Embarrassing Situation...

So tonight I almost cried at work. Someone decided to publicly embarrass me before a room full of people, and I almost lost it and started crying (that would have been real professional).

As a server I meet all types of people. There are those that make me angry, but after it's all said and done I just end up feeling sorry for them. There are those who are really cool, and I always hope to meet them again one day. And then third type are the non-descript, that don't leave much of any impression, and I'm sure I probably won't remember them the following day (hey I meet a lot of people give me a break my memory isn't all that great).

Tonight I met a older woman who initially made me very angry. Like I said earlier I usually just end up feeling very sorry for these people who upset me so initially. She came with a larger party that I was serving. They called ahead for seats and the hosts held my table open for them for a little over an hour (which is absolutely ridiculous when we're so busy on a Friday night). They were just late showing up, but when they arrived they had a table right away. They had excellent service, because I made sure their drinks were never empty and they received exactly what they had ordered in a timely manner.

I was able to give them this quality service because I asked help from my fellow employees to deliver drinks or serve the food. That's right I was very busy with an overload of tables that I had been sat in a short order. I couldn't do everything that needed to be done by myself so I asked for help from others that weren't so busy. In the restaurant business acting as a team and helping one another is pretty standard, it's the best way to give great service.

When this large party had finished their meal I took payment on their check the older woman came up to be in the middle of the room and with a loud and raised voice proceeded to admonish me. About seven other large tables make up this room and a good number of people turned to listen to her as she loudly called me an incompetent server.

Her main complaint wasn't about the service, she admitted that the service was fine, but that I wasn't handling the service on my own. She felt that it was a sign of poor service skills on my part not to be able to handle all their requests on my own.

It wasn't what she said, but the volume in which she said it that was so embarrassing. I wanted to run away and hide with all those eyes on me and the stinging words. It was hard for me because I felt that I had tried my best to give them a good experience and now I was feeling belittled.

I apologized to her and to the rest of the party and explained that at Chili's we try our best to work as a team. I told her I understood what she was saying and I appreciated her straightforwardness (okay so that last part was a lie - but I was under pressure at the time and it just came out that way).

As soon as the party had left I went about my work as if nothing had happened. I wanted desperately to cry. I don't know if you know this about servers, but it's hard sometimes to get everyone what they want and in a timely manner. Stuff happens that you can't control and makes it hard to get everything right. It's nice though when everything does go as it should (like it had for this party) and when that happens sometimes what's even better than a tip is just a thank you from a table. Someone who acknowledges the work you did and appreciates it. That leaves a server feeling good inside, and makes the job more than just about the money.

I feel really blessed though, after the woman had left, several people in the room who had witnessed her tirade came forward and told me the opposite of what she had shared. They wanted me to know that they didn't believe her and what she had said was uncalled for. They acknowledged my good service and said I seemed like a friendly person with a nice smile.

After listening to all these people (each blessed me in a different way) I ended up feeling very sorry for this woman who ranted against me. No one in that room who heard what she had to say believed her. No one in that room thought ill of me or my work. Each person who witnessed her tirade thought less of her in the end. The only person in that room who was really embarrassed in the end was that woman who was trying to bring me down. I feel sorry for her. I seriously can't imagine spending my life being so critical and hard on others around me. I would never want my life to be about that, it would be so miserable.

I guess you could say that woman taught me a life lesson tonight. She made me even more determined to see the positive in people and situations. I mean, the more I look for the positive the more positive everything will be. And that would be a great life, a positive life.

So, in an effort to look for the positive I want to share with each of you the positive that I saw in this woman. She had her grandchildren with her tonight and you see how loving she was with each of them. Not only did her love come through with her grandchildren it was exhibited for her children as well. As an act of love and service she took care of the small grandchildren making sure their food was cut up properly or that they had what they needed to drink. This act of service on her part allowed her own children to relax and enjoy their meals without worrying about the kids. This woman was a truly awesome grandmother!!