I started working as a camp counselor and lifeguard at a yacht club the summer I graduated high school. It was my first official job, and I had expected to get something out of working with the kids. I had not expected to learn so much from the one night of work that did not even involve children. This one night changed how I handle working with authority figures and taught me when it is necessary to speak up.
Every July the club held a huge Fourth of July celebration, and my boss asked me to help the waitstaff inside the restaurant at the club. I was told I was going to be a barback for one of the bartenders. All I was supposed to do was clean the dirty glasses and restock them behind the bar. This was much different than my normal job of supervising children in the river, pool, and
around the club.
I awkwardly introduced myself to the bartender named Mike, and he showed me the different types of glasses and how to use the mini dishwasher. It was calm inside the restaurant at the start of the night. I could hear the quiet hum of music playing throughout the club and the handle full of waitresses talking beside the bar. A short drink order would be dispensed from a machine on a white ticket similar to a receipt. Mike would make the drink and I would awkwardly stand behind him near the massive wall of bottles that were all different shapes and colors. Another ticket would come through and Mike would make that order. This went on for about twenty minutes, and boy did I take those first twenty minutes for granted.
Out of nowhere, a giant mass of club members entered the restaurant for dinner. Suddenly the tickets began spitting out of the machine five at a time and Mike would rip each one off and set them across the counter. He started running around the bar so fast I couldn’t keep track of him. The noise from the members talking was so loud I could hardly hear the waitresses on the other side of the bar asking where their orders were. A set of waitresses began walking me through how to make each drink order because Mike couldn’t fill the orders fast enough. Let it be known that I had absolutely no experience making fancy alcoholic beverages. After the wait staff realized it was more work instructing me how to make each drink, they brought in other workers behind the bar. There were about six of us behind the bar filling out the drink orders, and the ticket sheet looked as long as a CVS receipt and went from the counter to the floor. Glasses began coming back to be cleaned. I would quickly open the small dishwasher door, load in as many glasses as possible, wait a minute for them to be sanitized, open the steaming dishwasher, quickly dry the hot glasses, and set them back in their proper spots around the bar. This continued for two hours, and I was moving so fast and clumsily that I ended up breaking three glasses.
Looking back I should have let my boss know that I did not feel comfortable doing a job like that. I should have spoken up at some point that night to let someone know how overwhelmed I felt. I have learned through the stressful experience that it is alright to speak up. I feel a lot more comfortable now letting my boss know when I feel overwhelmed with a task she has given me. I am no longer scared to turn down certain opportunities my boss gives me if I do not think I will be able to handle them. When I usually look back on this night it is to laugh about how crazy the whole experience was, but now I understand how much that single night changed how I talk to my boss and other people in authority.
