Process Piece

Gratuity in Servitude

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Artist Statement

In this project, we decided we wanted to find something different and unconventional to document. There were many directions we could have taken, so we turned instead to our physicals needs. We wanted to document the college staple activity of hitting up the fast food restaurants for quick and easy access to food. Not necessarily healthy, but it hits the spot. 

 How is this creative, you might ask? We thought about the ideology of normal college students and tried to find a regular, yet still hidden process. Not many would think of a drive through as a high art, however as we conducted our recordings, we found ourselves flabbergasted at the amount of judgments we would make based on a simple voice in a box above the dollar menu. We decided to compare the different styles and deliveries that came from the different servers. There was a certain sort of commentary to be had on how gracious they were towards us as customers. There was a stereotype that most of them hate their jobs and are not very enthusiastic about what they do. We decided to approach it from another angle, a different objective. Instead of simply going for the food, we went in search of the service. Especially, noticing their behavior toward us. There is a tendency to just think of them as objects who deliver the food to us, but we began to see there were varying degrees in the individuality of these servers. For example, there was a particular server who seemed nervous and cautious about getting the right wording. It was assumed immediately that he was newer or took his job seriously by doing exactly what his manager had told him to. In contrast, another server seemed much more relaxed in his wording, treating the encounter like a conversation instead of a means to an end.

In our society today, everything demands instant gratification. We simply just want the product so we don't pay attention to the process of it's delivery. By ignoring these processes we not only stop ourselves from admiring the day to day but also lose respect for those who are performing the process. When we watched the video of Jack White creating a guitar, he made sure to put the focus on the process instead of the product. Though the product was the ultimate pay off, it was interesting to see the lead up and how he would accomplish it. In our little documentary, we wanted to draw attention to the human element of fast food. It's a very minute detail of picking up your late night tacos, but still a process that can be appreciated when seen in the right light.