First Job Shift
On Thursday I attended my first job shift for Esprit. Throughout my entire London trip, I hadn't been nervous for anything, interviews didn't make me feel very nervous, and not even the thought and act of moving my entire life to London made me feel very nervous either. But a day prior to my first job shift made me finally feel nervous, like genuine can-feel-it-in-the-gut-and-intestines nervous. It was rather nice to feel that, because I was getting concerned that nervosity has been completely blocked in my brain or something.
So I arrived half an hour early and found the venue the dinner I was going to serve was held in. It was in the business area of London and holy shit, I felt so entirely out of place there. Well, on the outside I fitted right in, because I had to wear the uniform, black trousers and black shirt (i.e. too formal for my liking), but on the inside, I was screaming THIS PLACE AND EVERYONE HERE IS SO DAMN FREAKY. Everyone wore a suit and held one of those rich man leather hand bags with excessively polished shoes that can almost mirror your reflection. All the buildings were perfect and windows shiny and the pavement was completely gum spot free. Alien for the London I know.
So I walk in the loading bay at the back of the house since that is the staff entrance (we don't even get to enter through the front doors, hmph!). Sign my name in the log book and proceed to meet my new colleagues. They took good care of me and were all very friendly and sociable. I folded napkins, laid the table with cutlery, glasses and plates. Laying the table for each person for a three course meals requires 1 napkin, 3 pairs of different cutlery, 4 different sized glasses, salt, pepper, butter dishes, i.e. far too many components to keep track of! I bet the guests I laid the table for were missing parts.
I only committed one crime during this shift. When I was serving the main course to a guest, there was this brown sauce that was even more watery than water which was served on an unhelpful FLAT plate. Needless to say, I of course managed to spill half of that on a guest's 1000000 pound suit. He wasn't exactly delighted about it, but he was at least decent and didn't make a stupid fuss about a little bit of brown sauce landing on his precious suit. I avoided serving his table the rest of the night though just in case he would change his mind.
I actually enjoyed working. It was hard work and so freaking hectic, but I had fun and I look forward to my next shift!
So I arrived half an hour early and found the venue the dinner I was going to serve was held in. It was in the business area of London and holy shit, I felt so entirely out of place there. Well, on the outside I fitted right in, because I had to wear the uniform, black trousers and black shirt (i.e. too formal for my liking), but on the inside, I was screaming THIS PLACE AND EVERYONE HERE IS SO DAMN FREAKY. Everyone wore a suit and held one of those rich man leather hand bags with excessively polished shoes that can almost mirror your reflection. All the buildings were perfect and windows shiny and the pavement was completely gum spot free. Alien for the London I know.
So I walk in the loading bay at the back of the house since that is the staff entrance (we don't even get to enter through the front doors, hmph!). Sign my name in the log book and proceed to meet my new colleagues. They took good care of me and were all very friendly and sociable. I folded napkins, laid the table with cutlery, glasses and plates. Laying the table for each person for a three course meals requires 1 napkin, 3 pairs of different cutlery, 4 different sized glasses, salt, pepper, butter dishes, i.e. far too many components to keep track of! I bet the guests I laid the table for were missing parts.
I only committed one crime during this shift. When I was serving the main course to a guest, there was this brown sauce that was even more watery than water which was served on an unhelpful FLAT plate. Needless to say, I of course managed to spill half of that on a guest's 1000000 pound suit. He wasn't exactly delighted about it, but he was at least decent and didn't make a stupid fuss about a little bit of brown sauce landing on his precious suit. I avoided serving his table the rest of the night though just in case he would change his mind.
I actually enjoyed working. It was hard work and so freaking hectic, but I had fun and I look forward to my next shift!
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