Tons of people have worked their way through the food industry, but none have done so quite as elegantly and happily as the Spongebob Squarepants. From his first days, battling anchovies, to relentlessly warding off Plankton’s attempts to steal the Krabby Patty formula, Spongebob is a model for the food industry, and is an icon to which all servers and cooks can relate.
Training
The first days of training in a restaurant are always painful. There are menu items to memorize and protocol to learn. Never fear, though, training trackers are there to help you become the best employees you can be.
Separating work life and personal life
One of the first things you learn as a server is to leave your personal life at the door, because the moment you introduce yourself to your first table, you’re not “Sarah the college student with a dream of owning six dogs,” you’re “Sarah who is going to smile and nod and laugh at all the terrible jokes you can spew out over the next half hour.”
Dealing with customers
Customers in a restaurant are far more dangerous than customers in other establishments because not only are they often angry, but they're also hungry. A hangry mob is not something I would wish upon anyone.
The inevitable mess-up
During the first few months of my food industry experience I broke over $100 worth of glass. When that first glass smashed to the floor it was like a waterfall of very expensive shards cascading to an inevitable demise. However, eventually you get over your clumsy phase and move on. Hopefully.
Tips
Dolla, dolla bills make the world go round. Tips pay the bills and buy the food and without them, servers would probably not put up with all the crap they get from customers every day.
When you finally fall into a rhythm
Getting through your first super successful shift is a great feeling. A feeling made even better when you go in to pick up your tips the next day. At some point, a switch just turns on in your brain and you morph from the forgetful klutz into the semi-responsible leader.
The restaurant business is sink or swim. Spongebob is a swimmer, and so are the thousands of restaurant employees who fight like hell to get to the end of every shift.
