Behind the Scenes of a Restaurant

Ever since I was a sophomore in high school, I have worked at our local steakouse: Texas Roadhouse.  I started as a hostess and then moved up to server.  Now, when I come home from college over Christmas or in the summer, I always get put back on the schedule.  I love my job though.  Yes, you get some grumpy tables who leave horrible tips, but you also get great tables who actually leave twenty percent or more.  The job never ceases to surprise you or keep you entertained and, to be honest, I would way rather be payed daily then take home a check every two weeks.

Last night I had an experience that I will honestly remember for the rest of my life and I get really emotional just thinking about it.  I have been back for about a week now and last night was my first Saturday night shift ( these typically run seven hours and are extremely busy).  Early on in the evening I greeted a table that consisted of two men and two women in their mid fifties.  It looked like they could have all been related, brothers with their wives possibly.  The different part about this table though, was that one of the men was deaf.  Without any knowledge of sign language, I struggled trying to take his order and just stood trying to speak slowly and watch what he was trying to make out.  I don't believe his disability had been life long because no one at the table seemed to know sign language and so we all worked together to figure out what he was trying to say.  This repeated for about an hour an a half as I brought drinks, salads, and the food while trying to make sure everything was as desired.

The other man at the table kept continually saying, "Thank you so much for being patient," and I could'nt help but think, "Of course."  I kept wondering if this family had had a prior negative experience where they had felt rushed or overlooked by their server.  I wanted to make them feel as comfortable as possible.

As I said goodbye and handed them their payed out check, they smiled and asked to see my manager.  If you are a server, you know that this always makes you uneasy regardless of how nice the table was.  As I stood by, I watched as they told my manger how great it was having me as a server.  ( I am not saying this to brag on myself, but rather to complete the story)  Feeling a little awkward that they had just complimented me, I did not want to walk by past the table again, so I waited till they got up to leave before heading back over.  As the exited the restaurant, they all stopped and waved saying "Thank you so much!" as if I had done them a great service that I was unaware of.  The deaf man, who was last to leave, then came up to me and gave me a huge hug.  I was overwhelmed and almost began to cry as this man hugged me while trying to get these few words out, he murmured, "It was so nice to meet you! Thank you!" As he pulled away, he pointed to himself and said, "I'm from California!" I just began to laugh as I said, "Me too! Have a great night sir!"

This story may sound simple or small, but it really made my night and week as a whole.  I did nothing for this table except act human and remain patient and kind, and they felt like they were being treated like royalty.

As a final note, Anthony, my fiance, really has a heart for the deaf community.  He knows sign language and used to spend a lot of time with deaf children, just playing with them at their school.  We have discussed before the possibility of adopting a child with this disability.  I don't know what the future holds, all I know is that this man really impacted my week by showing his love and compassion through his eyes and attempts to communicate.  I felt I communicated with him more so than any person I have ever served before.

Servers don't always spit in your food or act fake to your table.  Sometimes people really impact us and touch our hearts.