Summer is gone, and it ended well. The beginning and middle were quite tumultuous. That was mainly because I found myself very involved with "The Man". Who is The Man? The Man is any part of corporate North America that seems bent on screwing you over. That's exactly what The Man did to me. I got a job in a restaurant as a server, and it sucked. I won't go in to the specifics of the job because slander is illegal and I still feel a level of attachment to some of the individuals that are still involved with the man. Also, before I being I would like to say that I do not hold any specific individual in mind as The Man. The Man is the symbol of the sum of the whole.
And these are the top 6 ways that The Man screwed me.
6. The Eternal Wait - I had wanted to work at this restaurant for over a year now. It was always my favorite restaurant because of its location, food and environment. I originally applied to work there the year before and was shut down. However, a few good friends of mine started working there, and after hearing of a change of management, I decided to go in and apply again. I walked in, had an interview and had the manager tell me that because of my reference, I was in. It should only be a week or so until they call me.
However, a week went by and I heard nothing. I called them to see what was up and spoke to another manager. She had no idea about me and told me that I wasn't hired for sure yet. I had to wait a little while longer. To make a long story short (and believe me, it's long) I was eventually told by my friend who worked there, via Facebook, that I was hired and just had to wait until the end of the month of May to be trained. In the middle of the month, I received a phone call while I was away volunteering at a youth conference. Apparently, orientation was the next day at 9 a.m. Just happy to get into the system, I was willing to overlook the less-than-twenty-four-hours notification, leave my volunteer position and start working. But, I was encouraged that it was no problem, I should stick to my commitments and I would be beginning in just under a week anyways. Great.
A week later, I still hadn't heard from them. I called again and was told that I wasn't put on that list of trainees, they were full and I had to wait another three weeks. Being a college student that was depending on this job for money to pay tuition in the fall, I needed to get things going. The frustrating thing was that I turned down another for sure job and a second interview somewhere else to work at this restaurant, since it was my favorite. I tried going back to those other jobs, but no dice. After two weeks, I buckled and called The Man back. They were still willing to get me in the system, now that I had waited almost a whole month to be orientated. And I finally was. It was over a month between that first interview I had in the restaurant and when I got to show up for a shift. At least I was working now, right? Well...
5. The Snapshow Sending - What they didn't tell me in their extensive training process was that getting decent shifts was even more difficult than being able to start working. I left my schedule wide open, hoping that they would see just how eager I was to work as much as I possibly could, especially to make up for the time they stole from me. I got six shifts a week! The only problem was that I was lucky if I could work twenty hours in those six shifts.
For those of you who haven't served before, let me break it down to you how it works. A restaurant has a certain amount of servers starting at either lunch or dinner time. Aside from previously selected individuals who stay until closing, the servers are then sent home when business dies down.
There were a few problems with this set-up. First of all, it was the summer and the food that this restaurant specialized in was not very summer-friendly. Thus, it was slow. That was okay though - I could overlook that. Second, there was a bonus up for grabs for the manager that could minimize the total amount of money The Man had to pay for labor. Thus, servers were sent home as quickly as possible. A two-hour shift became a long day for some stretches. There were many days that I was not even allowed to start. I would drive for forty-five minutes to a job that I was willing to do, but was not allowed to do. For accounting purposes, I kept track of the money I was making - and looking over it, I still wonder why I hung on to this job for so long.
4. The Heartbreak Story - Eventually, I was fed up. There is nothing more frustrating than wanting to really lay your best effort down at a job and feeling like The Man won't let you. So, I flirted with another restaurant. I still wanted to hold on to my job with The Man though. I still liked the restaurant, and I had made a few solid friends during my tenure there. So, I sat down with the manager in charge of scheduling and had a heart-to-heart. I told him that I needed a certain amount of shifts where I could make money because I needed it for the Fall. I wanted a straight answer - just a yes or no. Instead, he started off on some tangent about how he has so many people to please and if he doesn't give the single mother enough shifts then she'll go broke...etc...etc...etc... He had a good point. But I knew that. I totally understood why it would be hard for a manger to give me more shifts. What bugged me was the way it was done. This conversation was the make-or-break point after months of frustration. I guess I was half-expecting an apology, or at least some sort of sympathy for my situation. Instead, I was told that my situation was less pressing than that of others. Even though it was true, I still don't think it was the right thing to do. Business is business, but when you need to leave someone out in the cold, at least give them a blanket.
3. The Lack of Confidence - Backing the story up a bit, I frequently tried to stay longer on my shifts to make some decent money. At one point, a co-worker was willing to let me stay for her all-afternoon shift. I would make some pretty good cash! The only thing that it depended on was the manager's approval. They didn't approve. I didn't have enough experience. I guess a year of serving experience isn't enough to qualify me to work on a mid-week afternoon in the middle of summer.
On top of that, I always wanted to close on my evening shifts. This meant that I would stay for the full night, and again, make good money. I wasn't allowed to do this, however, because I wasn't trained for it. I finally got trained for it, a week before I decided to pull the plug on the job. Closing involved wiping down a few counters and cleaning the heads of the pop machine. Obviously, this was something that I needed special training for.
2. The Hippocratic Denial - Towards the end of my initial training, one of the manager's took the group of new recuits aside and gave us some tips. He looked right at me as he said "Don't think you know everything just because you've served before!" I was tempted to take it personally, but reminded myself that he was speaking to the whole group.
The next day, I was speaking to that same manager and the general manager. The general manager turned to the other and asked him if he had spoken about what she had wanted him to. He said yes (other than what was recounted in the above paragraph, he hadn't). I quizzed as to what this was about - apparently, they thought I was too confident. One of my trainers said I was looking around too much during training. The other thing was that I was walking around too much while serving tables. Clearly, I had megalomanical issues. I apologized, and promised to try to change my erroneous ways.
Later, we were out with the rest of the training group when the same manager said "Don't think you know everything. I've spoken with (my name) specifically about this, but it stands for you all as well."
Thank you Mr. Manager. I appreciate you letting me know about my ego problems. Letting the rest of my training team know about them too will only help me eradicate my issues. Not only will I now have to live my entire life wondering if every little thing I do is a testament to my inner arrogance (and I did), I can also live with the comforting knowledge that my co-workers are aware of the situation and can kindly assist me in my battle. That was a pure move of professionalism to notify my co-workers of private issues you see in my life. Thank you. *applause*
1. The Man and His Socks - I had three shifts left. I had already started at my new restaurant (which I am still at, and loving) and was giddy about the prospect of actually making money and having some respect at a job. The dress code for The Man though, like many restaurants, required black socks. I'm all over that. I'm a firm believer in following rules like that. Truthfully. I show up early to my jobs, I dress right, I do everything I can to make sure that there is no fault to be found in my commitment to a job.
But this day, I decided to ease up a bit. Because all my comfortable black socks were in the wash, I put on my charcoal gray ones instead. I went to a private school, and they were okay there. I worked at another restaurant with a similar dress code, and they were okay there. I would be perfectly fine wearing these socks with a suit. If you held them up against black, you could tell they were not black. However, to wear these with black shoes and black pants and a black belt would be no sort of faux pas whatsoever. And besides, they hadn't checked my socks once in my two months of working there.
That day, they did. And of course, the socks weren't black enough. I could either go home, or walk across the street and buy some black socks from Winners. I left with the full intention of just going home. How could they do this to me? I was never late, I was always dedicated, I wanted nothing more than to stay there and work for years. And now, three shifts away from finishing, they do this to me. I figured that was the last straw, I wasn't going to give in to The Man any longer!
But that's the thing about The Man. It's like an unhealthy relationship. The one where you love the other person, you lay your life down for them and they just throw it away. You show up to their house and find them with someone else. They tell you they'll try harder next time, but then you find them in the same position the following week. The relationship is full of empty promises, broken commitments and betrayed loyalty. What do you do?
That's exactly what I thought in that car. What do I do? I, like many others, first thought that the best way to stick it to the man was to flip it the bird and refute its demands. Then I thought about it more. I really thought about what it meant to stick it to the man. What would be the best thing to do to something that treated my commitment so poorly?
So I went across the street, I bought a pair of black socks and I came back to work the shift. And the next two shifts. Why? Because I realized that I had to do just that to truly say I gave it my all. I was willing to go to couples therapy. I was willing to see it from their side. I was willing to sacrifice, to give and to serve. But The Man was only willing to screw me.
I hope that we can work things out some day. Some day, I want to go back there, sit down, eat, tip well, laugh and remember the good times. I know that day will come, but not right now. Now, I'm still writing angry blogs and trying to forget. Until the time I can move on, I will continue to remember the top six ways that The Man screwed me this summer.
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