Training

I have hit rock bottom. For the past two days, I have been trained by two 17 year-old boys who are about to embark on the collegiate world. One is actually attended Stanford and the other is going to the University of Michigan. I felt like their big sister. They were asking me if they should rush and telling me about the girlfriends they had to break up with because they were moving. I feel like such a loser. As soon as I met both of them I started wondering if they were even old enough to legally work. I forgot how young you are when you are in high school! I am sure these kids were like, "Dude, what is that girl doing with her life?" I always throw law school and the bad economy in when people ask my what my story is, but that is just to make myself feel better.

Are you wondering what I have been doing in my training for the past two days? I have been learning that being a "server assistant" means "you clean and bus tables." SO not what I signed up for. Yes, I get to seat people and grab carry outs from the kitchen, but I really don't like this manual labor. A lady saw me cleaning the bathroom and said, "Oh you poor thing. They make you clean the bathrooms?" Yup, and that is just the beginning. I do more cleaning at work than our house has gotten since I lived here. I have to Windex all the windows. The best part about our restaurant is that there is a huge window where the kids can watch the cooks toss the pizza dough. Definitely cool for kids and families. Not so cool for the server assistant who has to clean off all the little fingerprints when we close. When we used to eat at this place, I always thought it was adorable to watch these kids lick, slobber and put their fingerprints all over the window because they are so excited. Tonight I was tempted to ask these children to please sit quietly in their seats or go eat some pizza.

Yesterday was pretty easy and I think I did ok. I learned how to bus tables, seat people, and bring out orders previously called in orders. As I did not feel that this is rocket science, I did try to go off on my own a few times. That poor 17 year old got in trouble. Our manager yelled, "Don't leave her alone! She doesn't know anything!" Ok..not sure it was necessary to yell that across the restaurant, but whatever. I tried not to touch anything else. I learned that the napkins have to be laid out on a specific side and the blade of the knife must be facing in. Even how the salt/pepper/Parmesan cheese/red pepper flakes are staged is assigned. There is even a system of what color straws go in different drinks! This is the thing I am having the most trouble with. Why should a black straw go in Coke, when the logo is red? Very confusing. I guess someone found it logical.

Tonight was a different story. I couldn't figure out if my little guy was annoyed that he had a shadow, or if he just isn't a sociable person. He did tell me he prefers to be on the floor as opposed to seating people because he doesn't like dealing with people. I guess that was my answer. Also, I don't stop talking, so he probably was a little annoyed. The problem was, he would just leave me. I would turn around for a second and he would be gone! (Remember, I am specifically NOT allowed to do anything by myself so I was feeling very lost and vulnerable!)

I decided that I could do SOME things by myself. I grabbed the water pitcher and started walking around checking to see if anyone needed a refill. Guess what. No one wants their waitress/server assistant to chat with them. They do not care about your lame jokes are attempts to socialize. I put the pitcher up. I then grabbed the iced tea (unsweet, of course) and started quietly refilling those glasses. I asked a 13 year old if she wanted more tea and her mom informed me that she was drinking apple juice. Ok, I said, did she want a refill? Yes. So now I am on a mission. This is something I have not encountered before. Where is the juice? I went and asked the cliquey 20 year old waitresses where the apple juice was. All four of them replied in unison, "Apple juice is not free refills." Crap. I meekly explained that I had offered this child a refill and she had accepted. Their eyes were huge. It looked like I had just informed them there was a bomb in the restaurant and everyone was going to die. One of them finally piped in and said, "You're going to have to __________." (The manager.) Instead, I ran to my 17 year buddy and explained what had happened. Then I chided him for leaving me alone and allowing this mistake to happen. (Of course it was his fault! :-))

We made it over to the manager who did not care and just asked me to tell them there would be a charge for the next one. Was it really necessary to make such a fuss? Later, I found myself alone again and saw that there were salads ready to be taken to tables. I checked the ticket to make sure everything was correct and picked up the salads. I guess my pal had noticed he lost me because he was suddenly right over my shoulder. "Where's the ticket for this?" he asked. "Right here" I respond. When we start looking at the ticket I showed him, it was completely wrong. How could this have happened? I JUST checked the ticket and it was right. My buddy said the kitchen must have made a mistake, but the salad guy was quick to assure us this was not his fault. The tickets are supposed to go on this sharp piece of metal when you are done with them. We were riffling through tickets and my mentor was searching all over the kitchen. Finally we found it in the trash can. Apparently I did not think the ticket was very important.

Those were the major mistakes of the day. Yes, I bought black high top tennis shoes at Payless today for $3o. I thought that was kind of expensive for a pair of black tennis shoes that will only be used minimally, but whatever. (I also bought a new pair of earrings and a ring - doesn't it feel good to pay less?) I have a shift tomorrow, and am going to be on my own while someone follows me around and critiques what I do. How does that not make someone nervous. I know I will make stupid mistakes because I am aware someone is watching me. And also, I cannot eat another piece of pizza. 3 days in of free pizza is too much. I will keep you posted. I am absolutely exhausted, even though my shift was only 4.5 hours. I may just end up liking the working world, however lame, after all.