[Beyond Borders]

(07-13-2013 02:05 AM)2Wycked Wrote:  

If you can believe it, I have actually diagrammed the demographics of my customers.

Seriously? Damn - that's really going the extra mile...I like the curiosity you bring to life, Man. Something we could all stand to use a bit of.

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3. Dinner rushes are can be fucking insane

TL;DR version: If you are not on your shit, an intense dinner rush will destroy you.

If you work a store with dine-in, delivery & carryout, shit can hit the fan on any night. One the worst rushes I worked was a Monday in the middle of a heat spell in July. Should be easy right? Wrong. Had one cook, three drivers, two servers and a dishwasher. Got completely gobsmacked. I had to run cut table, wait multiple tables all the while trying to keep carryout caught up and cashing everybody out. I also had to help on make table to keep my slow-ass cook up to speed.

Sure, in the end I pocketed 40 bucks while making manager wages, but for about three hours, it was sheer insanity. You really have to be able to multi-task and keep on your grind. Situations like mean your only break is to piss. I have seen multiple people crack & walk out. I recall a female manager who burst into sobbing tears during her first intense rush as a new manager. I was just a driver at that time, but I had to run the store while she cried herself sane for like 20 minutes.

You gotta have some spine in you to survive these rushes. Still consider being understaffed. One night all I had, in store, was two drivers and a server. I had to cook everything and take about 1/3 of the tables. I had to answer phones as my drivers were on the road constantly. It was fucking brutal. One of my drivers was a retired dude and bought me a bottle of Sailor Jerry (I was only 20) to reward me for putting up with all that bullshit. We drank at his crib later that night and there is a fucking hilarious story about that will I drop sometime in the drunken escapades thread.

I worked in the restaurant industry for many years waiting tables and a little bartending. I think people who have never done it fail to realize just how challenging these jobs can be. Some of my friends acted like I didn't actually work for a living because I wasn't doing manual labor but I've done both and often found waiting tables to be the more taxing of the two.

Holding down a rush is insane and sometimes you stagger in the door late at night feeling like you just ran a marathon. Highly stressful and exhausting work.

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6. Admitting you have worked delivery rubs some people the wrong way

I have a clear memory of some people in law school being extremely put off that I worked in the service industry - multiple douchebags who went to Harvard or Yale that were some the most stuck up dipshits I have every encountered.

I remember one classmate of mine, during orientation - when I explained I worked as a driver through undergrad - sighing loudly and actually said that it "really spoke to quality of the incoming class." I recall another person saying I was an affirmative action sympathy case. This is completely liberal law school - I was further alienated because I wasn't a Democrat.

You tell a lot about somebody by how they treat people who work in lower-status professions. I handled every insult gracefully, deflecting with humor or outright stomping them out. Still, you get a picture of a self-absorbed snob for these sorts of people. Often, they are first ones talking about class oppression or misogyny - in real life they don't give a damn about anybody who doesn't elevate their social status.

Thank God I don't have to deal with people of this "caliber" in my life. Remind me to never return to the real world.

I think you'll see a lot of benefits in life from having stepped into both realities.

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7. It is a great job for college-aged men

For any the younger cats on the forum, understand delivering pizzas is a great way to make cash and meet people. If you have a good sense of direction and can handle assholes, I recommend taking up the job. You will always have cash on hand and will meet a wide variety of people.

I agree 100%. And waiting tables is great work too. You really learn solid social skills constantly approaching strangers and keeping them entertained and happy. And you meet a lot of cool people - the ones who have made it their career to show others a good time, which means a lot of them know how to eat, party, and have an all-around good time.

I actually miss working in hospitality a lot. It certainly comes with its share of challenges but I sometimes toy with the idea of heading back to America and relocating to Napa Valley to work my way up in the wine industry. I went out there to visit a friend earlier this year who works at high-end restaurant as a wine-server, working her way towards becoming a sommelier, and it did not seem like a bad life at all.

The talent seemed pretty decent in Napa too - a lot of young, hot women who move out there to work in the industry.

But then, I guess that would be a return to the real world.

I never worked in delivery but I could certainly see it having its perks for a younger guy.

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8. It teaches you to be humble

I have learned a lot from delivering, but one the most important lessons is humility. When you start out, you got to pay your dues to move up the ladder. Every store will have some long term drivers that often are dicks. You have to prove yourself to be capable of the grind.

Also, consider the heated nature of the job. The first time some random person dumps on you badly it can hurt. Since I was just 18 when I started, the first time somebody really went in on me it hurt very much. However, you learn to deal with. I had some asshole tonight bitch me out and I didn't even blink an eye when I told how sorry we were about his experience and that we would give him a credit for a free pizza.

It isn't just humility, but also confidence. You learn to deal with angry & hateful people - if you aware enough, you learn to deal with them in a way that is healthy and mature. It can be tough, as some people are begging for a verbal ass-beating, but it is almost always best to let it go. Let them look like the asshole for bleating on with no vengeful response from you.

The job teaches you respect for low-paid but high-stress jobs like in the service industry. The difficultly in the job doesn't lie in the actual work contracted for, but in the day-to-day grind of rushes, assholes and the stressful nature of the job. Still, it is a job I will never regret taking on and have multiple positive memories from the experience.

This was the most difficult part for me. I'm not a very confrontational person whatsoever, and in fact usually avoid it to a fault, but when someone confronts me and I don't have the choice of just walking away my impulse is to explode, which I've been known to do from time to time. It always blew my mind how people will say things to you when you're working a service job that they wouldn't in a million years say to you on the street.

You learn to deal but it was definitely a sticking point for me and I came very close to kicking a few customers' asses.

Having thick skin is not a bad quality to cultivate though so I suppose in some ways I walked away from it a better man in learning how to be a bit mellower in these situations.

Cool post. Only 2Wycked could take something as seemingly mundane as delivering pizzas and make it seem interesting.