizations without some actual facts to back them up.
My job has me interact with Maine-based consumers daily who are lacking in consumer protection from the state. Whether it's banking, construction, insurance or other forms of consumerism, Maine's got a lack of regulation that none of the other states I've seen have. Maine has some good things about it in regards to smoking regulation and other protection laws, but it's still pretty laissez-faire in other respects. DownEast Maine and some of the northern coast have far more structure, infrastructure and support systems than do the interior, which is where Vasselboro is located. Social services are hard to come by in rural areas in Maine, and its even more difficult to reach a state agency by phone since they have offices, typically, in Bangor, Augusta and Portland only which pretty much rules out several hundred squares miles of places where people live. Is all of Maine a hell-hole? No, it's not. If you're lucky enough to live in one of the major cities or surrounding suburbs, you're all set. If you're somewhere else, you're pretty much fucked.
I would just like to point out that in our society, toplessness is a much more taboo for women than it is for men. The fact that he has both female and male wait-staff is nice, but he has twice as many female employees, and the women are being asked to comply with what is functionally a much higher level of nudity, even if they're baring the same amount of skin.
That said, it's not like I have a problem with the idea of a topless coffee shop. More power to them, if it is empowering. Unfortunately, as some people have pointed out, it doesn't sound like it is.
The reason why toplessness is much more taboo for women than it is for men is because in America (and a few other countries), the breats of women are sexualized.
Perhaps you can view this as an attempt to desexualize the female breasts. I am actually amazed at American culture...for the amount of naked breats you see in movies and other media, you would expect that Americans would be desensitized to women's breasts by now, so that it would be treated just like another part of the body.
But I'm guessing that's never going to happen?
yeah. You would think so, huh? If women's breasts could be de-sexualized, that would solve a lot of problems in the United States. As a busty woman, for me especially. *sigh*
I'd like to visit that coffee shop. If there is a casual, non-sexual atmosphere regarding the toplessness, I'd be very happy. :) I personally wish that the US were more open minded about nudity, and that nudity wasn't considered automatically erotic.
I just don't see that happening in the US, and the $100 tips (while I'm sure they are appreciated) are evidence that the customers are seeing the servers as strippers/sex objects as opposed to people who happen to be topless.
I know this is an old post but...
Really this topless coffee shop just doesnt seem right.
I suppose if that female/ male is totally comfortable being naked its okay, but for instance if I was working there I'd feel so ashamed and nothing more than my breasts.
Im a server and people already view me as less of a person when im taking their orders and what not.
And getting 100$ tips or whatever? Is that how much worth theyre putting on random strangers seeing your body? Not to mention all the creeps who wont tip at all and just go for a free show.
Also, what if they spill the coffee on themselves? Ouch.
Theres a reason why we wear clothes and theres a reason why these servers are getting tipped large a amount of money for serving coffee. Its at the expense of their dignity.
Just my opinion.
As a woman who's been unemployed for months and has lowered my standards to house cleaning, canvassing in the rain and jobs less than my dream, seeing more and more job posts on Craigslist in Washington State just like this Maine one, it makes me furious! Is it just the summer up north that make bikini and pastie coffee shops and car washes (which require full body pics to apply)so appealing? No one wants to be sprayed with boiling coffee or oogled at by trogladytes... but in this economy women will debase themselves for good tips. It is not empowering to have managers judge prospective employers on age, weight and cup size.
I had a dentist barbie. Then her batteries ran out and she got this really evil voice (like a voice of a devil in a movie or something, really slow and deep haha!)Seriously though, she's just a hunk of plastic. She's what you want her to be. If little girls want to play princess, they're going bedroom furniture to do it whether the box says "executive barbie" or "princess barbie". My barbies were olympic athletes, ninjas, models, hairdressers, dancers, and sometimes they pretended they were mermaids.
I had a dentist barbie. Then her batteries ran out and she got this really evil voice (like a voice of a devil in a movie or something, really slow and deep haha!)Seriously though, she's just a hunk of plastic. She's what you want her to be. If little girls want to play princess, they're going bedroom furniture to do it whether the box says "executive barbie" or "princess barbie". My barbies were olympic athletes, ninjas, models, hairdressers, dancers, and sometimes they pretended they were mermaids.