Hints of Things to Come

With a great sense of relief I've completed my 15 hours-over-three- days of classroom training for the restaurant where I will start working this coming Sunday.   Sitting relatively still for that long can be painfully difficult.  That said, learning all about good customer service  IS interesting to me because I am made for and am very good at it whether I like that or not.  The difficult part is just making the necessary decision to dedicate myself overall to a job and industry for which I have no interest in advancement.  Waiting tables is what I need to do now to survive.  I would wait tables for the rest of my life though before sitting at a desk or work solitarily ever again.   

But back to the training.   For what could have been a mentally excruciating time, the trainer managed to make the time mildly entertaining.

High praise indeed.  

I did experience one adrenalizing, validating and yet bittersweet moment.  The trainer, whom I'll call John, pulled me aside before the start of the class to chat with me semi-privately.  Now I'm someone whose been fired before so in half a split second my immediate response was, "oh, shit, what embarrassing, shame-filled reprimand is about to be handed to me."  I stayed myself though and listened.  John simply said, "I first want to thank you for always being early.  Also, unlike most people in this training class, I think you'll do great here."   I felt a few responses bouncing around in my brain.  First, I felt very gracious for his words and that I agreed with him.  I'm 41 and have worked on and off for years in restaurants.  I'm emotionally mature and know how to work as a (very fun) member of a team.  Now the very cynical amongst you may say, "yea, he probably says that to everyone.  Like a parent saying to her all her children, 'you're my favorite one'."  

This is what I saw happen.  John did pull aside about six of us (amongst a class about 30) to say what he said to me.

Now considering I've been laid off or fired in the past five years, his praise is both welcome and graciously accepted.  But why is this whole moment, "bittersweet?"  No surprise, I'm just kinda sad it's about waiting tables.  It reminds me that at least for the next few months I'll be working a very physically demanding and exhausting job (a job without health insurance I might add).   

So I end to say that my response to this compliment lies somewhere in the middle ground.  I'm truly happy that I have begun to get good feedback on my efforts to slowly change the direction of my life and yet heavy hearted that it's still in an industry I want to put behind me.