 
Support Wrong Planet Awareness!
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Adventus
Butterfly
Joined: Aug 26, 2009
Posts: 11
|
|
| Back to top |
|
chaotik_lord
Tufted Titmouse
Joined: Mar 18, 2009
Age: 25
Posts: 33
|
 Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 9:38 pm Post subject: |
 |
|
Love the thread. I was unable to be hired until my ex talked a manager into hiring me. They loved my memory and efficiency but that's where it ended . . .
Never tell people that certain dishes aren't good and why.
Never expect your tables to think rationally.
Never run out the back door in the middle of hell rush, sit down, and start rocking.
Never stare while listening to them order.
Never answer their social questions. Apparently, "They don't want to hear about you. It's their night. Just give them a normal response." Whatever that is. It's much like your usual issue with "How are you," but multiplied.
Never fail to insert a fake laugh at their unfunny and oft-repeated jokes. You'll learn the jokes from when customers laugh. Memorize them. They are either sure this is the height of wit, or are reciting them knowing they are hackneyed but are indicating some sort of social engagement. After years of hell, I never reached any irrefutable conclusion on the topic.
DO correct them when they order erroneously. I know this is counter to what we have been taught, but it will serve you well here. NEVER deliver this as a correction. You must pose it as a question. Like Jeopardy, your income depends on it.
Never look elsewhere while talking to a table.
Well, it's much like all other social training, with a singular exception: they're paying for it. If they don't care for you (and that's sadly more important than accuracy and speed), you don't eat.
And that's why I never recommend this career for Aspies. I only enjoyed it twice: when I worked for a dying restaurant and had no tables (they closed, sadly), and when I worked for a breakfast house for two years that had counter regulars whom I knew, and who were largely engineers for Rockwell Collins. We spoke tech, and I memorized their coffee orders. The rest of the time, it was hell. I did enjoy being a cook, but only during slow times. Lots of burning and discarding at other periods. |
|
| Back to top |
|
asplint
Butterfly
Joined: Oct 18, 2009
Posts: 15
Location: Washington, DC metro area
|
| Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 3:04 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Hello chaotik_lord,
I'm sorry your waitering job did not turn out well.
You're quite right in that many Aspies would find it very difficult. Some many succeed in it with hard work if they were really motivated.
You've given some very good examples of how personal needs need to be subordinated to your customers' needs. For example, we Aspies do need to decompress...doing so in the middle of a rush - precisely when we'd be most likely to want to do that - causes bad things.
Also, we Aspies believe in being honest, and that's a good thing - especially when you're handling money. Never disparage your employer's wares to customers. (It would be as if your ex had said "Actually chaotik_lord would not be a good employee." How would you feel about that? The people who pay you would feel the same way, only much stronger.)
And, it's very important to know how to tactfully correct someone - and just as you said, putting it in the form of a question often helps.
Most importantly, just as you said it's vital that the people who pay for you care for you. No matter how good a job you believe you're actually doing, if on a gut level the customers don't like you or your work, you need to change these perceptions by doing things they do like. Even if you don't share their standards.
Excellent points all around.
If I may ask, what do you do for a living now?
_________________
Jeff Deutsch
Life Coach & Presenter
A SPLINT - ASPies LInking with NTs
http://www.asplint.com |
|
| Back to top |
|
chaotik_lord
Tufted Titmouse
Joined: Mar 18, 2009
Age: 25
Posts: 33
|
| Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 1:36 am Post subject: |
|
|
I'm the concessions coordinator at an indie movie theatre. It's a very slow and quiet theatre with a largely subdued and intellectual clientele. My job primarily consists of handling stock, inventory, and a lot of counting. It's not my future; I do hope to finish college some day, but it is work I do not dread. Actually, I quite like it. Particularly at the end of the night when I'm doing my computer work.
Its only drawback is that as a person who is technically on management staff, if I ever do speak to a customer, they're often disgruntled. However, for some reason, the fact that I don't wear a uniform usually satisfies them, even if I only repeat what the floor staff member has said to them. Ah, the power of khaki pants.
And if that doesn't work, I just bump the problem up a level. I have responsibility, but no real authority, so that's exactly what I'm meant to do. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
|
