As my first year of college drew to a close, I felt less than glamorous when asked about my summer plans. While my friends were landing fun internships, studying abroad or spending the summer at out-of-state camps, I was returning home to work for the second summer in a row as a waitress.
Don't get me wrong, I love the people I work with and the flexible hours I have week-to-week; however, there's just something about spending my days filling salad dressing containers and scraping half-eaten food off of plates that's not exactly ideal.
I wouldn't trade my job working as a waitress (for now at least), though, because it's taught me valuable lessons that I wouldn't have learned in a cubicle at a 9 to 5 job. Speaking from experience, here are 5 reasons why I think everyone should try out a job in food service at least once.
1. You learn humility.
There's something about waiting on your old teachers, accidentally spilling water on a customer, and asking, "Would you like fries with that?" that make you realize life isn't always glitz and glam.
2. You learn how to be a team player.
Whether it be taking the initiative to clean the bathrooms (someone's gotta do it if you're gonna get out on time, right?), pick up your own messes, or take refills to other waitress's tables (ESPECIALLY if you're splitting tips), food service quickly teaches you the importance of cooperation and communication.
3. You learn about alcohol.
No, being a waitress in a bar doesn't mean you have the right to all the alcohol you want. However, to legally serve alcohol, you must obtain your liquor license (or "serving" license if you're 19 or 20). The reading material and exam that must be passed in order to obtain your liquor license teaches you about the amount of alcohol in different types of drinks, how to properly mix drinks, and how to tell if a customer has had too much. As an employee, I have already learned so much about responsible drinking solely from being around those mixing drinks.
4. You learn how to tip.
GiphyDo NOT go to a nice sit-down restaurant if you can't afford to tip the waitress. I think I can speak for almost all waitresses when I say it's hard to keep a smile on your face and continue to serve customers with 110% effort when you're being tipped under 15%. If your waitress makes multiple mistakes or doesn't seem to give much effort into serving you, fine, but if you choose to not tip well solely because you don't want to "waste money" remember that we make just over $2.00 an hour without tips and that we have to report our percentages at the end of our shifts. Would you want your waitress's boss to think she wasn't doing a good job because her tips were poor?
5. You learn why you stay in school.
As much as drowning in homework and responsibilities tends to stress me out, I'd rather be writing essays and taking tests that are going to earn me my degree than be washing dishes and delivering food to tables for the rest of my life. During long double-shifts, I often learn more about why I'm in college than I do sitting in a lecture. That degree is my ticket from rags and aprons to glass offices and high heels.
