(DA) One of 'those' days

Last week I had what can only be described as 'a-hell-of-a-day'.

I was scheduled to work a shift over lunch and dinner. Usually I like one or the other (lunch or dinner), but I was looking forward to the extra hours that working both would bring.

Unfortunately for me, someone who is not as detail oriented as I am opened the restaurant that morning.

I came in and the patio was a mess, no tables had been cleaned, chairs were dirty and there was garbage on the floor. Fine, I came in early in case I needed to help out. I'll start here. I thought.

Inside the kitchen, empty boxes cluttered surfaces, the coffee station was a mess. There was no clean cutlery and there were dirty dishes on counter tops instead of in the dish-pit. I guess I'll clean this up too.

Then I got the wrong information from a co-worker about the reservations that day and the frustrations went on and on. 2 hours into my shift I was pleading with myself to have the other server sent home so that I could be in control and get everything back in order.

I was dwelling on the other person's over sights so much that I had put myself into a foul mood.

To be honest, I'm not sure what snapped me out of my bad mood. But something did, and I realized I wasn't being myself, instead I had taken on the attitude of many of my co-workers and blamed someone else for problems, whereas I try to solve problems, often before I see them.

So when I realized what I was doing, I went out of my way to help my co-worker and show her easier ways to accomplish tasks, or explained to her why certain things she was doing weren't tolerated.

She seemed glad for the tips and even applied a couple while I was there. The rest of the day went by smoothly- with the exception of one of the most indecisive tables I've ever served, but they were polite so no harm done- and that had absolutely nothing to do with my co-worker.

It's amazing to realize that you can grumble about something all you want, but unless you do anything about it, it's never going to change. So, be that change. I like to be that change, and today, it certainly paid off.

-Brandolyn