When I first started looking for a job back in high school I didn’t really want to work within restaurants because I knew customers could be hard to deal with and it would be even harder if the customer was there for a long time. In high school, I took up a job in the fast-food franchise of Chick-fil-A and when COVID began I moved back home and got rehired at my old job. Since then I have been working there, but recently I got a new job working in a cafe. After working both jobs and comparing them I’ve noticed some things I like working in a cafe environment more.
More getting out of my comfort zone
This was something I really enjoy because it made it easy to interact with people. While working at the cafe, I have to go up to people and get them seated and maybe interact with some small talk. This helps me be more confident when interacting with people since I am not scared and am used to communicating with lots of people on a daily basis.
Slower paced
The reason I enjoyed it being slower-paced is because I am used to a very fast-paced environment from my prior experience in Chick-fil-A. This made it a good change of environment and made my work more enjoyable. Apart from that since it is slower paced, I can be more relaxed and enjoy my work more
Big area
I enjoyed taking customers to their tables and bringing them their drinks. The reason for this is that it allows me to walk around a lot more and get some type of exercise in. Furthermore, I like how it is a bigger area that I get to work within which is very necessary right now in order to keep customers safe as well as employees.
Deal with fewer rude customers and more with nicer customers
This was my favorite change between the two types of jobs. I really enjoyed BluJam since I got to interact with fewer people than that at Chick-fil-A. Rather than dealing with about 400-500 customers per day, I deal with about 100 per day. And the best part is that most people coming to dine in are nicer than those going through the drive-thru. They’re much more kind and understanding and don’t try to intimidate people which I enjoy.
These are some of the reasons I enjoy working within a cafe environment rather than working within fast-food. They both offer different things but depending on what you want is what you’ll choose and after having a chance to pick I prefer working within a cafe.