Friday, September 19, 2008

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Assumptions

Well it has been a while my friends, and I may be a little rusty, but here goes...

As I noted before, I have begun moonlighting as waitress. I love food and love people so I thought it would be something I'm good at, and it turns out I'm pretty right. I didn't realize how many valuable lessons I would learn.

Previous to waitressing myself, I suppose I had many assumptions about who was serving my meals. I assumed that as a server, most people were either college students working through school, or people who hadn't gone on to higher education and simply enjoyed the value of a good days work. Well, I was wrong. There are several traditional aged college students working at the restaurant, but just about everyone else already has a degree, some in the process of obtaining a master's, a few who already have a master's. I have quickly learned that just as the economy has pinched my budget, for others it has meant working full time as a server because good jobs are hard to find.

The people I work with are amazing, some down right brilliant. Many have travelled across the globe on various pursuits, others have incredible life stories. The people I work with are complete, whole, interesting and complex people just as I am. I have quickly learned though that when serving, the customer's rarely think about the complex person who is delivering their dessert.

I think through other posts, many of you will have figured out that I'm a pretty outgoing person, I love being around others and adore a little spotlight attention. Well, I have never felt invisible before, but as a server, one often does. Yes, many customers are very nice, several are regulars who have come to know the servers, but most barely look us in the eye. I don't expect to be discussing the meaning of life at work, I realize that at this second job, my function is to serve food and do it well, but am I not still the complex person I was before I put on the apron?

I look around at my coworkers, and feel sad that other's aren't taking the time to get know or even consider these amazing people as whole people! I charge all of you to think about it the next time you're out, Of course I wouldn't expect you to ask your server to sit down and join you, but remember...you just may be being served your seafood pomodoro by a warrior princess who is plotting to save the world!