An Exciting Change

I have spent nearly three years working for a restaurant in my area, and I am taking a huge leap into serving! With all the horror stories of unhappy guests, the constant fear of dropping food or the anxiety of being "in the weeds," I was incredibly nervous to jump into this change.  At this point, I've gone through three days of training in this seemingly horrendous business...and I am absolutely loving it.

My first day, I was working in one of the nicer dining rooms with a Top Gun (yes this idea is from the Tom Cruise movie).  Because I've been working there for so long, I was able to go through day one adjusting to the transition rather than focusing on company policies. I did learn a lot though, and the formidable "triple-seating" that happened about half way through was a good way to distract me from the anxiety of changing departments. In my naivety, I was surprised at the ease of the evening.  Only one customer was unhappy, and it was because of the way her steak was cooked.  I will admit though that I spilled water on one of the tables, but thankfully, the guests were good humored, and I didn't douse anyone (not even myself shockingly) in the process.  Aside from scary guests, I also expected to be working for about four or five hours, but ended up closing with the Top Gun.  This doubled the time I was there.  Needless to say, it was an incredibly long first day. Despite the lengthy day, it was a very encouraging and needed shift - especially because several of our guests recognized me from my hosting days.

My second day of training, I worked with a backwaiter Top Gun so I could learn about the food and seat numbers in the restaurant.  I always knew that a lot of thought  and planning went into organizing a kitchen and the kind of menu we provide, but I never comprehended just how much effort it took until then. The hardest part about backwaiting though - for sure - was the hellish heat. When people say, if you can't bear the heat, get out of the kitchen, I now understand what that means both literally and figuratively.  It doesn't help that the kitchen is saturated with fire and metal thought. Despite the kitchen's predominantly silver and white color scheme in this inferno, the colors of the dressings, meats, vegetables, desserts, fruits, etc are like Fruit Pebbles that someone decorated the kitchen with.  The best part of working in the kitchen - aside from the awesome staff back there - was the smell.  It's hard enough walking down the hallway with a hungry tummy, but to work in the kitchen with an empty stomach was nearly irresistible   The food all smelled so good! I had a lot of fun learning all the different parts of the kitchen and the foods that fill it.

On the most recent day of training, DAY THREE, I worked on the patio with yet another Top Gun.  Although I didn't have the proper uniform, I had a wonderful time working out there. Like my first day, there were customers who recognized me from my hosting position. All of our customers were very kind, and I got to take orders, pre-bus place settings, get drinks from the bar, put orders in the Mircros, and get desserts from the kitchen for our guests.  Some of the guests were incredibly talkative, and it was a lot easier to talk to them than I expected it to be. On the other hand, I felt bad for some of the table we visited less, but it was also clear that they were not welcoming intruders to their conversation, so I guess it was better to give them their space.

Overall, I learned a lot about the restaurant, the food, the people and my co-workers. I'm excited to learn more and actually put it to practice, but I definitely have more to learn and some things to improve on.  It's been an exciting experience, and for those of you in the area, be sure to come visit me when I'm on the floor in two weeks! I hope all of your summers are off to a sunny start :)