And Then There was Rain

Every person, at some point in time, should experience working in the restaurant industry. It is a dark hell of a place, but it sure does build character.

This past summer I worked as a hostess at a small seafood restaurant called Café 56. Though the pay rate was decent—especially after tips—there were days when no amount of money could make the job desirable.

One day, everybody (and their brother) decided to come eat at the restaurant. This always resulted in difficulty at the front desk. I was doing the best that I could to accurately quote each party their wait time, however there are always unforeseen factors that alter the accuracy of party quoting. This being said, a stalky couple fresh off the plane from New Jersey (they were sure to inform me) had inquired about their wait time, stating that they had endured a long day of traveling and where to be seated immediately. I regretfully informed them that, in fact, there were a few parties ahead of them but I was to get them seated with in the next 15 minutes—not an unreasonable amount of time for a beautiful Seattle day.

A few moments had passed, and knowing the New Jersey couple’s desire to be seated, as well as the restaurant’s customer service policy, I decided to approach the couple to inform them that their table should be available shortly. In fact, I pointed to a specific table and informed the impatient couple that the woman currently seated there had just paid and was expected to leave momentarily. Little to my knowledge, this woman—tall, slender and foreign—had no intention of leaving in the near future. Rather, she grabbed her iPhone from her overly expensive purse and made a phone call—perhaps to her Roman husband.

Furious with their misquoted time and inability to take a seat a table, the man—the larger of the two masses—laid me a new one.

“This is completely unacceptable! My wife and I have been traveling for hours and we demand that we get seated immediately. I want to speak to management!”

           

Please note that while this is occurring, everything and anything that could possibly go wrong in a restaurant was taking place in this moment. Servers were neglecting their tables, bussers had gone missing, and the bartender had a 20-minute ticket time on her drinks, which resulted in both the kitchen and servers getting extremely backed up.

It was a shit show, so much so that en route to getting the manager, I was flagged down by two separate tables requesting they either get their check, or get greeted by their server whom they hadn’t seen in since being seated 20 minutes prior.

After patching the wounds at these other tables, I was finally able to grab the attention of the manager. Before I could even form my words into a sentence, tears began to rush down my cheeks, my voice uneasy and shaking. My manager soon grasped the issue and headed towards the couple. After catching my breath (or so I thought), I returned to the overwhelmingly busy front desk that I understandably neglected for a few moments. With a smile, I looked up at the friendly gentleman patiently awaiting my return.

With a gentle voice he inquired, “How long would the wait be for 12 people?”

Doe-eyed I responded, “I truly wish I could accommodate that...” but before I could finish, I could feel the sadness in the back of my throat begin to swell.

“Are you okay?” asked the pleasant man, observant of my change of emotion.

“Yes…I mean…no…I mean …” the man’s simple caring question released the floodgates once more. Now crying, I continued, “I’ll find someone else to help you”. With that, I dashed to the back trenches of the kitchen, determined to be unseen by the rest of the staff.

After catching my breath (for real, this time), I returned to the front desk. As I looked out the glass front doors, I noticed the clouds had shifted and darkened in color. Soon thereafter, it began to pour. From the front desk I observed as Mr. and Mrs. New Jersey, who had finally been seated at a table on the patio, became drenched in the horizontal downpour. From head to toe, the implacable couple was soaked in Seattle’s infamous rain. Now that’s karma, baby.