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On Saying Good Bye
Jun. 30th, 2008 05:18 pmWell, that's it. My last day of work is over. It started early and ended late, and we ended up being offered free pizza and cake by the owner of A New York Pizza Place during their closed hours. Fucking incredible pizza, and even better is the cake the owner just invented that is the perfect summer refresher (cake-wise, will be Ana's birthday cake). But I didn't start posting to start talking about food, although my job did center around providing food, catering, and service to people high and low around the Puget Sound.
No, it's about the soul food I'll miss ... the people there who made the small wages and occasional sucky customer bearable. As Art said over and over again, "I'll spoil you for other bosses." We all have each other's contact information, but I know how hard it is for me to make time to see people, and I always get embarassed when they suggest going out somewhere, and I simply don't have the money to go. Maybe we'll still see each other from time to time. But there are customers I'll miss talking to every day or every week, and there are restaurant workers who I've come to know rather well ... it's hard to say goodbye to all of them.
I knew I wouldn't stay at this job forever, and really, despite the lack of money over the summer, it's going to be a great opportunity (here's hoping I actually fucking take it) for me to turn certain things around in my life. Just ... I wanted this leave-taking to be on my terms. I wanted so much to be able to train my replacement, so I could give that person the secret ins-and-outs that came with the position. My replacement(s) are all in California, and I can't guarantee the owner of any of our restaurants how well they'll be treated, how any of them will understand that Doug at A New York Pizza Place (used to own Fremont Classic) really gets it as a restauranteur. He, like a few others among our list, understand that the most important things our restaurants could provide us were timeliness, mutual communication, and getting the orders right.
I really have no idea if anyone in the CA call center will care to recommend a particular restaurant when a customer calls up and asks for some ideas and options. Who there will have the time and patience to sit on the phone for ten to fifteen minutes helping a customer plan out the perfect menu for a catering? They do over 10,000 orders for CA, NV, and now WA a week. How will any of those CSRs know that the small pizza place near Roosevelt is more likely to provide on-time, short-notice service with really good pasta and salad when there's a big name like CPK available that is used to larger orders? Despite the fact that they often screw up our orders, get them out late, and often just don't care.
Erg. So frustrating, and yet at this point ... so not my problem. But I still care about the people behind the voices on the phone, I still care about a list of people with whom I worked, and it's because working in such a business, to provide good service, one must create a rapport and working relationship with one's customers and associates.
To help me say good bye, I went to the company picnic yesterday despite the 90 degree weather and ate the funeral cake for the company purchased by a friend of mine, and played some croquet after knoshing on grilled salmon burgers. And today, after taking a nap during the hottest part of the day, I got up to take a cold shower and shaved off all of the hair on my satyr legs. I've returned to nymphhood for the summer and shed that which I carried during
the last several months. Small rituals to help release that part of my life. Murr.
And now I bring you:
Statue with boobies via ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
threegoldfish
No, it's about the soul food I'll miss ... the people there who made the small wages and occasional sucky customer bearable. As Art said over and over again, "I'll spoil you for other bosses." We all have each other's contact information, but I know how hard it is for me to make time to see people, and I always get embarassed when they suggest going out somewhere, and I simply don't have the money to go. Maybe we'll still see each other from time to time. But there are customers I'll miss talking to every day or every week, and there are restaurant workers who I've come to know rather well ... it's hard to say goodbye to all of them.
I knew I wouldn't stay at this job forever, and really, despite the lack of money over the summer, it's going to be a great opportunity (here's hoping I actually fucking take it) for me to turn certain things around in my life. Just ... I wanted this leave-taking to be on my terms. I wanted so much to be able to train my replacement, so I could give that person the secret ins-and-outs that came with the position. My replacement(s) are all in California, and I can't guarantee the owner of any of our restaurants how well they'll be treated, how any of them will understand that Doug at A New York Pizza Place (used to own Fremont Classic) really gets it as a restauranteur. He, like a few others among our list, understand that the most important things our restaurants could provide us were timeliness, mutual communication, and getting the orders right.
I really have no idea if anyone in the CA call center will care to recommend a particular restaurant when a customer calls up and asks for some ideas and options. Who there will have the time and patience to sit on the phone for ten to fifteen minutes helping a customer plan out the perfect menu for a catering? They do over 10,000 orders for CA, NV, and now WA a week. How will any of those CSRs know that the small pizza place near Roosevelt is more likely to provide on-time, short-notice service with really good pasta and salad when there's a big name like CPK available that is used to larger orders? Despite the fact that they often screw up our orders, get them out late, and often just don't care.
Erg. So frustrating, and yet at this point ... so not my problem. But I still care about the people behind the voices on the phone, I still care about a list of people with whom I worked, and it's because working in such a business, to provide good service, one must create a rapport and working relationship with one's customers and associates.
To help me say good bye, I went to the company picnic yesterday despite the 90 degree weather and ate the funeral cake for the company purchased by a friend of mine, and played some croquet after knoshing on grilled salmon burgers. And today, after taking a nap during the hottest part of the day, I got up to take a cold shower and shaved off all of the hair on my satyr legs. I've returned to nymphhood for the summer and shed that which I carried during
the last several months. Small rituals to help release that part of my life. Murr.
And now I bring you:
threegoldfish
