I am a firm believer that everyone should serve a public service job for one year. Retail, food, or the military. One year. The lessons you learn in these places are beyond me. They teach you farm more than you could ever learn cooped up at a desk for school.
While I could write a book on the lessons I learned during my time as a waitress, one stands out to me the most: You cannot pigeonhole people based on stereotypes.
I have had people come in who look like that have been dragged out of the depths of darkest corner of the world, people I thought were going to be mean. They were the sweetest souls I have ever come across. I have had couples come in who are higher end and clearly have money.
The same people didn’t tip and made my job especially hard. I’ve had teenagers come in I thought were going to be miserable to wait on and let me tell you, they were the sweetest, most understanding people.
As humans, it is our innate disposition to categorize people. There is so much data we process each and every second of every day. It’s only natural that we group people together based on similar characteristics. That’s where stereotyping comes from.
Public service taught me that as hard as it can be to refrain from stereotyping, it is necessary. You cannot judge a book by its cover - you never know what is hiding underneath.