Although I will never miss a plethora of annoyances about the hospitality industry (note the top ten things I wrote about in my last post), leaving it for good was still extremely tough.
I equate it to any love/hate relationship. Imagine a fine dining restaurant at night: the beautiful surroundings, the twinkle of the dim lights, the women who dine in their stunning dresses and fashionable heels, the luscious cocktails, the smell of sautéed onions and garlic, the sound of the French Cab you just opened tableside and the beauty of pouring it into a big polished wine glass… Mmm, red wine… It’s quite romantic really. But the allure and the romance can quickly be stripped from you when you’re so slammed you can’t even think straight. The weight of it all can absolutely crush you and frustrate you to the ends of the Earth. Sometimes it can feel like the stress rips your heart right out from your chest so quickly that you practically lose your breath. Seriously, that can happen. But it’s those complexities, the dualities and the mystery of it all, which make this industry so intriguing and keeps its hard working employees begging for more.
Just describing it right now makes me miss it a little bit… Is that weird?
Let me relate it in a different way. Think about a particular movie you’ve had mixed emotions about. You swore you hated it at first, but then you couldn’t stop thinking about it. Perhaps it made you ponder life and death, which kind of freaked you out. But then later you thought it was great because you were challenged to think so deeply. At some point the movie made you angry, but then later you felt strangely satisfied. Then at another point in the movie, you felt like a huge weight had lifted off of your shoulders but you weren’t sure why. But after all of that, for some reason you still thought you hated the movie. Finally, it took a friend to point out how obsessed you’d become over it, even though you kept admitting you hated it.
Confused?
Exactly. It’s kind of like that.
I can’t even count how many times during my tenure I’ve thought, "I can’t take this anymore! I’m done! I quit!" These are the times I’ve suffered through horrifically stressful shifts dealing with people who felt like direct decedents of the devil himself on top of chaotic madness. These are the shifts when I'd think, “Why haven't I quit this industry yet?”
Let me explain … Imagine this...
One table keeps sending back a meal over and over again because the sauce is “too thick” while the kids at the table next to them are screaming and their parents are demanding their food ASAP. Then you look over at the martinis you ordered ten minutes ago and you notice the ice chips in them have already melted away frustrating the hell out of you because the guests specifically asked for their martinis “extra chilled with extra ice chips." Oh yes, and let’s not forget I’m probably down a busser and no one has seen a manager in 20 minutes. And then, of course, the host informs me, “I just sat you two more tables. Are you okay?”
That kind of stress.
I must have been crazy to work in an environment like that, right? Maybe all of us industry people are a little crazy. I feel like that’s a pretty accurate statement actually. Think about anyone you know who’s been in the industry over five years. Am I right? All crazy.
Here’s the thing... when you actually got through hell on earth shift and you realized you handled it, not only did time fly by, but you felt great about yourself because you conquered it all like a champ. It made you feel great inside. And after venting with co-workers over the phone (or over a couple of cold pitchers - the preferred method in the industry) you could actually let the day go. And yes, after a solid night of sleep, I could wake up and be excited to do it all over again. As crazy as that sounds.
It’s like I’d survived a near death experience and felt like God had given me another chance at life. So I’d rejoice my innate hospitality survival skills, praise God for getting me through another shift and put those ugly non-slip shoes on again and - yes, somehow - be excited to potentially plunge into another deathtrap.
It’s like I’d survived a near death experience and felt like God had given me another chance at life. So I’d rejoice my innate hospitality survival skills, praise God for getting me through another shift and put those ugly non-slip shoes on again and - yes, somehow - be excited to potentially plunge into another deathtrap.
Did I just get too deep for a restaurant industry blog? Haha! Maybe you don’t like thinking about life and death synonymous with restaurant life. Or perhaps you'll be thanking me later because that's the deepest thing you've thought about today.
Confused? Your welcome. ~ HK ~
