Service With a Smile, Bitch
I am so over my job.
It's not that I'm bad at my job. It's not that I don't like to interact... with pleasant people. But working in service tends to grate on you when you aren't making money. I was forced to work during the Saints game... lord, I honestly think I made negative money that day, if you count the gas I wasted driving there. Then I worked a double yesterday. Which, as you can imagine, made me not incredibly enthusiastic to be there today for lunch. It was my last shift before my day off.
There are a lot of "lifers" in my restaurant. Me, I don't get it. I don't see how you don't become incredibly bitter at the human race, working in service for 10-20 years. Hell, if I have to work in service for more than two years, I am warning you now I will combust. Really, the only reason I'm there is because I have afternoon classes that do not allow me to work 9-5 (my program is designed to work around a teacher's schedule, but isn't great for people with other jobs). You just would not believe how rude people can be. I think it's because people view their servers as largely faceless. There are exceptions, but it's just the way it works. Even when I go out to eat, I rarely pay close attention to the person waiting on me, and I work in the industry. There's nothing wrong with that; in fact, unnoticeable service is the epitome of good service-- everything on the table before you think to ask for it.
The shit that drives me up a wall is shit that wouldn't even occur to you. Like the tons of people-- classy people, people who can afford it and know better-- who try to get something for nothing. There is a reason you cannot replace, like, the sauce on your entree with a freakin' salad-- because it clearly says on the bottom of the menu "add a salad $5." That is what a dinner salad is: a small salad to accompany your food. Why is that hard to understand? Why do people try to get them for free? "But like, I don't want the cole slaw. Can't I have a salad?" Yes. For $5. One thing is a menu item. The other is a garnish. Seriously, people. Enough. And there are people who, every time they come in, actively search for something to nitpick so they can get food comped. Why? Because probably once their steak wasn't the right temperature, and they got it for free, and a little light went off in their freeloading brain. So they decided to pull this B.S. every single time to get a 3-course $110 meal for 50 bucks. I wonder if it's a game for them. I wonder if the people who come in with them get embarrassed. I am embarrassed for people on a regular basis. And it pisses me off, because the feeling is unwilling and I wish I wasn't a classy, normal person so I wasn't compelled to cringe inwardly at this blatant, transparent behavior. It's not my embarrassment. So let's all just behave like adults in public so I won't have to deal with it.
OK. I'm done. Now it's time to enjoy the hell out of my day off.
4 comments:
Have a good day off!
I worked in various restaurants from age 15 til 25, when I finished law school (with a small hiatus when I worked at Blockbuster). And I think it should be a requirement for adulthood to work in service. I think people would be nicer. Maybe.
Aw. My brother did a post-graduation stint at Hollywood Video. And I've been slowly waitressing my way through two different grad programs. But I still don't like people.
That last sentence says it all! Teaching should be GREAT! There aren't many schools out there that don't deal with people.
Oh come on, I never mean it when I say things like that. I'm a very social person.
It just gets hard on the nights where it seems all you see is the bad side of people.
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