The Show

Day Twenty-Eight of Thirty Days of Writing

Amanda DeNatale
Aug 24, 2017 · 3 min read
Andrew Welch | Unsplash

Generally, there is nothing going on at lunchtime as I sit here at the bar, an actor on a stage with no audience. As I look out upon my stage, crisp white light saunters across the glossy finish of the wood. I run my hand over the edge of the bar’s rounded moldings. There are a few guys in the back and prepping buckets of various foods. Meats, vegetables, and croutons all in their respective containers, so large they seem to lose their individual identities. No longer are they a tomato, but tomatoes. Really, I am alone in this place, and waiting. All of my chairs, angled at forty-five degrees await patrons to belly-up. An actor, alone on the stage, awaits an audience, without direction.

Working in a restaurant is similar to putting on a play. We have the actors, the support staff, and the directors. The job of the server is to put on and uphold the show, or charade. There are expectations that our audience, the customers, have when they walk through the door. They want the bells and the whistles, and the grandiose pleasure of being waited on. They expect you to come to them and say hello, and how are you, and my name is X, Y, or Z. They know what we call the steps of service as Acts One, Two, and Three: Offer beverages, offer appetizers, and take order.

But, as with any production, there would be no success without a good director or manager, and no show without the support of the stage crew or kitchen staff in this scenario — with no one to prepare the food, the show will not go on. Its what they come for.

It also does not bode well for the director to take too much spotlight, for if they are acting, then who is directing? Who is the problem solver? The director’s job, as with a manager, is to facilitate good behavior and correct behavior in their servers or actors. If they try to steal the spotlight too much, the actors will abandon them for a show with more promise because without the promise of prosperity, literal or artistic, what is the point? It is lucky that servers have this transient ability, because there are others that do not. Who are these others? The stage crew or the kitchen staff.

These are the people who deserve your utmost respect, for they arrive the earliest and leave later than all other employees. They slave in a three-foot-wide, at max, alley surrounded by hot stoves and heat lamps. They are doused with the murky dishwater, littered with soggy French fries and tortilla chips, the server that is so busy or inconsiderate they have forgotten the person, that runs the metallic machine. Yet without these people there would be no food to serve, no dishes to serve with, and we would have nothing but a load of bullshit to feed to tables.

There are several roles that are necessary for success, but just as important, if not more so, is the need for all participants to stay and excel in their roles. To do this is to provide clear and concise communication. To run a successful business, or show, is to share the information on what responsibility each of these roles holds. This information needs to be clear, for if undefined then there will be certain confusions and some employees will undoubtedly fall short of expectations that they do not know exist. For if unknown, how can we all fulfill our duties at full capacity? These businesses rely on communication, and of the skills required from A to Z, miscommunication is where we often fall short in the restaurant industry. The customer does not understand what they are ordering. The server does not understand what the customer has asked for. The manager does not communicate with the employees consistently and effectively, and as a result we fall short.


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Amanda DeNatale

Written by

Writer/Bartender/Junior Editor for F(r)iction/ MFA grad/ Hula hooper/Daydreamer/Adventurer

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