Don’t get me wrong, the idea of it is amazing and people who really believe in it are some of the best I’ve ever met, it’s just the people that take advantage of hospitality that concern me.
I love to make people happy. Period. Since I can remember that’s been the driving force in my life--making people smile and avoiding making them frown. So obviously I fit right in at the School of Hotel Administration where I got to meet a bunch of other wonderful people who felt the same way and understood what service really means. I mean hell we’d take care of each other in that way, be it the friend who secretly takes care of the brunch check before anyone else gets a chance to offer or the ones who never hesitate to offer you a glass of wine while you’re studying. I loved going the extra mile for my friends because a) I knew they appreciated it and b) I knew they’d reciprocate at some point. We spent 4 years in that bubble getting accustomed to the idea that what we do and the little bits of hospitality we put into everything actually make a difference and actually make people happy.
My god were we mistaken.
You see, as it turns out, most of the general population just isn’t happy. Maybe it’s their jobs, or their marriages, or their kids, or something else that makes them walk around constantly annoyed. But that’s not the worst part. The worst part is that they don’t want to be happy. They don’t go out to eat to cheer themselves up and enjoy each other’s company and the best of what life has to offer. They go out to eat so that for an hour or so there are people serving them which, in their minds, creates a little world where they’re the supreme ruler and we’re the help. They go out to eat to find someone on which to take out their anger. They go out to eat to pay someone else to deal with their shit, whether they want to or not.
(And trust me, we don’t, or we would have studied psych instead.)
Of course I want to make you feel like a king or queen when you’re in my restaurant. I want you to have the best experience possible, I want you to walk out with the memory of a fantastic evening that you’ll carry for years. But why should that have to be at my expense? Why do you think that makes it okay for you to treat me like a servant, make me miserable, and leave me to finish up the night then walk out to my car close to tears?
I got into this for the right reasons. I just want to make people smile. But I’m quickly learning that hospitality may not actually be the place for that. Of course there are exceptions--I have some wonderful regulars that have never been anything but kind and patient and absolute delights to serve and I do whatever I can to show them I appreciate that. But it seems like more often than not, my job is about apologizing, managing angry guests, fixing problems and trying to compensate for shortcomings. Rather than making people happy, it feels more like I’m just trying to not upset anyone further. And that kind of position just wears on you, you know? I know this is the path I chose so I’m not asking for much, just the same kind of respect you show your hairdresser, or mechanic, or basically any other service industry besides food.
It’s times like this when I wish I could blink my eyes and be back in the Statler lounge eating a salad with my friends and working on some project while gossiping or sharing memes or funny videos. Things made sense there.
So please, fellow tumblrers, don’t mistreat your waitstaff. Don’t swear at your bartenders. Don’t ask to see the manager to complain about a minor problem that you know they have no control over. If I had it my way, people wouldn’t even be able to enter a restaurant without a pay stub confirming they worked in foodservice for at least a week so they understand it all a little better. But regardless, it all always boils down to the golden rule. And no, you’re not exempt from it just because your mom told you you’re a special snowflake. Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you, and for goodness’ sake stop biting the hand that quite literally feeds you.
Spiral Galaxy NGC 1232 - The central region contains older stars of a reddish color, while the spiral arms are populated by young, blue stars and star-forming regions.
M106: A Spiral Galaxy with a Strange Center : Whats happening at the center of spiral galaxy M106? A swirling disk of stars and gas, M106s appearance is dominated by blue spiral arms and red dust lanes near the nucleus, as shown in the featured image. The core of M106 glows brightly in radio waves and X-rays where twin jets have been found running the length of the galaxy. An unusual central glow makes M106 one of the closest examples of the Seyfert class of galaxies, where vast amounts of glowing gas are thought to be falling into a central massive black hole. M106, also designated NGC 4258, is a relatively close 23.5 million light years away, spans 60 thousand light years across, and can be seen with a small telescope towards the constellation of the Hunting Dogs . via NASA
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