Adapting at Work

Recently at work I’ve decided to take on projects that are not necessarily my forte. I work in a restaurant and we are starting to deliver our food to any house within a five-mile radius. I currently work as a key holder, bartender, and server, so deliver driving is very new to me. The owners of the restaurant, however, have required any manager take an order if the delivery driver is unable to. This means that I would have to take an order in this event. At first I was very hesitant of this change. This wasn’t in my original job description, so why do I have to do it now? It took me about 30 seconds to realize a few things:

1) As a manager, it is my job to adapt to situations without any hesitation. Would I want my employees to react negatively to the things I ask them to do? My answer is obviously no. So, with that being said I sucked it up, and changed my attitude immediately.

2) The workplace is ever-changing, regardless of your profession, and if I’m going to succeed in a career in my field, I need to start accepting change more efficiently now.

3) If our delivery service grows and we need to hire another driver, I will no longer be needed, and can return to my original duties.

4) This is a perfect situation to write about in my blog — so why not use this to my advantage.

With these realizations, I was ready to take on this new task. My first delivery was on a slower weekday night in the restaurant, after I had sent the delivery driver home at 8pm — mind you, we stop accepting delivery orders at 9pm. Just my luck, as soon as he walked out the door, I got a phone call for a delivery. After I accepted it, the kitchen staff began preparing it, and in about twenty minutes I was ready to take my first order. There was another manager on-duty with me, but I volunteered to take this one.

The drive was only about ten minutes from our restaurant, and the woman I was delivering to was extremely friendly. The entire interaction with her took about 5 minutes, and I was back in my car driving to the restaurant.

Honestly, I’m not sure why I was as hesitant as I was about taking delivery orders. I was able to leave the restaurant, and have a mini “break” in my car, and I made an extra $5 I didn’t have before.

I’m starting to accept the fact that change happens, and that in order for me to be employable in the future, I need to be able to adapt. I’ll continue accepting new tasks that I previously wouldn’t, and practicing my new skill.