tell me NOTE TO AUDIENCE: I am SO SORRY that it has been months since my last blog post. There are no excuses except that there have been A LOT of things going on. I'll do my best to be better at this! Enjoy this special blog! this blog goes out to all my fellow waitresses, and co-workers...an appreciation for the job. Let me say that I do understand this is not the toughest or worst job out there, and it's not the best either and that's perfectly fine, for me. 💚 I love my job, and my co-workers, and my customers...it's not always been a piece of cake and HWY 55 has had its ups and downs, but it has helped mold me into the young lady I am today...so here it goes... 1. There are many different people in the world! I've waitressed now for 2 years, not to mention it's my first job. Anyways, through the past two years, I've seen MANY different people come through the doors, and each time, I try to yell "Hey, Welcome to Hwy 55, have a seat wherever you'd like." and almost every time, the customers don't understand or hear me. That's the first group of people, the busy ones, just looking for a table. Second group: big parties with that one person who thinks they know how to seat their family/friends and take care of the party better than you could. I'm fine with giving your input, but I'm also the one who has done this a million times before, and know how to make this the quickest and most efficient dining experience for your large group. So a lot of different people: sad, happy, families of 4, businessmen/women, Wal-Mart employees, truckers, veterans, teenagers, and a lot of others. 2. A smile can change someone's entire day. I don't know how many people have told myself or my boss, how happy it made them feel when I or another waitress approached the table with a smile. Granted, I don't want to smile for my entire shift cause that just isn't going to happen: your orders might be taking a while, the custard machine is being annoying again, someone's upset and waving you down, the clock hasn't change since the last time you checked it (which was 5 mins. ago), and the pile of dishes are growing by the second. But smiles and laughter are contagious, so just take a second and smile at the customer, and if they don't smile back, try again next time you come back to the table. I've had a regular grntleman tell me today how pretty my smile was, and how happy he felt walking into the store, seeing my smile, and knowing I knew exactly why he was there. You see, his wife in in a home with disabilities and an illness, but she loves chocolate milkshakes, so every week, he comes in and has us split a milkshake into two cups, one for this afternoon, and the other for whenever his wife wants it from the freezer. At first , this man was just another customer, but now, he's one of my favorites, and I always look forward to him coming in so I can smile his way and share his sadness and loneliness with him for just a few minutes. 3. I CAN multitask, and I'm pretty good at it. Yes, I'll grab that tea for the guy at the bar, and the lemons for table 2, the fork and knife for the little lady at table 32, and you can't forget the dish water running in the back-the hot fudge is warming up, somethings burning- okay, Abby, lemons, DONT FORGET THE LEMONS! And luckily I rescued the hot fudge, the dish water didn't flood the kitchen, the lady got the knife and fork, the man at the bar enjoyed watching me run around like a madwoman (he got his tea last) and the lemons made it to table 32 right on time. Multitasking has been something I have learned to do EVERYWHERE. Yes, I'm gonna forget something and probably bring the ring thing to the wrong table, but 95% of the time, I'm spot on. 4. You can't please everyone. There will always be that one table, or customer who, no matter how hard you work for them and how great my service may be, they will still leave looking sad and angry at their dining experience. The tea will be too sweet, the music will be too loud, the fries won't be crispy enough, and there's probably too much mustard on your bun. I always try to do my best for my customers, and most of the time, "my best" pays off, but then sometimes it doesn't. 5. Your 'voice' matters. At my job, the voice matters. The way you greet the customers at the door, should be loud, welcoming and exciting. [yet, no matter how loud I yell "have a seat wherever you'd like", people still stand at the door clueless.] When I'm talking to the little lady at 33 who always orders the same meal, I can't speak softly due to the screaming baby behind her, and the fifties music overhead, or she won't hear me. And don't think I have forgotten how loud the friers, and grill are. When I am on the cook line, it's almost impossible for me to here a waitress on the floor or in the back, it's just too loud, so I have to be loud (which isn't a problem). On the other hand, as a manager, my tone of voice when talking to customers has to be friendly, inviting, and confident. And when I'm talking to my waitresses, I have to be kind, respectful yet firm in our conversations. Lastly, my voice and my conversation with my customers, could be the kindest and happiest voice they hear, so why wouldn't I want to make it the best? I've learned many other things that I can share at a later time but these are just a few things that have popped into my mind over the past few months. And if this topic isn't for you, come back soon, I've got another post pending 😉
0 Comments
|
Author20 year-old experiencing the ups & downs of life with the Creator & Sustainer of the World Archives
October 2017
Categories |