May I take your plate Ma'am?

Yes, I have a job. A real job. My junior and senior year of highschool I thought I had a "job". I babysat after school for families and got paid 12 dollars an hour to watch movies with their children and play toy cars and barbies. That was a walk in the park compared to to my job that I started 4 weeks ago. I am a banquet server at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City. Working in food service is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Luckily I am not a waitress and I don't have to take food orders or drink orders. I just serve my tables, refill water and juice glasses, and clear them.

My first night on the job was intense. I had no idea what it would going to be like. They gave me my uniform to change into which by the way should be on the cover of Vouge it is so fanshionable. Not. Huge black pants that drown me, a button all the way to my neck black shirt, a apron that goes from my waist all the way to the floor, and black clogs. After I changed they gave me a quick tour of the building and all their floors which was a maze to me then. It has gotten better but there are so many rooms, kichens, and hallways. Then I met up with the people I was working with that night. Me and two other girls were on a wedding dinner. Luckily there were only five tables and I only had to cover one. The two other girls were so nice and so good about showing me the ropes. They taughted me the proper way to set tables, fold napkins, stuff rolls into their baskets, carry trays with heavy plates of food, fill water glasses, serve plates to people, clear tables, clean tray jacks, and more. Everyone that works there is overly nice and totally welcoming to the new servers. Everyone learned my name in seconds and was so helpful.

This is how a normal function happens behind the scenes.
1. We the servers set the tables with all the silverwear, glasses, and any other center pieces.
2. One of us goes to the commissary to get butterballs, whatever dressing we have, the rolls, and usually somekind of juice.
3. We fill the water glasses and set them on their tables.
4. Aline roll baskets and put those on the table along with the dressing bowls and the butterballs.
5. Have a roll or two in the back kitchen while waiting for our guests to arrive.
6. After they have said the prayer, we aline our trays with salads and serve them to our tables. I usually only have two tables since I am still pretty new.
7. We fill their juice glasses and keep an eye on those and their waters.
8. Clear their salads once they are finished and throw away the leftover food and put the plates into buckets.
9. Then we serve the main course to our tables.
10. Clear those plates once we are done.
11. Serve the dessert and fill their water glasses.
12. Shut the doors and let them do there program or whatever they have planned for the function.
13. Then we get to go in the back and eat rolls, salad, their main course, and their dessert. Such yummy food! My favorite part of the job! Free food!
14. Once they start leaving we go and clear everything from each of the tables.
15. Stack the chairs and put up the tables.
16. Put all the table clothes into a linen bag.
17. Wipe up the kitchen and we are free to go!

This whole routine is supossed to take 6 hours. 2 to set up, 2 to serve, and 2 to clear. But depending on the function is usually only takes 5 hours. Only once have I stayed 6 hours and that was for a huge wedding reception. All in all it is a pretty good job. I get paid 8 bucks an hour and sometimes I get 20 dollar tips! Everyone is so nice and we are all friends. It does take a lot out of me by the end of the day. Besides the outfit I really like my job! :O)