Restaurant

In high school, I didn't like Mondays. It seemed to always be starting over with my friends and classmates as I didn't really see anyone on the weekend. I worked part-time at a restaurant and the weekends were the two days when I tried to work as much as I could. Even through college, I worked a lot of weekends. Working at a restaurant is something every one should do, at some point. You learn customer care skills and you learn that there are many types of people in the world.

Customer care skills are trial by fire. You are working in a dining room with a hostess who seats the customer. You then have to approach the customer and establish a 1:1 relationship. It's your job to make the customer feel appreciated. That means that if you were up late studying the night before, you have to suck it up and be pleasant. I used to waiter. I did okay, I think, from the perspective that I didn't have any complaints about me. Was I perfect? Of course not. I made mistakes. I'd write down eggs over hard and they'd come out over easy, the customer would complain and I'd return to the cook. I also had a customer who wanted a burnt English muffin, crisp bacon and eggs over hard. There were customers who would pay with exact change and there were customers who would give you a $20 bill and ask you to get their change for them - hopefully b/c they wanted to leave a big tip.

There are also very many different types of people in the world. Some treated eating out as a privilege. They were appreciative when you would bring them a refill of Pepsi without being asked. Others wanted to be treated like their feces had no order. I was their waiter and I was there to serve their whims. Finding a way to balance good customer service and your own personal life was essential. Sometimes it was difficult. A party of 9 comes in, accrue a large bill, and leave without a tip. A single guy would come in, order ice tea and sit for hours. My favorite was the group of ex-jocks who would come in and demand to sit in a specific section, regardless of whether that area was full or not.

I worked at that restaurant all through 3 years of high school and four years of college. I watched a lot of co-workers come and go. I watched a lot of drama and I watched the ever-changing pecking order. I watched people be trained and do well - I watched people be trained and freeze up when they were on their own. I think that is the main benefit of working at a restaurant - the relationships you build with your co-workers. The restaurant I was employed at was a family restaurant. It's still in business but it's been several years since I visited. I often think about the lessons it taught me.