Week 6:
Newbie

July 9, 2022

The title vaguely suggests that a new full-time employee arrived at Amazing Edibles this week. My new co-worker is friendly and easy to work with; on top of all that, she learns fairly quicker than others. I say this due to my observation that she actually enjoys being at work here, and catering is also one of her many interests.

I was partially responsible for training her which I was not particularly thrilled about. However, as two or three days went by, I began to see the beauty in it. Brushing up on my communication skills to effectively convey messages and temporarily mentor someone who I had never met were additional benefits. More importantly though, as a teenager training a 39 year old, I felt like I was on top of the world as being a trainer gave me a massive confidence boost. That was particularly helpful because I answered the usual sales calls with due diligence and was in a positive mood throughout the week. I thought to myself, “if I can successfully train someone who is 20 years older than me, who knows what other gifts I have left to give to the world.

As enlightening and cheerful interacting with/training the new employee (standing next to me in the picture) was, there were a few discouraging moments throughout the week. Chief among them being that I had my workload cut out by almost 40% and therefore, did not have much to do during certain hours of the day. Under ordinary circumstances, I would not consider this an unfortunate situation, but being on the block plan, I have developed a healthy habit of completing tasks in an efficient manner before moving on to the next one. So having little to do during certain times felt dreary.

The other highlight of this week came on Saturday as I worked at another wedding. The venue was called “City hall events,” and it was beautiful. I helped in setting up the tables, the dinnerware, the chairs, and everything else I was needed for. Even though I started the evening with these tasks, I was really here to observe how the food is served and in what manner.

My colleague who I was shadowing told me that when the entrée is served to the guests, that is when the kitchen staff has to act at a lightning quick pace. The picture above is one I took right before serving the main course mainly because I also somewhat helped in serving the guests. Observing how everything went, at first, I thought the process was a bit too chaotic for my liking, but then I noticed that there was a method to the madness, so to speak. The sales manager was in the hall and signaling which table needed its food. At certain times, I was in charge of conveying her signal to the event captain. The event captain was right beside the food, and he was in charge of sending the specific plate to that specific table in the hands of a server (because it was a plated dinner). That lightning fast action indirectly conveyed to me that 150 guests were served in 12 minutes, which to me, is impressive. Being at this wedding in particular was a unique experience.

This week, though it was full of ups and downs, leaned towards the positive side, and I am optimistic about the final two being eventful as well.