On Serving

When I started my first restaurant job in a fine dining restaurant as a busser, one of the servers told me I wasn't cut out for working in a restaurant. She said I was too gentle and naive and quite. She was right. A year later and I'm still that way. She wasn't trying to insult me or steer me away, but she was honest with me as she had worked in the industry for well over ten years. She grew to know me better than anyone in the restaurant and ended up being like a big sister to me. This business is rough, but on the contrary, some of the most rewarding relationships I've had in my life have come from sharing this commonality. 

I would be considered more of a newbie in the restaurant business. Having worked in fine dining and, recently a more casual setting, I have found that being in introvert is my biggest setback. It's hard to make an introvert talk to complete strangers. It's not something that's easy for someone who needs quite, alone time to regain energy to just go up to a table and be like "Hey! My name's Lexi and I'm your server and I love talking so we can talk as much as you want!'. No. I mean, I've learned a lot from this job and although I never wanted to pursue a career in Hollywood, I'm still an actress. I have to be happy when I'm not, smile when I feel like crying, and bust my ass off when I'm tired because I just worked five doubles in a row. 

On the contrary there are some pretty rewarding things like how quickly you develop family-like relationships. Working in a restaurant, you instantly have something to talk about with the other staff. It usually goes something like,

"The lady in the yellow shirt just told me she has a gluten allergy but insisted on having regular bread. And then she asked me for a water and when I went back to the table the husband wanted a glass of wine and we were out of the wine and then the food is taking forever to come out so now I'm not going to make any money off the table and now my life is over."

And sometime that's as far as the conversation goes because venting is all you need for a temporary release before you get out there again and the same thing happens to your next table. But sometimes one of your coworkers makes a joke about something and it's an on going thing for the rest of the night or even the week. Because of this sometimes you'll go out to a table still laughing about what just happened by the computer. It's all worth it though because it gets you through a slow shift, or a double, or a busy Saturday night. 

Working in this industry has taught me a lot about the real world and myself. I've seen that sometimes the work you put in doesn't yield the results you're looking for but the same can be said for the opposite. There are generous people in this world and people the genuinely care about your well-being. Waiting tables certainly isn't my dream job but I'm grateful for what it's taught me, the friends I've made, and how it's shown me that things are temporary and that you have control of where your life goes.