Life Is Changing
Guess what I am NOT going to do this week for the first time in three years? Go to work!! I am literally giddy with excitement, and full of gratitude all at the same time.
For those that don't know the backstory - here you go:
Three years ago really expensive things kept breaking (this was the last card to fall in a long line of things.) Our financial reserves were pitiful since we were still recovering from the dirt poor PhD life. The thought of putting it all on credit cards made us literally sick with worry. So after much discussion and prayer we knew it was time for me to re-enter the workforce. I searched high and low for part time marketing work and in this economy it was non-existent. I didn't need or want full time employment so in a fit of desperation I did what most people looking for temporary, flexible hour employment do - I applied to be waitress at two local restaurants. One place never called back, and the other offered me a job to start that week. Gasp!
I typically worked two night shifts a week. Brian would come home early and have daddy nights with the kids and I went to work. There were a few times where my fabulous friends filled in a watched the kids when Brian couldn't make it home early. My friends rock. It was nuts and I knew it, but I was also super grateful to come home with literal fists of cash each time. Come to find out I was making about the same rate per hour I would have in my marketing field most nights anyway without the additional worry or stress.
I'm not going to lie and say it was easy. I had waitressed a few semesters in college and knew the drill. Even though it was physically demanding, the hardest part was becoming humble and changing my attitude. I wasn't 20 anymore like the other girls I worked with. It was easy to think I was above this job and it felt really, really uncomfortable when people I knew would come in. I wanted to hide and sometimes literally did. I had grown more accustomed to being served not serving.
But as with all things in life I learned that being confident in who you are and the decisions you make is the key to success. It didn't matter what jobs I could get - it mattered that this particular job fit my family's needs exactly. Once I learned to not be ashamed of my choice to waitress I actually kinda liked it, and I didn't hide anymore. I also learned how blessed I was because I already had everything most of the people I worked with longed for - security - a fabulous husband with a good job, health insurance, a nice home, healthy children, a college degree, etc.
Last year I was fortunate to work during the days while the kids were in school, and this summer our finances finally reached the point where we felt comfortable calling it quits. Last Thursday was my last day. It wasn't bitter sweet. It was 100% sweet in every way. I was very, very ready. But I will forever be grateful to my hole-in-the-wall restaurant for taking me in and providing the financial Band-Aid my family needed when we needed it.
I'll wrap up this suuuuper long post with a few tips for going out to eat:
1. If the restaurant is busy and is on a wait then try not to camp out at your table for an abnormally long time. Don't rush - enjoy your time - but know that you are costing your server money and they won't like you for that unless you make up for it with an abnormally large tip. Time is money for a server and the more tables they can serve the more they will make. If the restaurant isn't busy then take as long as you like.
2. Big tips can make up for most things...unless you are a creep.
3. Be a generous tipper. You aren't at McDonalds. If you can't afford a nice tip for good service then go to a fast food place. If the service was bad, that's another story. But another dollar or two then you might have tipped could literally make a servers day. The opposite is also true - bad tips for good service can ruin a day. Lets not even talk about stiffing. Grrrr.
4. Servers have good memories and we talk about you. Make sure if you are a regular at a restaurant you are leaving a good impression, or at least a good tip. Notoriously bad tippers usually get sat in the new girl's section. Polite, generous, regulars are scooped up the second they walk in the door and are treated well.
5. You can learn a lot about a person by how they treat their server. Watch and learn if you want to know someone's true self.
6. There is a nice and a not-nice way to complain. Do it right and you'll probably get a free meal and even dessert. Do it wrong and the manager will do the minimum.
7. Teach your children to respect property and people. If your kid makes a tornado out of your table, tidy up the best you can before leaving within reason. Teach them to order their own food if they are old enough and to say thank you when their food is delivered. Rude kids are almost worse than rude adults - and usually the two come hand-in-hand.
For those that don't know the backstory - here you go:
Three years ago really expensive things kept breaking (this was the last card to fall in a long line of things.) Our financial reserves were pitiful since we were still recovering from the dirt poor PhD life. The thought of putting it all on credit cards made us literally sick with worry. So after much discussion and prayer we knew it was time for me to re-enter the workforce. I searched high and low for part time marketing work and in this economy it was non-existent. I didn't need or want full time employment so in a fit of desperation I did what most people looking for temporary, flexible hour employment do - I applied to be waitress at two local restaurants. One place never called back, and the other offered me a job to start that week. Gasp!
I typically worked two night shifts a week. Brian would come home early and have daddy nights with the kids and I went to work. There were a few times where my fabulous friends filled in a watched the kids when Brian couldn't make it home early. My friends rock. It was nuts and I knew it, but I was also super grateful to come home with literal fists of cash each time. Come to find out I was making about the same rate per hour I would have in my marketing field most nights anyway without the additional worry or stress.
I'm not going to lie and say it was easy. I had waitressed a few semesters in college and knew the drill. Even though it was physically demanding, the hardest part was becoming humble and changing my attitude. I wasn't 20 anymore like the other girls I worked with. It was easy to think I was above this job and it felt really, really uncomfortable when people I knew would come in. I wanted to hide and sometimes literally did. I had grown more accustomed to being served not serving.
But as with all things in life I learned that being confident in who you are and the decisions you make is the key to success. It didn't matter what jobs I could get - it mattered that this particular job fit my family's needs exactly. Once I learned to not be ashamed of my choice to waitress I actually kinda liked it, and I didn't hide anymore. I also learned how blessed I was because I already had everything most of the people I worked with longed for - security - a fabulous husband with a good job, health insurance, a nice home, healthy children, a college degree, etc.
Last year I was fortunate to work during the days while the kids were in school, and this summer our finances finally reached the point where we felt comfortable calling it quits. Last Thursday was my last day. It wasn't bitter sweet. It was 100% sweet in every way. I was very, very ready. But I will forever be grateful to my hole-in-the-wall restaurant for taking me in and providing the financial Band-Aid my family needed when we needed it.
I'll wrap up this suuuuper long post with a few tips for going out to eat:
1. If the restaurant is busy and is on a wait then try not to camp out at your table for an abnormally long time. Don't rush - enjoy your time - but know that you are costing your server money and they won't like you for that unless you make up for it with an abnormally large tip. Time is money for a server and the more tables they can serve the more they will make. If the restaurant isn't busy then take as long as you like.
2. Big tips can make up for most things...unless you are a creep.
3. Be a generous tipper. You aren't at McDonalds. If you can't afford a nice tip for good service then go to a fast food place. If the service was bad, that's another story. But another dollar or two then you might have tipped could literally make a servers day. The opposite is also true - bad tips for good service can ruin a day. Lets not even talk about stiffing. Grrrr.
4. Servers have good memories and we talk about you. Make sure if you are a regular at a restaurant you are leaving a good impression, or at least a good tip. Notoriously bad tippers usually get sat in the new girl's section. Polite, generous, regulars are scooped up the second they walk in the door and are treated well.
5. You can learn a lot about a person by how they treat their server. Watch and learn if you want to know someone's true self.
6. There is a nice and a not-nice way to complain. Do it right and you'll probably get a free meal and even dessert. Do it wrong and the manager will do the minimum.
7. Teach your children to respect property and people. If your kid makes a tornado out of your table, tidy up the best you can before leaving within reason. Teach them to order their own food if they are old enough and to say thank you when their food is delivered. Rude kids are almost worse than rude adults - and usually the two come hand-in-hand.
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