Tyus Jacobs
Professor Brannan
English 106
March 12, 2013 The Hardships of Restaurant Work Weather it be Expediting food or serving tables, wouldn't it be nice if your job was easy? How about being able to satisfy all of your customers, that would be extremely helpful. Unfortunately this is not the case, we all have to sacrifice in order to get through the work day. With all the ruckus goes on in a restaurant, employees must keep focus on their job to do it well. Workers should try to keep personal problems from affecting them during shift hours. To make the job easier an employee must know how to communicate with people; while having knowledge of the food, but at the same time being able to multitask. A lot of people today do not have good people skills, and need to work on it. Although Expediters do not deal with customers face to face, but there is always chance to make customers unhappy. If a worker is in this situation, they must keep calm and listen to what the customer has to say. Usually workers only half listen because of their frustration towards the guest. But one should listen to the customer’s needs and perspective to better understand the problem. In the process workers should try to meet all of the guests needs, and do not let emotions get in the way. It is never out of style to have courtesy towards people who might be ruining your day. One should try to be professional and be the better person. Other than having good people skills workers also need to have knowledge of the food menu. It is often embarrassing if a guest asks a worker what the dish calamari contains, and the worker is not able to answer the question. As Expo you must know all the dishes very thoroughly so you can send out the right dishes to guests. This is especially important to know when a guest announces a food allergy they have. For example If you have a guest say they are allergic to MSG, an Expo must know what dishes contain that and prevent a server from taking it out. If that same guest were to order nachos, and the Expo sent it out unaware that it contained MSG, a guest could have a really bad day. But the part of the job that is probably most important is being able to multitask. There are many workers who are not able to do this. A worker might be clearing tables, and get a request form guests on refills of their drinks. If a worker does not have good multitasking skills they might come back without the refills for the guests. As Expo its is difficult to do all your tasks, especially during rush hours and weekends. Part of this is because as Expo you must supply the cooks with items they need. This could be for example dishes, to-go boxes, and hot water. Not only do Expos have to make sure the food goes out to guest, but since they are what connects the kitchen and the servers, they have to take care the cooks as well. As a restaurant worker there are many thing that can go wrong. Like forgetting the food menu, getting to overwhelmed, and not knowing how to deal with the guest. But considering the difficulties it can also be a really fun place to work. Weather you are socializing with interesting customers, or your co-workers, at times it can be enjoyable. Another nice thing about working in a restaurant is the skills you can acquire. This might be people skills, cooking, and even marketing skills. In some cases if you do well enough there is even an opportunity to apply for a management position. With all the hardships that can happen in a restaurant, if you practice these steps you are bound to be successful.