Friday, June 1st was my first "First Friday" as a waitress. What does this mean? Simply that I had a million and one tables to serve and messed up... a lot.
If you're not familiar with the term First Friday, it's basically the first Friday of every month when little towns offer discounts, live music and other things that bring people out. All of this is to increase business and give people more of a reason to go out to eat and shop. Well, my restaurant offered no such discounts and the only live music was the one you could hear from the other side of the street, but we still got the bombarded with business!
That being said, I have only been working as a waitress for the past two weekends. I walked into Carisma Mexican Restaurant on a Thursday and asked if they were hiring for the summer. The owner, José, was eager and said "Yes see you tomorrow at 5." And since then I have been working at this Mexican restaurant, with no training and two fellow employees.
As my fourth day as a waitress, I was excited about First Friday. More tables and more tips! My shift started at five and things were going fine, just like they did last Friday, until the kitchen got backed up. Note that I have only one coworker, there is one chef and seating inside, upstairs, and outside. So this was pretty hectic! José's in the kitchen slaving away, me and the other waiter were taking orders left and right. "Oh you need more water, sure I'll be right out with that," "You're ready for the bill? Ok I'll bring that right out," "Yes I can bring you some chips and salsa, sorry for the wait!" Everyone on our staff (all three of us) was in maximum overdrive.
Kids were asking for their chicken nuggets, couples were glancing toward the kitchen with impatient stares, large parties were going through complimentary tortilla chips like there was no tomorrow. One woman sent her steak back three times before she decided that she just didn't want steak.
Right when it was about to slow down, we had a table of 8 women come in for a birthday. Our restaurant id BYOB, and they definitely brought their own. This large party ended up being my table and didn't leave until after we closed. As they were packing their leftovers and leftover drinks, the birthday girl called me and the other waiter over, "Take a shot with us?" Of course we did, Feliz Cumpleaños!
Well, that was my First Friday. Pretty eventful, pretty fun, and a total learning experience. As a new waitress, I'm always learning new things, where the spoons go, how to make the guacamole, the words to the Spanish songs I listen to for hours. I love my job with Carisma and wouldn't trade it. And I'm kind of excited for next First Friday!
