- You've got to get to and greet a table within 30 seconds of them being sat. You give them a sort of mandated greet and ask them where they'd "like to start," not "what they'd like to drink," so that they have the option to order everything all at once if they so wish.
- Go straight to the computer, punch in any drinks and appetizers, and be back with their drinks in two minutes. If you punch in appetizers and burgers at the same time, sometimes the burgers come out first, so wait until the appetizer's on the table to punch in the burgers.
- Any time you set any food down, you have to make yourself scarce until they take a bite, and then come right back and ask them if everything's tasting great.
- When the first person finishes the last bite of their burger or entree (ignore the fries, unless they're low, at which point you offer a refill, because they're "bottomless"), you have to set down the dessert card, with the check in it. Assure them you're not trying to rush them, but you're just trying to make things as convenient as possible for them. When they've got the payment down, get it processed and back to them in two minutes or less. On average, a lunch is 37 minutes long and a dinner is 42 minutes long.
...Okay, now that I write it all out like that it doesn't seem bad, but it's tricky doing it for several tables concurrently, when each of them are on a different phase of their meal. Throughout the day you've got to roll silverware into napkins, fold wax papers in which the hamburgers get wrapped, and do your assigned side work and beautification for the day-- manage the salad bar and polish the brass rails in your section, for instance. Restock the main line's boxes, plastic containers and condiments and wipe down some windows. It's somehow tied to the section you work but I haven't figured it out yet. You're also supposed to (nobody faults me for not doing this yet) run food out to others' tables as it comes up and they're preoccupied, and refill others' tables' drinks, and take their dirty baskets and dishes.
Matthew's responsible for my being hired here, and since there are several Matts he somehow convinced everyone to refer to him as Batman-- even the managers call him Batman on the schedule and the daily task sheets. It didn't take long for people to jump to the conclusion that with my name, my red shirt, the restaurant's name, and the fact that I'm there thanks to Batman's recommendation, that makes me Robin.
The people I worked with are stunningly enjoyable, though. I'd been put into this mindset of coworkers as vessels of contempt and waitstaff as bitter servants of the world that I wasn't ready for such a warm reception. I was acutely nervous, it being my first time serving and the place being a dynamo. I literally (literally!) had nightmares about my no-mentor-to-ask-questions "final exam": in it, I got in trouble for not calling guests "old badgers" because badgers had been surveyed as America's favorite animal and the one people identified with the most. What the hell, subconscious.
In my head, the scenario played out something like this: the two other girls in my training class have both served before (Ruby Tuesday and Red Lobster, and I note that they both come from a restaurant with a "Red" word in the title to ANOTHER restaurant with Red in the title), so they're already awesome at what they do. They zip around the restaurant with an inherent knowledge of how this sort of thing works while I'm stuck asking a million questions, making everyone furious with my incompetence. I wouldn't last a week.
In actuality? The two other girls in my training class both failed the live-ammunition final exam and have to retest on Tuesday. I passed just fine. Go figure.
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