Waitress work culture also helped women realistically interpret the flirtations and sexual games of male customers. Unrestrained by masculine ears and oblivious to the dominant culture's strictures, waitresses talked candidly with each other about sexual matters and the power relations that existed between men and women. These group appraisals of male behavior must have saved many a waitress from being swept off her feet by flattery or from being rushed into a mismatched courtship and marriage.83