In high school, I was a hostess at The Melting Pot, while currently, I work as a hostess at Walk On's Bistreaux & Bar. My experience working at The Melting Pot, a fancy, upper-scale fondue restaurant has been extremely different than my experience working at a casual, crowded sports bar, Walk On's. One thing that both of these jobs have taught me is that you can learn a lot by working in a restaurant.
I have always been a people person, hence my major, Public Relations. In a lot of restaurants, everyone starts off as a host and you work your way up to a serving position, but for me, I always wanted to remain a hostess. A server does not get to interact with every customer, they have a maximum of 3 or four tables at a time.
What I love about hostessing is that it gives me the opportunity to see and talk to every single person that enters the restaurant, which has definitely improved my communication skills. Having to talk to all different types of people has also boosted my confidence; the more people I interact with, the more comfortable I feel.
Unfortunately, face-to-face communication is a skill that not many people have these days because we live in such a technology-savvy society. People would rather converse using cellphones because they believe it's simpler and far more convenient. Working in a restaurant has shown me that the customer is certainly not always right, but we have to treat them as if they are always right.
Customers might not treat restaurant employees with respect, but we are expected to always treat them with respect. There have been many situations where I just force myself to put a smile on my face and apologize to customers, even when it is not my fault.
This fake smile has proven to be necessary to use in a lot of aspects of life. It relates to life because you are going to be in situations that you do not like or around people that you do not like, but we have to try to make the best out of every situation. Slap a smile on our face and have a positive attitude and bad things will all of a sudden turn into good things.
