Street Smarts

I broke the code.

It's taken me all these weeks to figure it out, but I now know why I didn't get that job at the cool speakeasy. I didn't get the job because I am not a proud, self-important, restaurant professional. I went in there interested in the concept of the place and willing to learn anything and work hard, but I didn't use the right language, didn't have the right credentials, and didn't flaunt them. I am not, by trade, a restaurant person, and they figured it out right away. I didn't speak the language, so to them, I didn't even deserve the promised call-back after the interview.

Serving, apparently, isn't as easy as you think. Somehow, you need years of training, and you need to be able to work into conversation constantly that you've worked at a famous restaurant, preferably with a famous chef. I walked into this industry thinking hard work and a steep learning curve were enough to make it, but I was wrong--if that were true, then that would undermine the credentials of all the servers who are making it seem like it takes more. Do they have some secret skills I am not aware of?

Yes. Passing themselves off as the only ones able to do the job, getting hard working people to believe in and support their supposed vaulted position, and constantly name-dropping. Now I am all about people striving for excellence in their jobs--no matter what the job is--and taking pride in it. It is one of the first things that wowed me about a couple of these restaurant people--that they took it so seriously. One of them taught me a lot on my first day at my coffee shop/wine bar. After espousing all the famous chefs he'd worked for in all the major US cities (I was supposed to be recognizing all the names), he dove through the trash to find a spoon a customer had accidentally thrown away. This impressed me, because it showed, I thought, that we all jump in and do whatever needs to be done. Only partly true. They only do side work when they can't get someone else to do it. They're usually too important serving, then they give up only a tiny portion of their tips....

Fortunately the owner of the wine bar/coffee shop where I work is a creative, open-minded person with nothing for pretense and everything for helping his employees help him make the place the best it can be--he likes to hear all my insights and ideas after a long shift. So until now I've been really happy knowing I'm being appreciated and thinking I can learn about wine. I thought I might even move up, learn the business and grow a little.

Not so fast. The problem is, along with hiring me, and my ilk of people with degrees that for one reason or another want to do a shift or two at a cool place and learn a little something along with their normal jobs, he also hired some restaurant people. The clash has begun. Now I don't want to be Norma Rae, but I can't help representing my type with the owner against the strong culture of restaurant people in this city. I will probably go down, I am out of my element.

My point is that I think I can damn well pour and deliver a glass of wine or a plate of food as well as anyone. Yet, I'm either not supposed to do it and only let the restaurant people do it, or I'm going to do it when we're busy along with all the other side work they don't do, then only get a small percentage of what they get in tips. I had no idea. Of course they did, when they took their jobs as "bartender" or "server." I did not when I took my job of doing whatever the hell needed to be done--which is how all the jobs were described to me in the beginning.

So, I'm out to either change it or become less invested and lower my expectations. Maybe I won't work the wine bar, I'll just work coffee. I'll reduce my hours, quit working so hard, and quit giving my feedback to the owner--he probably doesn't need it anyway. Oh yeah, and I'll ask for a raise, which I'm pretty sure I'll get.

I'm meeting with him tomorrow. I've already approached him about some of these inequities--he got very concerned. He likes my attitude and work ethic, doesn't want me to lower my expectations, and he wants the place to be one where all of us can grow. I'm just not sure he can please us all, even though he's the type to listen and try to do the right thing. He's against the pretense, but I'm not sure he can change the culture of the service industry--too many divas.

Who would have thought the educated would be held down by service workers? Maybe there's justice there somewhere and I need to suck it up. The truth is, now I'm getting a real education. Now, finally, I'm learning street smarts.

I knew this job would be good for me.