If you’re searching for your first job or just simply looking to add more experience to your resume, look no further! In the restaurant and retail business, you learn A LOT about the kind of worker you are and how you handle working with others. It gives you good experience with customers and it gives you an idea of how customers can act in the real world and on a daily basis.
Every. Single. Company. Has customers that they work extremely hard to please. In a restaurant or retail store, you get this practice in early. If you know how to work with a customer respectfully and timely, companies will be crawling to you for the experience that you’ve had.
Not only do you get to take what you’ve learned home with you to your own kitchen, knowing how to cook and how to do it well is a major plus. I’ve worked in a restaurant for over 5 years and I love being able to create new dishes. I would’ve never been able to cook if it wasn’t for this job.
A lot of times, you get some rude people who are just hangry or are exhausted from shopping for hours, but every now and then, you’ll get empathetic customers who understand your position. You’ll see really weird people dressed in crazy outfits and hairdos, or people who aren’t wearing barely any clothes. Each day brings a new crowd of people in and it’s just a reminder to you of how normal you are and how to be respectful to people.
There will definitely be times where you want to pull you hair and let the steam billow from your ears, but how you handle a stressful situation is key for a lot of employers. Make sure to keep calm during stressful moments and remind yourself that “this is only temporary and it will go away soon” in order to get through the moments where its more fast-paced than normal.
The people you work with in the restaurant or store will be your friend whether you like it or not. You spend a lot of time together, whether its complaining about customers or stocking the shelves, so you might as well bond while working together. A lot of times, they’ll become a close friend outside of work, too!
If you do your job well and know the store or restuarant well, then you have the chance to get a promotion. Moving up will give you a better chance at higher pay and the opportunity to be recognized for your work.
My first job was at a restaurant and I was there for 4 years! I still use the skills I learned there every day, even though I’m out of the restaurant business now. It taught me how I am as a worker and how to handle work-related situations and I am grateful for those lessons. A lot of people benefit from this as well, which is why it’s a great first job.
All of us have a “nice voice” or a “phone voice” that is just a nicer version of us that we use towards customers. At a restaurant or retail store, you get to practice this all the time. Leanr the ins and outs of your voice and know when you sound sarcastic or annoyed so you can give the customer a better experience and so they don’t give you a bad review.
There’s a lot to do in a restaurant or retail store, so working at one of these lets you learn how to get everything you need to get done finished in a timely manner.
Whenever you go back to a restaurant or retail store when you’re clocked off, be nice to your servers and store associates. It’ll remind you of customers who were rude to you and you’ll want to be respectful and nice to those working to please you because you’ve been in theirs shoes.
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