As a new waitress, I sometimes dread the moment when I am
forced to go up to a table and actually take orders. It’s a deceptively easy task---they speak, I write. However, I am supposed to inherently
know things about the menu in order to effectively take an order. This is where I most often make a fool
of myself. For instance, the
memorable incident that was my serving experience last weekend.
After a small internal pep talk, I put on my best “fake it
‘till you make it” face and strode over to my table of four. It began pretty well. The stuffy professor-types in for a
business lunch dictated as I recorded the names and temperatures of their
burgers. So far, so good, right? If I could have given myself a pat on
the shoulder, I would have. But
then, the last man ordered a roast beef sandwich, to which I replied, “How
would you like that done, sir?”
He cocked his chubby head to the side and then pointedly
asked if that was a trick question.
It was clear that he thought I was an idiot for muttering something so
completely inane. So, I did what
any other self-respecting waitress what do: I nodded slowly with an uneasy
laugh before hightailing it out of the dining room.
Really though, is it that hard to believe that roast beef
could be requested at medium rare or well done? It made perfect sense to me. Every other meat dish required a temperature; so naturally,
I assumed the roast beef did too.
This fact did not impress my coworkers, and they’re still probably
crippled with laughter somewhere in the dank restaurant.
Lesson learned: always memorize the menu before going to
work.
I’m making flash cards pronto.
