Wednesday, September 24, 2014

How I survived my first week as a dining server (it ain't over yet)

This week I had an epiphany about life, during my training as a part-time server at a fancy schmancy retirement home. Kelly, an 18 years old voluptuous blonde girl, with sky blue eyes and full, rosy lips, was showing me how to carry a heavy tray when I realized: we can do pretty much anything, if we are desperate enough.
Back home, I never served anything to anyone, besides a cup of water to my husband. The thought of tripping and spilling a drink in a costumer's lap made me pledge to never accept this type of jobs. Oh, the irony of life!
 
On the bright side, being the only foreign in the team is a real boon. My colleagues, mostly high school teenagers, seem amazed when they hear how far I traveled to move here. We bond over work chores and that makes me feel accepted. I also discovered that taking orders, pouring soup, folding napkins and parking walkers for a living becomes more bearable, if I pretend I’m just documenting the life of a server. 
My first attempt to take an order and my notebook with new words in English

But working among natives really pushes my limits. It's an ongoing struggle to understand both the language and the job itself. Let me give you an example.

When Veronica, another colleague of mine, suggested I should take the order from a table of eight, I freaked out. “Sure, just let me go to the bathroom real quick”, I said as calmly as I could, with a frozen smile on my face. Some deep breaths later and a short pep talk, I was ready to tackle my first work challenge. While writing down everything was easier than I thought, I found it extremely difficult to keep track of their orders. One table received dessert, the other was still expected the salad.

Today someone will be shadowing me and I have no clue how will things progress from here on. The convenience of having a part-time decently paid that leaves me with plenty of time to write on this blog is priceless. At the same time, a new job sounds to me like the perfect Christmas present.

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