Working is something that is required in my family. My parents believe that by the age of 18 years old you should be able to put in $1,500 in your first car and be able to pay for gas. While talking to my friends that work at restaurants, they had told me hundreds of stories about rude people they served and how frustrating it is to not get tipped. You would think that would deter me from applying for a job at a restaurant, but it didn’t. After applying to Red Lobster, about a week later I got the job, and after about 3 weeks of working there I had stories of my own to tell but there was one day that changed my life forever.
I woke up one day later than I wanted because I had work, so I was rushing to get ready and when I was finally ready to leave, I went outside and found my car had 2 flat tires. I decided to call an Uber and deal with the flat tire after work so when I finally got to work, I was 15 minutes late, which my manager didn’t like. I tried to explain what happened, but she didn’t care and wrote me up, which I didn’t think was a big deal. When I was serving there was this mean group of people that were calling me over every 5 minutes just because and when their food came, they all ended up complaining about what they ordered and wanted something completely new which the manager allowed. After giving them a check, I left for a few minutes and came back to the table to give them their cards back and as they were leaving, they told me this “I don’t pay taxes for your welfare for this terrible service.”
I was shocked when I heard that and when I looked on the table they didn’t tip me either. After that day I told myself that I would quit after a week. On my last day I served a family that were similar to the other people I served as in they would ask for something every 5 minutes and when it came to the end of their dinner I went to the table to give them their bill. I walked up to the table they were whispering and quickly stopped when they saw me. As I left the table they quickly paid and left the restaurant.
I went back to the table to see if they tipped I saw a 50 dollar bill and a note that said “ Thank you for all your help.” That made my day and encouraged me to keep going with the job. This impacted me because it taught me that not everyone is the same and I should judge people on their actions and not my preconceived notions of them.
By Kendrick Crawford
