Hey guys,
I'm coming at you from the teeny corner of office that I currently call 'my desk' while I'm filling in for a gal on maternity leave.
These past few weeks have been quite a whirlwind, mostly because I've been clocking 60-70 hours a week. No complaints from me, I don't mind working that much. Honestly though, I wish this 40 hour a week deal was as interesting as my after hours job as a waitress.
The Joys of Waitressing
Waitressing has been an eye opening experience. First of all, I'd never even thought of waitressing as job to be considered. In fact, I swore to my mom that I would never work in the food industry! Look at me now...eating my words. (haha! er...)
Not only do I enjoy how busy I am as a waitress, I enjoy the general atmosphere that the place I'm working provides. The people are great, the prices are moderate (but not too cheap, so even standard 15% tips aren't bad.)
Waitressing has offered me a new perspective, and I feel bad for all of those times that I only left 2$ on a table for a waiter or waitress, even when that was more than 15% of the tab.
I work at an establishment where I do that majority of the work for my tables. I take orders, run food, act as a cashier, and then take away dirty dishes and wipe the tables when the customers leave. Corporate restaurants have other hires to do this running and bussing. But, thinking about it... I prefer doing all of that work myself and getting to keep all of my tips than having to tip out other people.
At the moment I only have to give a certain amount of my tip money to the bar tender at the end of the night. I have NO problem with this because those bar tenders bust their rears on busy days, and are constantly busy with the waitresses orders AND orders directly from the customers. They deserve their due.
Anyway, the point is, I work hard to make sure you have a great experience at the restaurant. Even when you're rude to me because you've had a hard day, I put on a smile and do everything I can to make sure you get everything you're asking for. I deserve much much more than your spite, and so do most other waiters and waitresses no matter where you go.
Common misconception: They're waiters/waitresses because they can't do anything else with their lives. Thus they are beneath me, the customer. So, I can treat them like crap. If I give them a 2$ tip after I've enjoyed a 60$ meal, well they'll appreciate it. At least it's something.
Truth: Listen up, yo. I have a college degree and am already working a 40 hour a week job outside of this. I'm here serving you and your bad attitude because it puts extra money in my savings account for when I get ready to go BACK to school to further my education even beyond a BA degree... do you even have one of those?
Common Misconception: If my sandwich is 15 minutes behind my other food it's the waitresses fault and I should make them miserable.
Truth: We do not cook your food. Also, you are not the queen/king of anything and if you've noticed there are other customers in the restaurant besides you. If your food is late, we're sorry, we'll do what we can to fix it but it certainly isn't our fault, so stow it. Matey. (aarrrr).
Anyway... I had a run in with a woman that I actually KNEW (and can not bring myself to like. I know the feeling is mutual because she instigated it. Though I have no idea why. She just chose to dislike me from the moment we laid eyes on each other some years ago, and I can hardly do anything but return the favor). She sat at one of my tables. I was nice to them, very nice. I paid extra attention to them and made sure they were okay.
She and her husband had come in about 20 minutes after their friends. Their friend's food came first, of course. Unfortunately they got there right at a slam so the kitchen was busy. I took their order, turned it in, and my job with their food was done until it was ready to come out.
Some time later half of their food comes out and the other half doesn't. They ask about it, I go check. It's almost ready. No big deal. 5 minutes later they get their food and request a discount.
Seriously? Fine. Smile and a Discount. 1/2 price on the food.
When they get up and leave I notice the gal looking at me a bit shiftily. That's not a good sign. When I get to their table after they've exited I realize why she looked at me so funny. She left me 1$ tip after a 40$ tab and nearly two hours at my table on a busy weekend.
I just sighed to myself and hoped they wouldn't be coming back in anytime soon. What can you do?
Anyway, moral of the story? DON'T BE A JERK. If you've got a waitress or waiter that you don't have good feelings for, didn't get along with at one point, or whatever, I don't care what your story is, don't be so spiteful. That makes you look petty. Now you're colored an unappealing shade of immature.
Anyway, all of this might make it seem to you that I don't enjoy waitressing. Au contraire! I really like it! The majority of the time people are very kind and it gives me faith that the default setting for human interaction isn't "B*tch b*tch b*tch."
Not to mention I get a lot of exercise. I'm constantly moving, lifting, walking, bending, twisting, and practically doing acrobatics to get around people who like to stand in the middle of the walkways during our busy days.
It's exciting for me at the moment, it's different than any job I've had before. It requires high energy and the majority of your attention. That means I don't really have any time to sit down an think about how unstimulating the job is. I'm too busy!
I'm still new, I'm still learning. Yes, I make mistakes. At least I didn't spill that scalding coffee on you when you snarked at me for forgetting to bring you extra napkins. Messy person. ( I kid. I usually also need extra napkins.)
I'm coming at you from the teeny corner of office that I currently call 'my desk' while I'm filling in for a gal on maternity leave.
These past few weeks have been quite a whirlwind, mostly because I've been clocking 60-70 hours a week. No complaints from me, I don't mind working that much. Honestly though, I wish this 40 hour a week deal was as interesting as my after hours job as a waitress.
The Joys of Waitressing
Waitressing has been an eye opening experience. First of all, I'd never even thought of waitressing as job to be considered. In fact, I swore to my mom that I would never work in the food industry! Look at me now...eating my words. (haha! er...)
Not only do I enjoy how busy I am as a waitress, I enjoy the general atmosphere that the place I'm working provides. The people are great, the prices are moderate (but not too cheap, so even standard 15% tips aren't bad.)
Waitressing has offered me a new perspective, and I feel bad for all of those times that I only left 2$ on a table for a waiter or waitress, even when that was more than 15% of the tab.
I work at an establishment where I do that majority of the work for my tables. I take orders, run food, act as a cashier, and then take away dirty dishes and wipe the tables when the customers leave. Corporate restaurants have other hires to do this running and bussing. But, thinking about it... I prefer doing all of that work myself and getting to keep all of my tips than having to tip out other people.
At the moment I only have to give a certain amount of my tip money to the bar tender at the end of the night. I have NO problem with this because those bar tenders bust their rears on busy days, and are constantly busy with the waitresses orders AND orders directly from the customers. They deserve their due.
Anyway, the point is, I work hard to make sure you have a great experience at the restaurant. Even when you're rude to me because you've had a hard day, I put on a smile and do everything I can to make sure you get everything you're asking for. I deserve much much more than your spite, and so do most other waiters and waitresses no matter where you go.
Common misconception: They're waiters/waitresses because they can't do anything else with their lives. Thus they are beneath me, the customer. So, I can treat them like crap. If I give them a 2$ tip after I've enjoyed a 60$ meal, well they'll appreciate it. At least it's something.
Truth: Listen up, yo. I have a college degree and am already working a 40 hour a week job outside of this. I'm here serving you and your bad attitude because it puts extra money in my savings account for when I get ready to go BACK to school to further my education even beyond a BA degree... do you even have one of those?
Common Misconception: If my sandwich is 15 minutes behind my other food it's the waitresses fault and I should make them miserable.
Truth: We do not cook your food. Also, you are not the queen/king of anything and if you've noticed there are other customers in the restaurant besides you. If your food is late, we're sorry, we'll do what we can to fix it but it certainly isn't our fault, so stow it. Matey. (aarrrr).
Anyway... I had a run in with a woman that I actually KNEW (and can not bring myself to like. I know the feeling is mutual because she instigated it. Though I have no idea why. She just chose to dislike me from the moment we laid eyes on each other some years ago, and I can hardly do anything but return the favor). She sat at one of my tables. I was nice to them, very nice. I paid extra attention to them and made sure they were okay.
She and her husband had come in about 20 minutes after their friends. Their friend's food came first, of course. Unfortunately they got there right at a slam so the kitchen was busy. I took their order, turned it in, and my job with their food was done until it was ready to come out.
Some time later half of their food comes out and the other half doesn't. They ask about it, I go check. It's almost ready. No big deal. 5 minutes later they get their food and request a discount.
Seriously? Fine. Smile and a Discount. 1/2 price on the food.
When they get up and leave I notice the gal looking at me a bit shiftily. That's not a good sign. When I get to their table after they've exited I realize why she looked at me so funny. She left me 1$ tip after a 40$ tab and nearly two hours at my table on a busy weekend.
I just sighed to myself and hoped they wouldn't be coming back in anytime soon. What can you do?
Anyway, moral of the story? DON'T BE A JERK. If you've got a waitress or waiter that you don't have good feelings for, didn't get along with at one point, or whatever, I don't care what your story is, don't be so spiteful. That makes you look petty. Now you're colored an unappealing shade of immature.
Anyway, all of this might make it seem to you that I don't enjoy waitressing. Au contraire! I really like it! The majority of the time people are very kind and it gives me faith that the default setting for human interaction isn't "B*tch b*tch b*tch."
Not to mention I get a lot of exercise. I'm constantly moving, lifting, walking, bending, twisting, and practically doing acrobatics to get around people who like to stand in the middle of the walkways during our busy days.
It's exciting for me at the moment, it's different than any job I've had before. It requires high energy and the majority of your attention. That means I don't really have any time to sit down an think about how unstimulating the job is. I'm too busy!
I'm still new, I'm still learning. Yes, I make mistakes. At least I didn't spill that scalding coffee on you when you snarked at me for forgetting to bring you extra napkins. Messy person. ( I kid. I usually also need extra napkins.)
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