In my work as a tap master at Rachel’s Ginger Beer I always made it a point to display customer obsession whenever I could. From providing sample trays of literally every single flavor we had on tap, to texting customers receipts their from my personal phone hours after a transaction just to help them out, I would always try to make it a point to go above and beyond what was required from me. I would walk half a block out of the restaurant to deliver food and I would happily give recommendations on things to do in Seattle. Some would say I was simply motivated by getting tips, but there’s was more than a tip at the end of the tunnel for me, I enjoyed being of service to people and I knew a satisfied customer was a repeat customer would pay in dividends.
In my job as a noodle boy as U:Don Noodle (I curse the name to this day, but that’s another story) I tried my best to learn and be curious. The job was broken up into 5 positions, cashier, fryer, server and noodle maker. Starting off as a server, I soon asked to be trained on all of the positions. I spent a few months at each position learning and become competent at the task. None of the jobs were necessarily complicated to learn, but each was difficult to master.
Learning each of these positions allowed me to think big. Because I understood the workflow of each station and what people needed, I was much more useful during rushes. I could jump around to help people with frying or noodle making as needed or I could meter out customers to give the cashier a chance to catch up. It has always been my philosophy to expand my role into a jack of all trades. I find that especially in a team setting it is usually much more beneficial to know a little about a lot than a lot about a little.
I think it would be most difficult for me to implement having a backbone and disagreeing. Conflict avoidance can be an easy thing to slip into even to the point of being a detriment to the business. It can be difficult to confront people you work with everyday and may be your friends. It can also be difficult to know when you are just being hard headed and obtuse. I’ve worked on this a lot since I started working, swinging to both extremes at times. I think I’ve begun to find a healthy balance where I know on what and when I need to speak up and how to do it in a way that hopefully doesn’t alienate that person. Never the less it is something that doesn’t come naturally to me and will probably continue to be something I will work on
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