There are some things that you need to know about working in the food service industry before you go ahead and decide to take a part-time job at a local McDonalds or the nearest bakery.
First things first: there is The Smell. It refers to the aromatic smells coming from the various baked, fried, and cooked food that you immediately get a whiff of when entering a food shop. It causes you to salivate and your fingers to itch to hold that product your nose is smelling.
The Smell is still present when you work in a food service industry. In fact, it is ever present all the time in and out of the shop; it sticks to your clothes, your hair, and your bags to the point that The Smell is no longer something delicious or tasty but nauseating.
Aside from the trauma to your nose, there are also The Questions and requests that customers ask of you. I had one customer who asked for a piece of cinnamon bread to be sliced into bite sized pieces for reasons being that her child could not fully chew on the food since he had his tooth pulled out.
The first thing I thought was, couldn't the child (who was a grade schooler) do it himself, tear off bite-sized pieces from the bread? Of course, one cannot deny the customer his or her request when it can be done and thus, you humble yourself and do it.
Lastly, there is The Smiling. Even when there are hordes of customers in the shop, clamoring for your attention when they can clearly see that you are doing something else or even when something wrong is happening behind the counter, one's smile must never falter.
Yes, it is tiring to keep that smile in place, to force it on one's face even though deep inside you feel hollow, weary, and stressed down to your bones. Your job is to serve your customer, who deserves the best service, and thus you must never let on about deeper troubles and frown.
BONUS: Your feet are going to have the time of their lives, what with all the standing that you do for 8 hours and more.
Despite all of these, there are occasions when the smiling becomes real because you received feedback about how delicious the food is. You forget the annoying questions and requests when the customer becomes a regular because of the service you perform.
You can hardly feel your feet at the end of the day, but that's surely better than feeling it pulse with pain. As for The Smell... it is not all that bad when you are inside the shop since you hardly notice it, but be sure to be wearing a new shirt when you clock out and take a step out the door.
