Friday, April 29, 2011

Servitude

It's currently 4:00 am. I have to wake at 9:30 am. I am no where near shut eyes.

Let's talk about life...

Recently I've picked up a serving job in a small town sushi restaurant. It's been a while since I worked, basically since high school. I always wanted to wait tables because I heard it's a challenging job along with fast cash. In desperate need, I called a good friend to hook me up with the job. Trained for about 1.5 weeks and then I was thrown into the wild.

What they say about the serving industry is true to a certain extent...but most people make it sound worst than what it really is. Yes, you run into ALL kinds of people. Sometimes horrible, mean, shitty tipping bastards. But the majority of your customers will tip you at least 15% on average, usually more. I run into more friendly people but of course bad experiences are more easily remembered. It's good money at the end of the day, even when you have to put up with 10% of your crap customers.

Money aside, you learn A LOT. It truly is a humbling experience. Since it's my first time serving, I cannot deny that I make quite a bit of mistakes. Given that I have gotten a lot better, there's still much to learn. For example, today a woman ordered a steak and it wasn't cooked to her liking. I apologized and talked to the chef...yeah no help. In short, I just apologized and did nothing about it. It was such a busy night I also forgot her soup. After she paid and left, what remained was a quarter and a note: NOT AT ALL HAPPY WITH YOUR SERVICE. EVEN AFTER SOMETHING WAS SAID ABOUT THE STEAK. WILL NOT BE COMING BACK.

I was so upset...not because she left that message...but because I failed at my job. At first I was angry, defense mechanism..totally normal. Then I was saddened, because I couldn't believe I made someone unhappy, that someone was not pleased with my service. Headed home, tears held back.

After a shower I realized that though it hurts to have someone say those things to me. I would have never learned otherwise. My service was truly horrible and she was doing me a favor by having the balls to tell me. Sure, she could have done it in a nicer way, but that's the reality of life. Never in a million years would I imagine to find myself thinking in such a manner. Taking the blame in full accountability. Accepting all faults and moving on.

Lesson learned?

In life, lessons are often learned through mistakes. And those mistakes won't be easy on the heart and soul, but healthy for the improvement of the mind.

I can't say I love my job, but it's teaching me quite a bit.

2 comments:

CnDefendor said...

It is actually STANDARD PROCEDURE to tip a single penny when presented with unsatisfactory service. FYI.

It's just not as common here in the south as folks are generally mannered when it comes to tipping independent of service quality... similar to the experience at Five Happiness: Authentic Chinese Food.

Your customer was kind enough to leave you 24cents extra along with a note lol.

I had a similar experience recently and spoke to my waitress instead of leaving a note. She apologizes and hooked me up with her 20% employee discount during checkout. I took my penny back, left a full tip, and all was forgiven.

Phamtastic said...

It's best for me to bring in my manager next time this happens or even throw in a free dessert or something. Common sense, but when you have six tables... common sense is far from common. I'll do better next time!! 8)