BUST IT OUT with a SMILE!

This time last year I was finishing up my first senior semester at Ball State and spending a good majority of my down time watching Netflix and laying around. (Those were the days) Now I barely have time to do things I enjoy. I work my day job, the whole reason I went to college, for 35ish hours a week and my old serving job for another 10-15 hours. I’m siting here writing as I have anxiety over the fact I need to organize and clean our apartment. I just got off my third day in a row working both jobs and I’m exhausted. I really regret not taking advantage of the time I had in college to do nothing between classes and homework.

I’m slowly trying to get moved into my new apartment and juggle both jobs along with sleep. I feel like I don’t get but one hour before bed to have to myself, and I’m too busy getting my life in order so I don’t live in chaos. I don’t necessarily need the second job, but I just can’t let it go. I’m starting to drive myself insane. But regardless I’ve learned a few things working in both the professional word as well as still maintaining a part time server-life status.

One reason I love serving is because I know what I’m doing, and I do it pretty well. The environment I work in is more open, I can joke with my coworkers say things that you would never hear in a boardroom and tell my managers to “suck it” in a joking manor without getting a second look. I love that I don’t have to feel like I need to be someone else; I can 100% be myself without judgment.

I like working in a more stable career but I feel like everyone is walking on eggshells and has to pretend to be someone else. I feel like I am to outspoken and tend to throw people off because I am not one to hold things back or be REAL! I don’t like to feel like I have to pretend to be something I’m not, but I feel like even though I hold back quite a bit I’m still not the person I would prefer to be.

In the server world you get cool with your co-workers quickly, I’m just getting comfortable with a few people at my new job. Both places have co-workers you aren’t fond of and those you are super tight with. Either way, I realize there are many differences that will keep these worlds different; both enjoyable, and frustrating, in their own rights.

Working in a “real job” versus serving makes me realize how hard serving really is. People think serving is for those who can’t do anything else. To be honest, it takes a lot to be a server and not just anyone can do it or do it well. It takes multitasking, endurance, and even strength. All the money you make relies on YOU and YOU only. You can’t just sit on your phone and play games; you’re constantly running around.

If you want to make money serving you have to pretend the customer is NUMBER ONE and make them feel like they are high priority. I can be having a terrible day and I have to walk up to tables like I am the happiest person on the planet and I couldn’t be more excited to serve them! (I guess acting is a requirement I forgot to mention.) There is no taking it easy, and if you’re feeling sick there is no time to rest or take it easy, you have to BUST IT OUT. 

Working in the cooperate world people call off for the most ridiculous reasons, sick or not. If you call off as a server you SCREW a lot of people over. The rest of your team becomes more overwhelmed without you there to take those tables and it could leave the servers working having to take 5 plus tables in a row. Tonight we had one server who was sick and our busser who called off, this made the rest of us super busy and I didn’t stop moving from the time I clocked in till the time I clocked out. I constantly had something in my hands and never sat down unless I was kneeling next to a table to take their order or help them with their tabletop computer system.  I’m not saying this for sympathy or to make myself seem like a harder worker than those who work behind a desk, but it makes the point that servers are hard workers too. People don’t give those in the restaurant scene enough credit, and tend to think they are a bunch of lazy know-nothings.

Moral of the story, all professions have their difficulties, and I know for a fact that serving is its own demon from personal experiences on both sides of the job spectrum.