Some of you have heard me complain about some of the issues I have experienced at work.  One of the problems has been finding, hiring and keeping good help. 

I think most people have experienced that moment that hits you upside the head that ‘Your prayers have been answered” or the “be careful what you wish for because here it be,” moment.

So I show up to work today.  There is this young girl waiting for me and I can say that without being patronizing because I will be 56 and this girl is 19, so yes, little girl plus she looks about 100 lbs maybe soaking wet.  She informs me that she is my new bus person (I work as the night cashier at a Mexican restaurant).  First thot which keeps reoccurring while I start asking her some basic questions is “Oh hell no.” 

Did anyone tell me she was hired let alone coming to work? – Oh hell no.

Is there anyone there (one of the other bus people) to train her? – Oh hell no.

Has she ever bussed tables before or had any experience working in a restaurant? – Oh hell no.

Has she been introduced to anyone or has anyone showed her what she needs to do? – you guessed it – Hell no.

So guess who is elected – yup you guessed it….lucky me.  And yes you guessed it we were busy.  So I showed her what to do from beginning to end and the little girl stuck it out.  I showed her how to clean a table, remove dishes from the table, load and unload the bus carts, where things were located and how to make drinks, refill salsa bowls, make more coffee and ice tea, where the towels to wipe off tables were, how to line chip baskets, where the ice is that has to go in the soda machines, and the list goes on.  The little girl made it thru until about the last half hour because I think I wore her out.  I ran my ass off and my feet are killing me doing my job and showing her what to do and how to do it.  I know I was talking non-stop and she might have felt overwhelmed but I also know exactly what she faces the next time she works because I’ve seen it before. 

There are 2 women at work who have been there for years, one works the day shift and one works the night.  There is no nice way to say it - these women are bitches, which does not necessarily mean that they are not good at their jobs, if all they stuck to was being a waitress.  Neither of these women would ever succeed in any kind of a management role, their attitudes and manner of dealing with other people they work with (not the customers) sucks canal water.  These women think they are the authority when it comes to anything that happens in the restaurant, they are legends in their own minds and they take a particular perverse delight in telling the newbies what to do and how to do it and the two of them don’t agree how things should be done in the first place so they end up confusing the heck out of the poor kids.  They do this deliberately because they can get the poor kids to do half their work so they don’t have to do it.  They set the kids up to fail because they know sooner or later the confused kid is going to say, “but that’s how Connie taught me to do it,” to Kathy, or to Connie, “that’s how Kathy says to do it.”  Which lets Connie (day shift) bitch about Kathy (night shift) or vice versa….the rivalry goes on which is the reason one works days and one works nights.  Goddess help anyone who is unfortunate to work with both of them on the same shift. 

The next time the little girl works is on Friday night, our biggest night of the week and also one of the longest shifts – 5 ½ hours nonstop.  There is another bus girl who works that night and she’s only been there for about 2 months.  Sounds like there shouldn’t be a problem but that bus girl only speaks Spanish…as in no English, one of the waitresses translates.  So in my way I was trying to expose her to everything they might throw at her and it wouldn’t be total Greek.  Like I said I’ve seen these women in action and part of them ENJOYS running off people who don’t kiss their ass.

Now I should also interject here that the new little bus girl is the daughter in law of one of the day shift waitresses which is why she got the job. This bus girl who only speaks Spanish is (however) one of the cook’s sisters, which is why she got the job. 

Working at a family restaurant has been interesting to say the least.  At any given time you are working with someone’s lover, husband, wife, child, ex, cousin, niece or nephew, aunt or uncle.  It is a family run and owned restaurant and you almost need a damned score card to keep track.  I’ve often said that it’s a soap opera (or as they are called by the kitchen staff and cooks who are 90 percent Spanish speaking  novellas), just begging to be written.

Morale of the story is = It is not your qualifications - it is who you are related to - that gets you the job.  Doesn’t guarantee that you keep it, just that you get it.  It’s a lot harder than some people realize to start off on your first real job and be thrown to the lions your first day out.  I told the little girl that she did great.  I hope she decides to come back.