Confessions of a Seasoned Waitress...

After going to college, working my ass off, and completing my degree in elementary education, I was incredibly heartbroken when the teaching career didn't come as easily as I'd imagined.  I grew up with the mindset that you graduate high school with good grades, get into a good college, graduate with good grades, get a job, get married, get the dream house, and then have kids.  Ha, WRONG.  God does not work according to your timeline.  Although I did graduate high school, college, all with good grades, and got married to my high school sweetheart, the time line of my twenties has been incredibly skewed in a completely unexpected direction.  It's been four years since I graduated, and I have not had the opportunity to put my degree to use.  Shortly after deciding that we wanted kids, I was diagnosed with PCOS (I've blogged about it before), and we decided that job or no job for me, we should probably start a family sooner rather than later.  Then.. we got the two for one deal, and that in so many words, completely changed our plan.  Now, I'm a stay at home mom, and my husband works.  To bring in extra cash, I became a Thirty-One Consultant, which I love to do.  I also started waitressing back at the restaurant I grew up working at. The same one my mother and sisters have worked at in the past.. So here comes the "point" of my blog.

Confessions of me, the seasoned waitress...

1. We are not here for fun, we are here to work and earn money to help support our families.  We make $4.75 an hour, some waitresses in other states makes much less than that.  We depend on the money you give us. We don't serve you b/c we feel like it.  Although I do like chit chatting and getting to know my customers, I do appreciate the money you give me too.  That means I can bring it home and put it towards good use.  
2. We are human, we have feelings and emotions.  How dare you be rude to me?  I am not your servant, I am your server.  Don't run me ragged and then walk out with leaving a dime.  Don't say rude things and expect them to bounce off, b/c I, like you, am human.  You can hurt my feelings, sometimes you've made me cry.. Do I walk into your place of employment and do that to you?  Didn't think so!
3. I am not deaf or blind.  I can see you roll your eyes when I ask you to help me grab your plate to keep me from dropping the four others I have on my serving tray.  I can hear you rudely exhale and whisper.  
4. If the food is bad, please tell me.  Ugh, don't eat it and then complain and expect it to be for free.  And don't stiff me, take it up with the cook, he cooked it, not me.  Oh, the prices in the menu, I had no say in them.  My boss did, would you like to speak to him?  
5. My title as a waitress does not take away from the smart, intelligent, kind, caring, funny person that I am.  It does not make me any less than you, it does not mean I don't have brains.  I have a college degree that I worked hard for.  It does not mean I'm a failure, my mom practically raised us on a waitressing paycheck, and I think she did a great job.  The women and men in this profession come from all different backgrounds and they are no different than the customer at the other end.

So there you have it, after a long shift full of rude customers, I had to get that off my chest!  Thanks for listening!