Dear food workers, servers, waiters, busboys, etc.,
First of all, I want to say that I am one of you. I have, in various capacities, helped serve food to others for 12 months now. And because I have done this for a while, my respect for others who perform similar jobs has grown. I have just a few things to say.
Thank you for having a smile on your face when you're having a horrible day. Thank you for cleaning up after careless customers. Thank you for doing hard work, often by yourself or with little help. Thank you for not lashing out when people are jerks to you. Thank you for making sure that drive-thrus run smoothly so other people's days can be a little easier. Thank you for giving extra napkins even when no one asks you for them. Thank you for bringing extra silverware when you hear some hit the floor. And while we're on the topic of floors, thank you for mopping them and scrubbing them free of mess.
Thank you for working on your feet for long stretches of time, often at nontraditional, odd hours. Thank you for recommending menu items and flavors of dessert, because you genuinely want your customers to have a good experience. Thank you for performing the monotonous tasks that come with the job. Thank you for doing jobs that are not particularly crazy exciting, but are needed. Thank you for dealing with spoiled children and rude parents (who don't tip at all), when it is the last thing you want to do. Thank you for understanding the hard work that the rest of us also do, and tipping us what you can.
Here is the challenge.
If you aren't the person described above (and no one is all the time), and you have one of these customer service oriented jobs, I challenge you to expect more from yourself and give just a little more. Smile and laugh with the little girl who comes in for a birthday treat, not because her parents just might tip you a little bit more, but because it is a sweet thing to do for another person. I want to challenge you to forgive.
Remember that people have bad days and not everyone walks around smiling all day. I challenge you not to let the jerks, the critics, or the it's-never-right-or-good-enough crowd get to you. I challenge you to not let the people who look down on you as a nameless, faceless thing who makes change influence how you see yourself. I challenge you to see that although we live in a very broken world with lots of broken people, you can brighten it with a simple, "how are you doing today?"
Sincerely,
Camille
