When you first start working in the restaurant world, everything can seem daunting and scary because of the unfamiliarity. After time, you may get used to your role in the restaurant, but the parts you do not work in can continue being foreign. If you work in the front of the house, chances are you know very little about the kitchen and back of the house, and vice versa.
I got one of my first real jobs as a hostess at a local restaurant when I was about to turn seventeen years old, and more than two years later I still work there and can say that this experience has shaped me into the person I am today. I began as a quiet hostess who never knew anything about the restaurant world, sticking to my little table in the corner and only leaving it when I must.
One day, I was trusted enough to begin training a new hostess. Not long after that, I was told that my superiors at the restaurant wanted me to start training to work in the take out section of our restaurant.
Going from greeting customers and showing them to their seats to handling phone orders, bagging food, sending out deliveries, and cashing out pick up orders was a big change. In my opinion, required a lot more responsibility and maturity. I was thrilled to be learning a new aspect of the restaurant I worked at, but, little did I know, that was only the start of expanding my knowledge within the restaurant.
A few months into working as a cashier in take out, I remember a few times when the dining room of the restaurant was busier than usual, but take out was slow. Because two of us work in take out at the same time, and because an employee in the restaurant had gone home sick, I was asked if I could help out and fill in the positions in the dining room and kitchen even though I had never done them before.
Through those two experiences, I learned how to buss tables as well as how to food run (bring the food from the kitchen to the customers when things get busy so the wait staff does not have to). I thought they were isolated instances, but lately I am being utilized more and more for the knowledge I learned simply by helping out those two times that it was busy.
Since I have a background in both take out and the dining aspect of the restaurant, I am able to help out in almost every position needed. I can now be scheduled for cashier, hostess, busser, and food runner without hesitation. Two years ago, when I began as a hostess, I never imagined the knowledge and confidence I would gain from working in a restaurant.
This versatility is something I pride myself on, and it has taught me to be confident in whatever role I am thrown into and shown me that I can always find a way to get the job done. Since learning this, I have been more apt to try new things, and for that I can thank a job I got when I was not even seventeen years old.
