Aspirations

Last weekend my husband and son were both sick in bed. While I was preparing dinner my eight year old daughter asked to help. After cutting up the bananas for the fruit salad she decided it would be fun to pretend we were working in a diner.

Before long she had created full-sized menus from which they could order their meals. Donning an apron, complete with name tag, she delivered the menus and took down their orders in her special notebook. She took her job as waitress very seriously; delivering each dish, refilling drinks, clearing their empties. This resulted in many, many trips up and down the stairs as I only let her carry one thing at a time but she never complained. She eagerly and attentively catered to her customers’ needs. In fact she tried to check on them so often that I had to make her take a break to eat her own dinner.

I was thrilled with how much she was enjoying her game and delighted she was so committed to helping care for her dad and brother but I found myself a little less excited when she began talking about how maybe she could be a waitress when she grows up. What a hard life to wish for! I could hear my grandmother’s voice in my head making me promise never to go into the restaurant business. “People are at their worst when they are eating,” she would tell me. “Even more so when they are paying for it. The food service industry is a thankless field. Choose another career!”

When I go out to eat I am grateful for the waitstaff and I try to express my appreciation appropriately. After all, having someone wait on me is part of the reason I go out in the first place. But I do find that I have pretty high standards for what I consider good service. Do I want my daughter aspiring to become a waitress? Not really. But if she does become one, I am confident she will do it right! Please tip her well.