Waitressing

I've worked part time as a waitress for over three years. When people find out this has been at the same restaurant they often show surprise and sometimes shock. Then they find out I only get paid once a month by cheque as this is how they pay wages and the conversation usually turns into something like a 20 Questions game.

Is the pay good? How can you survive (if don't get paid every week)? Why are you still working there? Is it busy/is there lots to do? Why don't you get a better job? A job that pays better and more frequently? Why are you STILL working there? Do you get free food? Do you get discounts if you eat there? YOU WORK THERE AND YOU EAT THERE? Are you there like EVERY day of the week? Oh you only work there once or twice a week? If so, why bother, it's not like you get paid a lot. And so on.

And I just think, "eh wtf?". A job is a job guys. If I've been there for so many years, you'd think I'd like it to some degree. I probably wouldn't be working there if the restaurant didn't generate enough profit. So that's probably the most logical answer to why I'm still working there. As for the other questions... no, I don't get paid megabucks, I'm a waitress, not a high class escort. Everyone knows waitresses probably get paid around minimum wage. Unless you work in one of those high class five star restaurants, then I have no idea. I still work there because I don't see a reason to leave yet. I'm still a student, I still need a somewhat flexible part time job. This job is as good as any other job. Jobs don't just fall into my lap, when anyone first goes into the workforce, there aren't a lot of options to go into because there's a lack of experience. Retail and hospitality are probably the ones to start from.

But it's true. Why should I stay in my current job at this restaurant when I clearly have experience and could probably get a job at another restaurant that pays more? The answer is simple really. You don't keep a job for over three years and not create/build a relationship with staff and customers. If I left, it'd probably sever a few relationships there. Especially with the customers. I never see them anywhere else. I only ever see them when they decide to come for dinner and I just happen to be working that night. Regular customers aren't just another customer. Their faces have a permanent residence in my memory, along with their face, I know their names, their jobs, their partners, their favourite dishes and drinks and preferences. These are people of slight importance to me. When I haven't seen someone for a few months, I start wondering where they've gone to. If they are still in Auckland, have they moved, did something happen?

Then there are those who started coming to the restaurant with their partners. Newly weds/near to be wed couples. I see their relationship grow (and sometimes breakdown). I see when regular customers change partners and I wonder what how their ex is doing. Then I see when couples get pregnant or when they get a baby. I've seen a few babies grow up. Back before they were born, when they were still in prams, when they start talking, start walking, start eating solids, start eat restaurant foods... it's like watching a timeline of someone's life and I know what their favourite ice cream flavour is at age three. These are the people I've come to know and will probably never see or hear from them again once I leave this job.

Just last night, a elderly regular couple came in. The wife told me all about how her silly husband rolled his ankle and he is still going to play golf today. She told me how she bargained with him. He can have the last prawn which he so loves as long as she can get her calamari for lunch on Sunday.


It is hard getting paid once a month. By cheque to top it off but it's a matter of perspective. Regardless of whether I get paid weekly or monthly, I still will get paid the same amount since the amount of hours don't just magically change. However, sometimes it feels like being paid like this makes it easier to save money and budget. So I prefer it this way. I had a job that paid weekly and I was spending nearly as much as was coming in. But being paid in bulk, you sort of adopt this ration personality and sometimes end up saving a couple hundred dollars a month.

The issue surrounding tips kind of suck though. In New Zealand, it is not customary to tip. Sometimes we get customers who pay by cash and they give us the change (coins which usually add up to under $5). Most people pay by Eftpos (debit cards) or by credit cards so there's no loose change to hand back. On the counter, there's this clear class container in which customers can dump their unwanted loose change in. That becomes the tips that will be eventually filtered to all staff in ways such as staff events/dinners. That being said, I have had customers who have personally come up to me and handed me money, specifically saying it's for me. This isn't like loose change. These are notes: $5, $10, $20 and once on a very rare occasion, $50. I am grateful they feel enough to give so much, but it does pain my heart when I put it in the tip jar. LOL. Although these customers usually stress that it's for me to put into my pocket and not to share around all staff, it is still company policy. If I didn't care at all about it, I'd just take it. I know a lot of other staff don't get this chance at all. No one has heard of $50 tip. Rarely do they even see $10. It's funny though, customers who go out of their way to tip in whole notes usually catch me off guard. They've paid their bill, why are they still shoving money into my face? Sometimes I stare blankly and blink stupidly. Other times they save me the humiliation of responding by saying something like "and this ten is for you, darling" and walk off.

Lastly, I thought it's pretty obvious why I eat where I work. The food is om nom nom worthy, that's why. Duh! I'm not about to go to another restaurant that's probably going to sell similar dishes when I know very well most of the food comes from the same supplier.


So that's why I am still working at the same restaurant and since the food is nice and at a fair price, I go there for dinner when I'm not working.