OUTLINE
I. Intro
II. The Learning Journey As a Waitress
III. Realization + Thanking My Coworkers & Aunt
Crawling Out Of My Shell
In the summer of 2023, I started my very first job at the age of 18 with no experience whatsoever. My aunt from my dadās side, who is the boss of the restaurant, gave me the opportunity to work at her restaurant. I was really hesitant about that idea. I was overthinking everything and my anxiety was spiking through the roof even thinking about me being a waitress. I was a waitress at a family restaurant in North Carolina. My parents thought that I was incapable of doing the job when they heard about my auntās offer and to be totally honest, as much as I hate to admit, I thought the same because of how I act around people. When Iām out in public, sometimes Iāll catch an attitude if someone decides to stare at me longer than usual or if they give me an attitude cause Iām not afraid to give one back. However I am also really shy, very quiet whenever people first talk to me and I get awkward in conversation. Basically my parents thought I had no social skills. I told them āJust give me some time to adjust and get a feel of working as a waitress. I know you know that I canāt just magically know how to do things so quickly in something I have never done before.ā Before I was even a waitress at this restaurant, I was a trainee as a host for a bit where I just guided people to their table and asked them what they would like to drink and then wrote it down on the notepad. I feel like this position was pretty easy. I just needed to do three simple steps. Thatās until I got switched to being a waitress.
Iāve observed the other waitresses before I became one. And the other waitresses there, they were extremely welcoming and offered to teach me and helped me along the way because I was really shy at first while interacting with the customers. Sometimes I got lost on what I needed to do. However there was this one waitress, sheās been working there for about 6-7 years. Sheās about 5 ā3 and is probably in her early to mid 40ās. She had her red to brownish hair in a ponytail. She was wearing those black flare leggings with a black t-shirt with the dangling butterfly earrings. In such a short span of time, she made me feel comfortable by giving me support here and there and checked up on me to see how I was doing. She reassured me that itās okay if Iām having a rough start as a waitress because Iām still learning as I go and am new to the experience. She was always around whenever I needed help. She had taught me how to properly clean the tables, memorizing the beverages names on the notepad, what I needed to put into the machine where we put in our customersā orders and having to get ice and putting it into a bucket. I thought to myself, āHm, I definitely got this. Iām capable of doing this job.ā I was coming in 5-6 times a week working from 9am-5pm. It was tiring but I knew deep down in my heart, I needed to push myself, to show my family that I can do this and also for myself.
As weeks went by, I eventually got way better at the job but I obviously wouldnāt say Iām a professional at it. My parents later on realized I wasnāt as bad as they thought and were actually quite impressed. Iāve got good tips from being a waitress and had no trouble interacting with the customers. My parents now have a little glimmer of hope in me. This was also a learning experience for my parents to know who I am as a person too and see what Iām capable of doing. I was proud of myself that I was able to prove them wrong, made my parents proud of me and proud of myself that I was able to push myself to work instead of shutting down the offer that my aunt gave me. With all the support and help from my peers, I was able to get out of my comfort zone, be able to talk with customers and be a good waitress. And want to thank my aunt for giving me this job opportunity and making it a positive experience for me.
I like your writing a lot the way you explain yourself in the beginning and how it doesn’t sound boring and interesting to read. I would say try to expand more on the sections to try and connect this to your education.
I liked how you added specific details throughout your story like describing the person who helped you. I would say maybe expand in the scene where you had a conversation with your parents to show the importance of how there words mattered to you.
Belinda: Let’s talk about this in class. Remember this is supposed to be an Education Narrative. So how has this waitressing job impacted your Educational life?
I see that you feel work has been a learning experience, but — are you sure you don’t have a school setting experience that would work better for this assignment? If you feel strongly that you want to write about your work experience then you need to really SHOW that you have learned something very significant/life changing from this job.
If you choose to continue with this, here are some ideas. You must focus on the learning experience of this waitressing time in your life. THere must be an EDUCATION focus. How have you changed as a person? What have you learned?
Work on paragraph breaks. Work on creating scenes and scenes with dialogue. Remember to create THEATRE OF THE MIND.
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In the summer of 2023, I started my very first job at the age of 18 with no experience whatsoever. My aunt from my dadās side, who is the boss of the restaurant, gave me the opportunity to work at her restaurant. I was really hesitant about that idea. I was overthinking everything and my anxiety was spiking through the roof even thinking about me being a waitress. I was a waitress at a family restaurant in North Carolina. [UNCLEAR ā you jumpt to you already have a waitress job??]
[NEW PAR] My parents thought that I was incapable of doing the job when they heard about my auntās offer and to be totally honest, as much as I hate to admit, I thought the same because of how I act around people. When Iām out in public, sometimes Iāll catch an attitude if someone decides to stare at me longer than usual or if they give me an attitude cause Iām not afraid to give one back. [CLARIFY ā all this attitude stuff ā need good examples of your exact behavior ā with details ā explain difference between you with this attitude and you being shy]
However I am also really shy, very quiet whenever people first talk to me and I get awkward in conversation.
[NEW PAR] Basically my parents thought I had no social skills. I told them āJust give me some time to adjust and get a feel of working as a waitress. I know you know that I canāt just magically know how to do things so quickly in something I have never done before.ā Before I was even a waitress at this restaurant, I was a trainee as a host for a bit where I just guided people to their table and asked them what they would like to drink and then wrote it down on the notepad. I feel like this position was pretty easy. I just needed to do three simple steps. Thatās until I got switched to being a waitress.
[NEW PAR] Iāve observed the other waitresses before I became one. And the other waitresses there, they were extremely welcoming and offered to teach me and helped me along the way because I was really shy at first while interacting with the customers. Sometimes I got lost on what I needed to do. [GOOD PLACE TO CREATE A SCENe ā name? what kind of support? Dialogue? ] However there was this one waitress, sheās been working there for about 6-7 years. Sheās about 5 ā3 and is probably in her early to mid 40ās. She had her red to brownish hair in a ponytail. She was wearing those black flare leggings with a black t-shirt with the dangling butterfly earrings. In such a short span of time, she made me feel comfortable by giving me support here and there and checked up on me to see how I was doing. She reassured me that itās okay if Iām having a rough start as a waitress because Iām still learning as I go and am new to the experience. She was always around whenever I needed help. She had taught me how to properly clean the tables, memorizing the beverages names on the notepad, what I needed to put into the machine where we put in our customersā orders and having to get ice and putting it into a bucket. I thought to myself, āHm, I definitely got this. Iām capable of doing this job.ā I was coming in 5-6 times a week working from 9am-5pm. It was tiring but I knew deep down in my heart, I needed to push myself, to show my family that I can do this and also for myself.
[NEW PAR] As weeks went by, I eventually got way better at the job [DETAILS ā what ways you were better?] but I obviously wouldnāt say Iām a professional at it. My parents later on realized I wasnāt as bad as they thought and were actually quite impressed. Iāve got good tips from being a waitress and had no trouble interacting with the customers. My parents now have a little glimmer of hope in me.
[NEW PAR] This was also a learning experience for my parents to know who I am as a person too and see what Iām capable of doing. [DETAILS of better understanding between you and parents ā SCENE with DIALOGUE showing better relationship with parents?] I was proud of myself that I was able to prove them wrong, made my parents proud of me and proud of myself that I was able to push myself to work instead of shutting down the offer that my aunt gave me [FOCUS ON THE LEARNING EXPERIENCE — WHAT BIG THINGS DID YOU LEARN ABOUT YOURSELF FROM HAVING THIS JOB? HOW HAVE YOU CHANGED/BEEN TRANSFORMED/MATURED OR GROWN?] With all the support and help from my peers, I was able to get out of my comfort zone, be able to talk with customers and be a good waitress. And want to thank my aunt for giving me this job opportunity and making it a positive experience for me.