Selling My Most Marketable Skill

Today I walked into another restaurant, filled out an application, interviewed, and was hired all in the space of about 30 minutes. Oh, would that the legal employment world worked that way! I start training at the new place-- let's call it La Cucina-- on Sunday. Which means that tomorrow, I'm going to walk into the soon-to-be former place of employment and quit. I'm excited because man do I HATE my job. I hate the customers so much I can barely stop myself from being flat out rude to them. The other night, I was actually muttering "IhateyouIhateyouIhateyouIhateyou" every time I walked through the server alley areas, out of sight of the dining room. I figure it's only a matter of time before I actually say it out loud somewhere where a customer hears me... and I probably won't even be contrite when it happens. The new place is part of a large chain, which makes me a little queasy, but its average per plate cost is nearly triple what the average plate at the hated job is. My theory is that at least if they leave me a 10% tip, it will be a couple of dollars, not 90 cents. The manager who interviewed me talked a good game about flexibility, so hopefully I'll have a good chance at making decent money and being able to take on other work as it comes along.

I am, however, also pretty nervous about giving my notice, and I don't really understand why. It's not like I owe these people anything. They're not friends or family, and I shouldn't be worried about making them mad or hurting their feelings, yet I am. I wonder why that is? And what can I do to stop feeling this way? I've known lots of people who have no problem whatsoever looking out for themselves in the workplace, who feel no compulsion to take their employer's feelings into account-- and lord knows most employers aren't exactly taking your feelings into account. But then I know other people-- first and foremost among them, my mother-- who develop great loyalty to their employers and will give of themselves until well beyond the point of reason, and then are terribly hurt when that loyalty is repaid with betrayal by their employers. Most of the first group seem to be men. Most of the second seem to be women. And even though I recognize the fault in myself, I seem to be at a loss to stop it. Nature or nurture?

The Lightest Dark Beer In The World

The man at table 10 has ordered a Sam Adams. Unfortunately, upon arriving at the beer cooler, I find that the last Sam Adams has left the house. So I head back to table 10 to break the bad news.

"I'm sorry, sir, but we've run out of the Sam Adams. Could I bring you something else instead?"

"What do you have?"

What I don't have is time to rattle off the entire beer list to you.

"Do you prefer darker beers or lighter beers?"

"Oh, dark beers, definitely."

"We have the Edmund Fitzgerald, Beck's Dark, and Anchor Porter right now."

"I'll have a Rolling Rock."

Working 9 to... Well, Sure As Heck Not 5

Both of my jobs have a Tuesday - Monday work week/ pay period. So far this pay period, I have 39 hours in at one job and about 20 or 25 at the other. I still have to work today. That's a lot of hours, people. So for those of you who are wondering at my disappearance from both the virtual and the real worlds, there's your explanation.

I am really enjoying the tutoring for the most part. All of my students right now are putting heavy focus on Logic Games, which happened to be my best section on the LSAT. In fact, I kind of, in a sick and twisted way, really enjoy working my way through that section. So I'm getting to teach a subject that feels a bit like a game over and over again. And a couple of my students seem like really great and very interesting people who I'd like to know "on the outside". One student in particular strikes me as someone I could be really good friends with, had we met in some other circumstance. I also love the fact that I can see how they're improving as we work together, and it makes me feel like maybe I'm having a positive impact.

My other job... not loving it so much. I've never seen such a self-centered, rude, and cheap customer base in my life. At least once per shift, I have a table that leaves less than 10%. I do not believe that this is because I've given bad service to these tables. In fact, several of these tables have gone out of their way to thank me for my service... and then left me $1 on a $21 tab.

I am also developing a grudge against large tables of Indians. Three times in the past four days I've had a group of Indian customers sit in my section, make an enormous mess, be extremely rude to me, then leave me 7 or 8%. There are a lot of servers who will refuse to wait on certain minorities because they have a reputation for not tipping. Debra Ginsberg talks about this in her book, Waiting. She theorizes that it is a self-fulfilling prophecy: servers give lesser service to these tables, believing that they are "wasting their time" on a table that they won't see any reward for, and the customers justifiably leave smaller tips because the recognize bad service, so the server feels validated in his belief and the cycle continues. I've always tried to make a point of not giving different service-- better or worse-- to one table either because I don't anticipate a tip, or because I anticipate an especially large tip. This is only partially out of some sort of noble motives-- it's mostly because it's just easier to set a high standard and treat every table according to that standard, especially when it gets busy. It's hard enough to keep track of a full station without trying to remember which tables get the good service and which get the mediocre. Still, I am only human, and last night, I caught myself groaning internally when I saw the three Indians who were seated in my section less than an hour before the kitchen closed. And sure enough, they fussed about everything, talked to me like I was a lower form of life, then left me 90 cents each on their $11 tabs.

I am getting too old and cranky for this work. I really liked waiting tables when I did it in college. It's not that I never had a bad customer or got stiffed on a tab (heh. Remind me to blog about the table that tried to give me a $1 tip on a $117 bill sometime.), but the thing was, we had so many good customers-- and by that, I don't just mean customers that tipped well (though that certainly helps), but customers that were friendly and talked to us and treated us like intelligent human beings. I haven't met many (in fact, hardly any) of them at this job yet, so I feel like there's no compensation-- monetary or otherwise-- for putting up with crap from the other customers.

Bet He Made Lots of Sympathy Tips

Last night, I had my final training shift (Thank God). I was supposed to take all of the tables in Jack's section while he trailed me. First hitch: slowest. night. ever. Seriously. I started at 5, and we didn't get a single table until 8. At the beginning of the shift, the manager on duty held a servers' meeting, at which the first item on the agenda was "No socializing with the kitchen." Ostensibly, this is not because they don't want us to be nice to the cooks, but because the kitchen guys were complaining that they were having trouble getting their work done because we servers were talking their ears off. Maybe. I don't know. Either way, the first thing that the manager did after the meeting disbanded was walk over to the window and start chatting with the line cook.

Incidentally, item number two on the agenda was "There are no side orders of the rice and lentil plate", and item three was "Don't forget that the front bulletin board is for suggestions from the staff, please feel free to use it." I tried to talk one of the other servers into suggesting "Add a side order of the rice and lentil plate to the menu".

When we finally got tables, everyone was very nice. People seem to be charmed by the whole "Hi, I'm Katze, I'll be your server tonight, but I'm in training, so this is Jack"-- gesture behind me--" and he's keeping an eye on me tonight" spiel, and every single table went out of their way to tell me that I was doing a great job, just wonderful. My favorite customer of the night was an older gentleman who looked just like My Favorite Martian and his lady friend. He kept winking and smiling at me whenever I passed, though not in a creepy or flirty way, but more like little bits of encouragement. When I finally brought their check, he told me "You'll be headwaitress in no time at all!" I wanted to pinch his little cheeks, he was just so sweet.

I took and passed my serving test this morning, and tomorrow I start my first shift. One of the managers commented that she was sure glad I passed my test because I'm on the schedule 6 days next week, including two doubles. *gulp* I guess I really will be raking in the cash, and also I will be forgoing my social life, so I'll be saving money at the same time!

Bird on a Bun, Drag It Through the Garden, and Put Legs On It!

In light of the severe deficit in my (non-existant) trust fund, I decided to look for work using the most valuable skill I have: waitressing. I was good at it when I did it in college, I actually enjoyed it for the most part, and most importantly, it's fairly lucrative. Oh, and I won't feel guilty about leaving the job after a short time.

I've developed a list of criteria for potential restaurant jobs over the years: anywhere that is hiring all the time is out (super high turnover seems like a baaaad sign), anywhere that requires you to put your tips into a communal pool is out, anywhere that has a clientele with an average age of 50 or older is out (tips are too low, as a general rule), anyplace that I particularly like to eat is fair game (it's nice to feel enthusiastic about the hash you're slinging, plus many places offer discounted or free meals for employees, so you ought to want to eat that benefit), any place that never advertises for help is good, any place that seems to have the same wait staff for ages is really good, any place where the managers can be seen working the floor on a Saturday night (not just walking from table to table asking if everything is okay) is also good.

With this in mind, I decided to apply at a local middle eastern restaurant that I really like. I noticed when we walked by the other night that they were hiring, so I was pretty sure I could get a job, and sure enough, I walked in today, filled out the application, had an interview, and I start tomorrow!

I was feeling a little... depressed about going back to waitressing until I talked to a professor from Our Law School this weekend. He laughed and remarked "You aren't the first, you won't be the last. I remember those days myself." Well! If he could do it, so can I, right? In fact, I kind of like the idea of taking a year to work as many hours as I can and work on my book. Of course, if the right job comes along, I would be thrilled to death, but I'm not going to force it. If it takes me awhile to find the right thing, so be it.

Anyway, I figure if nothing else, waitressing should provide me with fertile blogging ground.