I would have never thought that anything, even a job could ever really change me all that much. However, I've only been a server for a few months now and I can honestly tell you that I love it and hate it; and it has definitely changed me for both better and worse.
I would have to say that in the last four months my memory has gotten somewhat better. For anyone that knows how I'm actually concerned I have early onset Alzheimer's disease, you will understand the excitement I have for my own small memory skills gain. I constantly test myself at work to see if I can remember an entire family's order without looking at what I wrote down, or even taking an order without writing it down if I'm feeling confident (or I just ran out of pens). And slowly throughout these few months I can actually see an improvement and I am really hoping it will pay off this semester.
I can't stop complaining. I complain about everything. Everyone who is a server complains way to much. Whether it's a less than satisfying tip or a co worker not doing their side work or the cook is being a little crabby today. As a server, we love to complain. I had no idea that I could be so whiny or that I could even care so much a bout the little things. I used to be baffled how much most my co workers complained about such little things...And now I'm one of them.
I'm a great team player for someone who played singles in tennis and is very independent minded. I'm great at doing things on my own, and love the feeling of succeeding by myself. However, that doesn't fly on a holiday or festival weekend in the restaurant world. The more you work with each other the more you become a well oiled machine. You have to work with cooks, with other servers, with the dish team. You can't do it alone, it is impossible. It took some getting used to ask for help sometimes, instead of just letting myself get overwhelmed and swamped. Thankfully, I work at a place filled with wonderful people that are easy to get along with and willing to help out.
I've become a little greedy. It's really hard to come home on a week day, making less than six dollars an hour all day after making over twenty five dollars an hour the weekend before. I always expect people to tip as well as I do. I remember a few weeks ago complaining to a friend that I only made five dollars on an almost 70 dollar bill. That's not even close to the "standard" 15%. He then told me to stop talking. I was floored that he could agree that was an adequate tip. He asked me what I had to do for that table. I told him 'duh, I got them drinks, their food, their bill, and cleaned up after them'. he asked me how long it took me to do so and if they ever asked for refills, if they left much of a mess at the table, if they were polite. I stopped and thought about it and they were one of the easiest and nicest tables I had all day and really they didn't leave much mess at all. But the greed had got to me and the certain expectations and destroyed the fact that 10 minutes of work is definitely worth five dollars. Not to say I don't expect good tips when I'm being a good server still, but I can at least be okay knowing the greed hasn't gotten to me completely.
Serving can suck and can be wonderful. It's something that comes with so many pros and cons, but you will never understand it unless you've done it.
