Waitressing is a funny thing, when you get to thinking about it. Shift after shift, a waitress walks up to and meets many different strangers, forms these mini-relationships, then says, “Have a great night” and will never see most of them again. With each new table, luckily, comes a new performance, and a fresh chance to charm her new friends – so when she just spilled rice in a lady’s hair and has to pick each, sticky piece out, she gets to go and start anew with another table. This is also another chance to mess up, so the confidence this new waitress may have just built up at the last table, can easily be taken away.
A waitress’s job really doesn’t have to be that complex, yet in that hour or so that that table is there, each can have an impact on each other’s lives. Different situations can make the waitress ponder life, morals, humanity, and definitely spark an interest to study human behavior, as we certainly are fascinating creatures.
Besides the rice in the hair lady, she hopes that she has helped these customers have a better night due to their dining experience, yet really has no idea what walk of life they are experiencing. She doesn’t know under what circumstances they have chosen to dine out on this particular night, or with these particular people. She doesn’t know that the lady with her friend has just come from a round of chemo, until the end of their short time together, when the lady asks for ‘to go’ boxes because she feels sick and needs to go home. She doesn’t know that the beaming man has just proposed to his girlfriend or that a tired father and daughter just need a quiet dinner because mom’s out of town and they don’t want to cook. She doesn’t know that this is the young lady’s first time out with friends since she had her baby, and this flirty woman may not be this man’s wife, though they sit close and he wears a ring.
An encounter with mean or rude people can leave a waitress feeling down on humanity or just plain angry, whether it be a horrible tip or old ladies stealing all of her pens (yes, there is still resentment there). Some tables can be completely awkward or painfully quiet, though one never knows – these diners may be going through a divorce or just attended a funeral. A table of businessmen, who clearly don’t want to acknowledge her, can make a waitress analyze their day-to-day life mentalities, and ponder what kind of person she herself wants to be.
The majority of customers, however, are pleasant and interesting. There are certainly very nice people out there - those who leave 40 percent as a reward for that connection made, or the solo diners who just want to chat. There’s the lady who forgives the waitress for putting rice in her hair or the diners who compliment her curly red hair. There are the young, nervous teens on their first date, and the elderly couple who don’t need to converse, since they know each other better than the back of their hand. There’s the patient, yet literal little girl who starts counting the seconds, after being told her pizza will be out in two minutes. There are people who are interested to learn and try new things, and who make waitressing a lot more fun. These customers seem to brighten the air with their warm smiles and leave a lasting and refreshing impression of kindness.
All of these observations are true of life outside the restaurant. People encounter human interaction daily and a lot of influence can ride on one small gesture. So please, do not be too quick to pass judgment - we are all human and deserve the benefit of the doubt. Take the time to smile and slow down to notice the people around you, and think for a moment about them. Open doors for others. Smile. Make eye contact. Wish them a great night, though you may never see them again. You never know how the affect you are making.
