Flashback to 10th grade. I am out to dinner with my friends and all of us are paying with crumpled ones and quarters. We leave a mess at the table: crumbs everywhere, silverware on the floor and straw wrappers galore. Not to mention we barely tipped- like I said we were jobless 16 year olds without a care in the world.
Now, flash forward to this past summer. You can find me in my stylish khaki shorts and black polo, drenched in sweat with the smell of fried food and dirty dish water engrained in my skin. I am on the other side now. Busting my butt cleaning up after those 16 year olds and constantly reminding myself to keep a smile on despite being yelled at by various customers. Constantly reminding myself to keep a smile on when creepy men ask to buy me a drink and constantly reminding myself to be respectful when people send their food back and blame me.
I think that working in a restaurant has taught me more about myself and more about how important being on a team is more than anything. This summer job taught me that working for the public is incredibly hard. You have to be respectful when the customer is being anything but respectful. You understand how incredibly important tips are and you understand how important treating your server and bussers with the utmost respect is. Working in a restaurant teaches you to be thankful for the great people and how to tolerate the not-so-great.
Aside from learning how to deal with customers, I also learned how important a team is within the workplace. If you call out for a shift or just simply don’t show up, you are screwing over everyone else you work with. If you show up and do a half-ass job, you are causing your coworkers to pick up your slack. Putting in the effort and working in a positive way is just as important as being respectful to rude customers or coworkers. Working in a restaurant this summer made me appreciate everyone who had served me in the past and taught me to keep my head up when things go astray. If I everyone worked in the restaurant business (or someplace similar) at least once in their life, I think we all would learn how to treat others with respect–especially those serving us or working with us.