my favorite movie quote
We cook your meals, we haul your trash, we connect your calls, we drive your ambulances. We guard you while you sleep. Do not… fuck with us.
That quote is from Fight Club, and although it was spoken in a slightly different context in the movie, I think about it whenever I start working in the service sector for the summer. The reason is because most people take service workers for granted. I call it the Jetsons Syndrome. In the old cartoon show, The Jetsons, the family was able to just go to a cubby hole, type in a number, and a meal would appear before them as if from thin air.
When you are out in the world, please remember that this is impossible.
I realize that it is not easy. The goal of most restaurants, hotels, and other companies that provide a service, they strive to make it look that way. If you ever have an interview at a hotel, the phrase, “anticipate guest needs” is something that you must say. Do you notice that the man coming through the door is wrenching his back? Tell him to leave his luggage and it will be brought to him. Did the woman checking in mention that she was hungry? Mention a few dining options nearby, and offer to make reservations. Going the extra mile for a guest is always the mantra of the hotel industry, but it is rarely something that is done without the initiative of the employee. And yet, when these things happen, it is rarely thought of as something special; not because it happens to people all the time, but rather because, well…when they walk through the door of the hotel, they think they are on the set of The Jetsons. Things just appear out of thin air.
One time I stayed on the phone with a guest that was six miles away and gave him street by street directions on how to get to the hotel. The conversation should have lasted about 7 minutes, but it took 30 minutes, because I got yelled at with every wrong turn he made. Near the end, he realized his mistake, hung up, and let me check him in without saying a word. Just gave me his name, took the keys, and went to his room.
And this is why people need to realize that this is not the set of The Jetsons: because that cute little cubby hole machine does not climb over the desk and punch you in the mouth, and I do. And I am one of the more mild-mannered ones.
This is also one of the reasons why I usually tip pretty well, even if the service is bad. It is also because they have control over the quality of my food, sure, but mostly it is because I know that they have one of the most thankless jobs out there (except for the guy that washes dishes. Man, that guy is fucked.), and they do this for a living. Even if they are only marginally nice to me, I usually get down with twenty percent. It’s not even the law of averages, because for every unexpected twenty percent tip, there are about seven or eight people who tip only three percent. One night I spent about two hours of my six hour shift on one table, a party of twelve. I had other people take my other tables (potential earnings) because I didn’t want to be distracted. The bill ended up being something like $120. My tip? Four dollars. As angry as that made me, I also knew that it was the norm, especially at diners.
And people wonder why someone might want to get a bunch of people together, go to a basement, take their shirts off, and beat each other senseless until someone is unconscious? Some people call it a totally male-dominated movie, and they are right. It is all about masculinity, and how working class males are losing their identity in a sea of corporate blah blah blah….you get the point. But from what I know, the women that I work with are actually more jealous than horrified. Where is their space at the table/ring?
so, uh, yeah– tip well, and appreciate the people who try to make your life better. One day, your life will depend on it– because a lot of the people I work with are one bad day away from bringing a gun to work and shooting everybody. So if you don’t do it for yourself, then at least do it for me. I have to be there all summer.
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