Too Much Expo-Kitchen

I’ll say it again: I work at a restaurant in real life. I sell noodles and noodle-related accessories. Broadly, that’s my job. But just saying, “I work at a restaurant” is incredibly unspecific. But to be more specific is… complicated.

There are three primary jobs I can do inside the restaurant. I can be a cashier, work a job called “Expo,” and I can work in the kitchen. And there are three primary personas I have, one for each job. While on a register, I like to think that I’m very friendly, I interact with customers well, and I have a joke I tell customers: “If you enjoyed our service, my name is F___. If not, well, my name is Scott.” It’s not very funny, but it makes them laugh.

When I’m in the kitchen, I’m the opposite. More customers means more work, and I’m not a fan of more work. The worst customer, when I’m in the kitchen, is one woman whose order contains four pieces of grilled chicken and twenty meatballs. Chickens take three minutes to cook, but at least I can do all four at once. To order twenty meatballs probably means that I have to restock meatballs afterwards or worse, even during the cooking process. This, compounded by the fact that the customer also orders two buttered noodles, which I’m also in charge of, as well as when she comes in, which is frequently during the middle of a dinner rush.

Expo is somewhere in the middle. I’m in charge of making sure customers get their food on time, whether that be finishing up food passed down from the kitchen to making sure the kitchen sends up food at all. I also tend to end up running our third register, so some of that personality leaks through as well. Here, customers are a little bit of a nuisance -- I have a lot to do to get the area ready for the next shift/to close out the night -- but generally are fine. I still actively help them.

This also extends to my coworker/customer interactions. I wouldn’t say I’m myself with my coworkers; perhaps because of the high turnover rate of a low-wage job, I don’t have a lot of time to get to know them. Again, customers always see the best of me. At least, when I’m not dropping food on them.

I’m not sure what this says about me. I imagine this happens to everyone, but I guess I don’t know. I only know about myself.

-F