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2003-07-26 - 5:47 a.m.
I have something I�ve been feeling guilty about lately. You see, my job is one which is fast paced. We ALWAYS have customers and usually we are running our asses off. So it is imperative to keep things running smoothly, with no glitches in the system. It totally messes up the pace when you reach in the brown sugar container, for instance, for brown sugar and find none. There are only a few of us that pull our weight and keep things full, stocked, easily accessible. When I come into the waiter�s aisle I do many things. I don�t just come back there and turn my order in and then stand there and talk. If I chose to talk I will work while talking. I will make extra coffee filters, fill butters, sugars what have you. I rarely �travel empty� (which in waitress speak means that no trip anywhere is wasted even that means I am only taking one dirty plate with me). Then there are the waitresses who will stock stuff, but only when we are really slow, when it is not needed. But when we get busy they are useless. And then there are the waitresses who I have never even seen change a coffee filter. There are the waitresses who can�t handle their section when they get busy and I (or someone else) always bail them out. And here is where the problem lies; my boss doesn�t see any of the going on�s in the back. He only sees the end result. Let�s use Mary (fake name) as an example. Mary comes to work and eats breakfast first thing. Then she chats a little, drinks some coffee. Meanwhile, the other waitresses (those that are useful) and I are prepping the entire waiter�s aisle for the rush. The rush comes and Mary uses everything we have just stocked not to mention Mary can�t handle her section and instead of asking one of us to pick up a table for her, has us running all over the place getting drinks for her tables, running orders to tables and following behind her re stocking everything she has just used. But see�Mary�s section isn�t any more difficult than my section, in fact, I am always in the busiest sections because I have been there a long time and am very efficient. So, I have a harder section but somehow I am ending up carrying Mary�s weight and my own. And my boss hasn�t seen any of what happened. He didn�t see that out of Mary�s whole section she only waited entirely on one of her tables. He doesn�t see that Mary does NOTHING in the waiter�s aisle. He only sees happy customers and that�s all that matters so he thinks Mary is a good waitress and the next week gives her an even more difficult section. So a while ago I made the proclamation that I will no longer help anyone that doesn�t carry their weight. And I�ve stuck to it. If you aren�t helping make the day go smoothly, if you can�t handle your section (and I�m talking about can�t handle your section on a normal day, I understand there are days that are busier than others and days that are more chaotic than others and I will help when the situation arises) I am not lifting a finger to help you. But here�s why I feel guilty. Because yesterday, through a fluke, one of those waitresses that can�t handle things and doesn�t do anything to make the day go smoothly ended up in one of the more difficult sections. And my thinking was�I�m not going to make it easy for her. I didn�t pull one of her orders, I didn�t lift a finger to help her. In some ways I wanted her to see that being in that section is hard so she will understand that when she orders someone to get a drink order for her table that they have an even busier section going on. In some ways I wanted her to see the importance of keeping things stocked. But mostly I just wanted her to suffer. I wanted her to feel like she had been through hell and I wanted my boss to see that she isn�t the waitress he thought she was. And that�s why I feel guilty. So today I am going to help everyone, not just the people I feel are worthy of help. Because I have become petty and vain. And I don�t like it. |
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