“I’m Working on My Charm,” Dorothy Allison

Brief synopsis for those unfamiliar with the text:

Alma (the narrator’s name in these stories, I’ve come to learn) is at a party thrown by her place of employment. It is a catered affair with the higher-ups from the organization contrasting the hired hands to serve for the affair. An employer is fascinated with her name, accent, and “charm.” Alma finds this condescending.

Alma remembers that her mother used to call these people Yankees, and draws back on the times she worked as a waitress with her mother. Yankees refers less to people from a geographic area, and more to a “type” of person. It is noted that her mother feels these Yankees view her mother and others as “part of the landscape,” seeing past them, and devaluing them.

There is also much description of the games Alma has to play to communicate with the Yankees, including slowing her speech to make herself all the more charming, partially to get through the experience of serving them, and mostly to get a tip, which can always go either way, because ” . . . nobody bet on Yankee tips, they might leave anything.”

Connections:

• When my father was stationed at Paris Island, he was called “New York” and “Yankee;” my father is one of the most humble men I know, but was received in South Carolina as a know-better, northeasterner; it was a filthy epithet thrown at him to shame him and break him during basic training for the Marines
• I cashiered at the supermarket to make ends meet in college, and we would predict how customers would pay (crumpled bills, WIC, 89 pennies, check) or what stories they would tell (some neighborhood mothers never stopped talking about their children); service jobs, especially those that are taken when the money is needed badly, seem to give people the license to demean those they serve, though the circumstances of their needing a job often have nothing to do with the people they are serving; playing guessing games about them levels the playing field; I understand the games people play when they work in a dead-end job
• I have lowered myself to gain the upper hand in a situation; I have used a sweeter voice and acted helpless to gain male assistance, I have played very stupid to those in positions over me at school and in the workplace to stroke their egos and have my way, I’ve served coffee at church functions and said a few more Bless You’s than I may have meant for the tips

Disconnections:

• Alma turns her Southern charms on and off and hates the others for making her sink to that level, whereas I have resented myself for succumbing to, and fulfilling the expectations of others
• Alma’s mother helps her develop her manipulation skills; I don’t come from that; my family has always been too proud

Questions:

Are Alma’s expectations of the Yankees any different from their expectations of her? On Yankees: “Some were friendly, some deliberately nasty. All of them were Yankees, strangers, unpredictable people with an enraging attitude of superiority who would say the rudest thins as if they didn’t know what an insult was.” She has placed them in a box in the same way they have seen through her. Is she ignorant to this or is a coping mechanism?

Where is Alma’s pride? It’s demeaning to be perceived as simple and charming, but it’s even more demeaning to perpetuate the stereotype. Why does Alma let people believe she is the caricature, and then, hate them when they do?

Why must Alma continually divide the world into the haves and have-nots? Clearly there are issues of self-esteem and lack of entitlement. Why are the servers and guests so polarized in her view of the people in the room? Why must she fall back on the idea that there are servers and those that are served, and relegate herself to the servers?

Does she realize that she is comforted by perpetuating ignorance in herself and in those with whom she interacts? Is this intentional? Is this a coping mechanism?