"If everybody worked at a restaurant for a year, the world would be a happier place.”
I have found myself over the past few years counseling with people about job searches and dealing with unemployment. I often find myself recounting some of my own experiences with these people - myself having dealt with 3 major events of unemployment in my life.
During those times, I have been employed in what has been listed as the top 4 recommended jobs everyone should do at least once in their life – Customer Service, Manual Labor, Retail Clerk, and Server/Waiter.
I want to share some of what I learned from one of these experiences – in hopes that it can help us understand what it means to get the most out of this Solitary Life we have been given.
At the age of 29, I found myself unemployed and in need of an income. I needed a flexible schedule as I was exploring options and needed to have control of my schedule. I opted to attempt to become a server or a waiter.
I applied and was asked, “Why should I hire you? You have never done this.”
I argued that there was nothing I can’t do and that I was worth the risk.
I was hired and went through the training. I also learned the unique language of waiting tables:
Sides – extras on the plate and jobs done beyond just waiting on the table
side work – the work done by servers that isn’t about waiting on tables
skate – to leave without completing your side work
86 – out of or fired
on the fly – request to kitchen to make an order right – right now!
In the weeds - used to describe a server who is hopelessly behind
“You have two tables already, then someone seats you with a large party. The
first table wants mustard, more bread, a side of ranch, another drink, a
spill needs wiped up. The big party wants to place their drink orders. And
who's going to run those salads to that third table so that their entrees
don't come out five seconds after their salads?”
I like "in the weeds" as a metaphor. It carries with it an image of someone standing in weeds, some already tall, others getting taller by the minute while others are quickly sprouting up out of the ground.
It is always your turn to do something in the life of a server. It’s not an easy job being a server, but servers do it by choice, every day – balancing trays of burgers and drinks in one hand, keeping a dozen orders straight in the other, and maintaining a smile on their face until their shift ends. All the time delivering non-stop service never pausing because if you pause, you are in the weeds.
Servers are there to serve. Yet, waiting tables and being in the weeds seemingly go hand in hand, but how does one get out of the weeds?
You can tell everyone, or someone, that you are in the weeds, but that assumes that the person you ask to help isn’t already in the weeds themselves. In reality it takes a team working together to get you out of the weeds or keep you from getting there in the first place. But don’t make it any harder on them than it should be.
Here’s your guide to being a good customer:
- Use your manners
- Be sociable
- Take your time, not theirs
- Don’t expect special treatment.
- Get personal but not too personal
- Patience is a virtue
- Don’t blame your waiter
- Clean up after yourself
- Say thank you with a tip
- Make a habit of being a regular customer
One server put it this way, “Being a server definitely changed the way I see things from a customer’s standpoint,” she says. “I think everybody should have that experience. If everybody worked at a restaurant for a year, the world would be a happier place.”
So, what does this have to do with Lent, Jesus, One Solitary Life lived, making a difference, and you?
An online glossary of restaurant terms puts “being in the weeds” like this:
"A colloquial expression used when persons are near or beyond their capacity to handle a situation or cannot catch up, someone struggling, someone who is very busy."
- A person near or beyond their capacity to handle a situation or cannot catch up, Someone struggling, Someone who is very busy.
So, do you know anyone that fits that definition? Might even be YOU.
The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Matthew 23:11-12 NIV
The reminder that we are to be servants is one that Jesus repeated quite often. As we live this life, we are called to be become servants.
This is not a call to be a server (in order that we might gain some worldly prize and garner some great experience that will benefit us later) This is a mandate – one given with no restrictions or limitations of time, place, or situation that would allow us to exempt ourselves from this lesson. Service is not a singular act or something that is checked off a list so you are done with it. Service isn’t something we have done in the past, or can finish doing sometime in the future. Service is something that is on-going - never-ending.
Here’s the big discovery for this week:
As it comes to service, we are called to be in the weeds – not overwhelmed by what we are doing, but rather reaching out to those that are overwhelmed with an act of service. And when that act is complete – It’s your turn again!
There’s a lot of work to be done. There are a lot of people struggling and overwhelmed by the weeds in their lives. We are called to serve and not to be served – did I mention “It’s your turn again!”?
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