Moving My Way Up

I was hired at my restaurant in August of 2020. I was hired as a host and started my training. My first day was horrible. I was trained on seating, which is taking people to their seat and knowing table numbers. The girl that trained me went really fast, and I was lost the whole night. The second night, I was trained on updating, which is where you set the tables for the guests. This was a way better night. The girl that trained me was so sweet and kind. The third night was names and call aheads. This was easy, I just had to ask people their names, phone number, and how many people were in their party. The fourth night was more challenging. This was the big deal job. Board. You pick were people sit, make sure all the servers are in the right rotation, and deal with people yelling at you for not seating them fast enough. After the fourth night, the owner came up to me and told me he was impressed with my ability to catch on and work hard. I was happy.

About six months later I was told to come into the office. This scared me because when someone was told to come into the office, they were in trouble. I walked in and all the managers were in there. They told me to sit and then told me the news. I was moving to Togos! I was so ecstatic! This meant I was moving up in the world because I would be making more money!

My first day of Togo training was answering the phones and taking orders. There is a lot that goes into this. I had to make sure I knew the whole entire menu and temperatures for how people wanted their meats cooked. I had two days of phones training, and I thought I did well for being new. After phones went bagging, this was a breeze compared to phones. All I had to do was make sure their order was right and bag it up. The only hard part about bagging is when Togos is slammed with orders. Those nights are never fun.

Six months after being on Togos, was my 18th birthday. I could serve now. I was pulled in the office once again and told I would move to server training in the next few weeks. They gave me my apron, some pens, and a server book. I couldn’t wait to get home and tell my parents. Training for me was cut short because I was double scheduled on Togos and training. This at times was frustrating, but nevertheless, I finished my training, had to take my server validation, which is where they quiz you over the menu and other things you need to know.

This is where I am at now, waitressing. This past month a lot of my Togo friends moved over to serving which makes me happy. I am very thankful that the company saw that I was a hard worker. Even though I have to deal with people who aren’t the kindest, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.