My first job ever was at a small Colombian restaurant in Chicago. The idea of messing up people’s orders, dropping their food, or making them upset terrified me. My goal every day was to make sure people had a good time and enjoyed their experience there so that they could come back. I loved talking to customers about their lives, and their experience with the food. However, the thought that customers would make me mad had never crossed my mind because I was so focused on my attitude towards them. My first week there went pretty well. I started to learn the menu, I learned how to balance all my different roles at the restaurant, and customers enjoyed talking to me for the most part. Soon that peacefulness went away when I had my first rude customers. After that experience, I learned that it is okay not to take disrespect from my customers and I started valuing waitresses and people who work in the food service more.
It was not until my third week that a Colombian family came to celebrate one of their family’s birthdays. They all ordered, I brought their food and made my rounds around the tables to make sure everyone was doing okay. When I came back to their table they said something that made me feel uncomfortable. They asked me where I was from and I responded that I was from Mexico. They said, “Que raro” (that is weird). I was confused and replied, “Excuse me?”. They said, “It is weird because Mexicans are usually short, hairy, and ugly.” They were saying that because I did not look like that it was weird that I was Mexican because they thought I was Colombian. When they said that to me I felt my blood boil. I was so angry, I wanted to talk back. I got red, faked a laugh, and immediately left because I did not want to argue with these people and risk losing my job.
They did not have enough with that. After they talked about how red beans (Colombian beans) are better than Pinto beans “the ones Mexicans eat” in front of me. As they continued to eat they kept ordering me to bring them different things. The way they asked for things was in a very bossy way and I did not appreciate that at all. After this incident my smile faded away and I would only interact with them when they needed me. I made sure that my facial expressions showed how uncomfortable I was around them. They did notice because after that they only called me when they needed something. They stopped being racist when they saw my shift in behavior towards them. After this, I immediately went to tell my coworkers. I needed to rant to someone at the moment before I exploded in front of them. My coworkers could not believe it and one of them yelled from the kitchen “You don’t have to take that disrespect girl”.
After that incident, I learned that although I am a worker and part of my job is to be welcoming, that doesn’t mean I have to take disrespect from the customers and be silent. I continued to be welcoming and kind to everyone but if someone said something to me I did not stay quiet. This incident made me appreciate waitresses even more. I became the person who cleaned up the table and stacked all the plates so that the waitress just came and picked them up. Waitresses already go through so many challenges and have to deal with annoying customers, I don’t want to make their jobs harder. I do everything I can to make their jobs easier and I make sure I tip them well.
