What people in hospitality really mean when they’re serving you - fashionjournal.com.au
After a long 14 years in retail and an aversion to full-time work in a new city, I decided I would give hospitality another go.
Hospitality has always been something I happen to fall back on. One of my first jobs was at the ripe age of 14 (probably illegal) - setting tables and folding napkins into crowns at the local Chinese restaurant my mother sometimes worked in. My interactions with customers at this point were almost non-existent.
When I was 15, I started working as a dish-pig and cleaner in a café where I was paid a flat rate of $20 to clean the café after closing, no matter how long it took. From the ages of 19 to 21, I started bartending in clubs, bars and festivals, which at the time was a fun. It was particularly social - I could drink on the job and partying slowly became my life. However, in time, the buzz eventually wore off and the irregular hours no longer suited my lifestyle at uni, so I decided to go back to retail.
Now, having gone back to hospitality in my 30s, my perspective has changed. It can still be fun but my patience and tolerance for customers has grown thin and I no longer put up with shit like was told to in my 20s.
So, I've decided to write another article, to give insight into my recent experiences and to vent about what people in hospitality (me) are really thinking when we serve you.
