I would say I was extremely lucky as a kid. My mom stayed at home and my dad worked. Everyone was involved in almost everything I did. My dad coached my sports teams and my mom helped with school activities, and I never realized how lucky I was to have such a classic white picket fence American family. Then, at the end of my junior year of high school, my loving parents made me get a job. So I applied to one of my favorite restaurants, and worked there for the summer before my senior year. I learned so much. I have worked a couple of other jobs since, but the first job taught me the most.
I learned that success does not look the same for everyone. I knew this going in to my first job, but I didn’t fully grasp it until I started working. I learned that something that seemed small to me could be a huge success for someone else. For some, working as a waiter meant they could learn extra money while going to college. For others, working in a restaurant meant they had managed to get out of bed and into the real world for the day—which was a huge success in their eyes. And for others, bartending was all they needed to stay content. Just because you have a "set path" and a predetermined way of believing how life after high school should go does not mean that that’s how everyone views life. People are different. Be respectful of people’s ideas and dreams. Success is different for everyone.
Customers are awful and that’s life. Customer service is one of the hardest things to maintain at a high standard, but its going to be needed the rest of your life. Learning how to deal with bitter customers, whether it be on the phone, at a table, or as soon as they walked through the door, helped me create a cam exterior. I worked (in a sports restaurant) when the Pittsburgh Penguins were in the playoffs. The phone was off the hook, the wait was out the door, I had to help with to-go orders, keep the front lobby organized, keep the seating chart in order and work with the bartender to make sure everything was going smoothly. I learned more about dealing with people, whether it be coworkers or customers, during those playoff games at the restaurant than I have in any of my work experience. Being able to communicate effectively and assertively to someone who is extremely angry is a life lesson, and because I learned how to stay calm, I’ve been able to transfer that skill to different aspects of my life. Speaking in class became easier, working with a team became simpler, and being confident always happens.
Within each restaurant is its own little family. Having to work together with so many different personalities tests your emotional endurance, much like a family does. You learn the quirks each worker has, and you fall into a routine with mostly everyone. At the restaurant, you have a support system, and those you don’t have a real family are able to join their work family.
I know I say this in almost every article I write, but its true—I wouldn’t be who I am today if I had not worked in that restaurant. Without those learning experiences, without those relationships, I wouldn’t understand how I best operate under stress, and that I was so much more capable than I thought.
Working in a restaurant helped me appreciate the things I had in my personal life, as well as change my perspective on the lives of so many others.
