Check Please

Look, I get it.  There are some days that are just hard to get through: forced smiles, half-assed appearance and long-winded sighs are all tell-tale signs.  I have been there too.  Trust me. There have been days where I truly hated being at work.  I have been in the midst of a personal life crisis on more than one occasion and have literally broke down sobbing while serving random strangers their dinner.  It was not cute.

Hospitality can be tricky business.  You have to remember that generally speaking, people are out to have a good time.  Therefore, it is our job as servers, bartenders, greeters etc. to do the best we can to ensure that you in fact, have a good time.  We set aside our feelings, life circumstances, even our aches and pains to promote an overall sense of a good time. 

This concept of hospitality is one that I am acutely aware of.  I suppose that I have worked in restaurants long enough to have tested the theory that guest satisfaction trumps everything.  A place can have great food and a cool ambiance but still fail.  Great service is typically a hallmark for a venues' continued success.  

It always amazes me how often I experience truly poor service.  You would think that as someone who works in a restaurant, I would somehow have the in with my fellow industry peeps.  Sadly, this is not often the case.  

In fact, it is a sad fact that I encounter truly bad service almost every time I go out.   And I wonder, is it me? Am I just more aware of the timelines, negative attitudes and dirty silverware because I work in a restaurant?  If anything, I would argue that I am more understanding than the next guest because of that commonality.  It's not like I want to pick apart a place when I have the night off to relax and enjoy myself.  When I am off duty, I am OFF.  

If you are having a bad day or even a bad year, I completely understand.  I honestly do.  But if you can't so much as make eye contact, fain a smile, or have even the slightest sense of urgency then I urge you to find another job.  A bill collector for example would be a great option for the less than cheerful! You could hide in your cubicle somewhere all day long and never once have to smile as you urge people to get off their asses.  

Or you could write parking tickets, work in a government agency, a dental office, a middle school or an airport .  All of these jobs suck!  Surely your misery would be tolerated and in good company there.  

All I am trying to say here is this: if you can't be polite to people even on the most surface level, then please, do us all a favor and don't work in hospitality.  In an environment where your paycheck is the guests' check, I suggest that you please Check Yourself! 

If I begin to take out all my frustrations with my job,  my non-existent love life, my financial worries and bad hair days on my guests at the bar, I will know that the time has come to get out of hospitality.  

Because people don't sit at the bar to listen to my sad stories, they come to tell me theirs.  

Friends in the service industry: before you drop that check, please check yourself!  If you can't suck it up anymore, I understand completely.  But please, don't take it out on your guests (including me).  

Today:

Attitude Adjustment #2 Cocktail

1/2 oz Vodka

1/2 oz Gin

1/2 oz Amaretto

1/2 oz Triple Sec

1/2 oz Peach Schnapps 

Splash of sour Mix

Splash of Cranberry