What's At Steak

Do you ever have the feeling that you're just over it?


That's how I feel about my job lately. I'm just over it.

Maybe it's a six year burnout.

I just find myself wishing more and more that I had a job where I got weekends and holidays, treated with consistent respect from patrons, and where verbal tips didn't hurt my income.

There's really nothing in the world quite like serving tables. You have to take whatever people want to dish out with a smile on your face and an "absolutely, whatever you need" attitude. I love asking a table if they need anything or how everything is tasting and no one bothers to stop their conversation and acknowledge my presence. I love telling a table that I will be right back with another diet coke, only to have them say "I need another drink" when I ask if I can grab anything else too.

Good times.

There are good tables too, the ones who are patient and polite and remind me that I can deal with the public for at least one more day. There are even still people who actually reward you for getting all the extra sauces, for getting kids food out first, for keeping up on their drinks when they're slurping them down like there's no tomorrow. And by reward I mean an actual monetary reward, not a "you did such a great job, here's 8-10 percent."

**FYI: verbal tips are kind of insulting. You don't tell your power company "thanks so much for making sure that when I flip a switch, light floods my house," and then assume you don't have to compensate them for their service.**

Anyways, the whole point of this was to put in actual writing the game plan for moving beyond the restaurant business.

I should have my Associate Degree from Weber State University by the end of spring semester 2011. I plan to take the summer off. Then I hope to be at Utah Valley University in fall 2011 with a declared major of aviation administration, possibly with an English minor but that's not totally solid.

I hope by actually writing it down and somewhat publishing it, it will help keep me motivated.

Of course, if tables keep being as lousy as they've been since I got back from vacation, the motivation to get out of the restaurant business shouldn't be too difficult to find.

-- blogged from my iPhone --