It has recently come to my attention that in my 10+ years (yes I am aware that this is pathetic) in the service industry that I have come accross some incredible people, mostly women : ) I met ALL of my best friends in Columbia in the restaurant I worked in, Longhorn Steakhouse. All of these women have since gone on from the service industry, one is married with three step children and just gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. One is currently enrolled to begin school in the fall, and plans on maintaining her full time job in the meantime. Another one has had a successful career in the banking industry, and is truly to blast to be around. In yet another restaurant/bar I have met another joy, Ms. Jordan Bullington, who if you know her I do not need to elaborate.
These are only the people who are closest to me, but I could go on and on about these fabulous women, but I want to dig further into their, and other's experiences. I have encountered women who have been beat by their significant others, I have experienced several friends/ fellow co-workers who encountered the unexpected pregnancies and had to make some life changing decisions, I myself included in this group. I have stood by my friends as they have gotten married, and I have helped friends through gut wrenching breakups, and the not serious breakups.
For those of you who have been in the service industry or still are in the service industry you know that key is "service with a smile." This proves to be difficult when you have just peed on a stick that turned pink, or when you are in the middle of planning your way out. Example: On one Friday morning close to Halloween 2009 I had already made the decision to leave my marriage and was in the final week before moving out. I hadn't told very many people, I didn't want people asking about it and quite frankly I didn't want to hear people's opinion on the matter. In the midst of cashing people out the computers crashed and I had no way to ring people out or to ring in what they were ordering. People were yelling at me telling me their orders, getting frustrated because they couldn't get their tabs, and in the middle of all of this my relief, the nightime bartender, came out and said "What's the matter Grace, you in the weeds?" That was enough for me to lose it, I burst into tears and ran outside. To most people it appeared as though it was just that, I was in the weeds and couldn't handle the computers going down, leading me to be a typical female and cry. Every since this day (which was a year and a half ago) I still get the "Hold on, don't give her too hard of a time, you know she'll cry."
I am telling this story because recently I have encountered a wonderful lady who seems to have a problem with a boyfriend who can't control his anger. He lashes out, calls her names, and he hits her. What amazes me the most about this lady is that despite the bruises on her arms you'd never know it. She's always smiling and laughing, and let me tell you her laugh in infectious. Just last night we had help her leave this boyfriend, and beleive me when I say it was a good thing I wasn't the one to pick her up from his house. This girl continues on with her work as though nothing has happened, nothing phases her.
The point I am trying to make here is that yes I know, to most of you who haven't worked in the service industry it's an easy job. But it's easy for us to forget that the people who we see everyday in the bar we frequent have lives that go on outside of this bar. So keep your smart ass comments to yourselves, because you never know what your server is currently going through: may it be a divorce, a pregnancy, a period, or heaven forbid we just have a bad day!! Thanks for your consideration.
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