One day I saw a woman crying in our bar. She was sitting at a table with her capuccino in front of her, and she had two girlfriends around consoling her. I started thinking about it and imagining what could have caused her tears to come out. Many stories came to mind, but that wasn’t the point at all. That day I realized an important thing.
Every once in a while I have to take catering to the offices nearby. Some are very big and nice, while some are really unbelievable. In the I-don’t-know-how-many-storey modern building there are offices, or to be more exact cages, where people literally work like hens that have to produce a certain number of eggs every day, and have barely enough place to turn around. This huge, with wooden barriers filled floor gave me chills, even though I saw it just for a few minutes!
And that made me realize how important job I am doing. The break when all these modern slaves come out and have a coffee and breakfast means so much to them! I have never seen a person that would be miserable because it has to leave the office and go for coffee. So if in these 30 minutes or so we can make their stay pleasant, food tasty and coffee delicious, we are literally making their day. And if we serve them with a genuine smile, that’s even so much better!
I really started enjoying work once I realized this. I always liked working in hospitality, but a philosophical upgrade made a huge difference to me. And when I see a smile on their face when I bring them a plate of a huge and beautifully arranged breakfast, it makes me really happy that I’m a part of their joy. I’m a part of one of their favorite moments of their working day.
That crying woman made me realize that these people are not just robots that appear there every day. Work, eat, drink, work… They are people with feelings. Sometimes I carefully watch all those different faces and try to imagine them in all the most impossible situations I could think of, as far as possible from suits and marble floors. I think about how they have a sincere laugh with their friends, how they cry, play with children, sleep, fear, express fury and anger, sing in the shower, get drunk, have sex, sweat during sports, do goofy faces in front of the mirror… Some of them have families, some have gay lovers, some have huge aspirations, some dream of impossible things, others of very simple ones. It’s a wonderful palette of people. And every one of them has a story to tell.
Every once in a while I have to take catering to the offices nearby. Some are very big and nice, while some are really unbelievable. In the I-don’t-know-how-many-storey modern building there are offices, or to be more exact cages, where people literally work like hens that have to produce a certain number of eggs every day, and have barely enough place to turn around. This huge, with wooden barriers filled floor gave me chills, even though I saw it just for a few minutes!
And that made me realize how important job I am doing. The break when all these modern slaves come out and have a coffee and breakfast means so much to them! I have never seen a person that would be miserable because it has to leave the office and go for coffee. So if in these 30 minutes or so we can make their stay pleasant, food tasty and coffee delicious, we are literally making their day. And if we serve them with a genuine smile, that’s even so much better!
I really started enjoying work once I realized this. I always liked working in hospitality, but a philosophical upgrade made a huge difference to me. And when I see a smile on their face when I bring them a plate of a huge and beautifully arranged breakfast, it makes me really happy that I’m a part of their joy. I’m a part of one of their favorite moments of their working day.
That crying woman made me realize that these people are not just robots that appear there every day. Work, eat, drink, work… They are people with feelings. Sometimes I carefully watch all those different faces and try to imagine them in all the most impossible situations I could think of, as far as possible from suits and marble floors. I think about how they have a sincere laugh with their friends, how they cry, play with children, sleep, fear, express fury and anger, sing in the shower, get drunk, have sex, sweat during sports, do goofy faces in front of the mirror… Some of them have families, some have gay lovers, some have huge aspirations, some dream of impossible things, others of very simple ones. It’s a wonderful palette of people. And every one of them has a story to tell.