Monday, December 12, 2011

What It's Like To Get Fired From Three Waitressing Jobs

This story is not about me. It's about a close friend of mine, whose name is Samandra Raymond. Samandra had a LONG history of waitressing. I, uh I mean she, worked at seven different restaurants throughout her diverse career:

IHOP Wayne, NJ
Best job ever! How did Samandra not gain 100 lbs working there?
Samandra cried after every shift. Terrible! Her first night working, her customer found a screw in their salad. YIKES!
Macaroni Grill Wayne, NJ
This is where Samandra refined her ability to write her name upside down.
Il Vicino* St Louis
Bob Costas used to eat here, thank god he was never seated in Samandra's station, or her poor waitressing skills might have made the news.

Cinder's Steakhouse* Wayne, NJ
(Ironically I think the place burned down. NOT due to anything Samandra did)

Edna's Place* Melbourne, Australia
No Comment. I don't think Samandra lasted more than a month or two here.
Stir Sushi Melbourne, Australia Best job ever! Free sushi! And Samandra learned some Japanese from the chef (important expressions like "cheerful caterpillar", etc).

You know what? Samandra was actually a pretty darn bad waitress! So bad that she was actually "fired" from three of the seven jobs. Not that anyone ever actually said to her "You're fired", but there were a few instances of the following:

Samandra: "Hi, just calling to find out when I'm on the schedule next:
Restaurant Manager: "Uh, yes...About that...You're not"

Samandra couldn't understand it! She was friendly! People loved her! She even had a few tricks up her sleeve to connect with her tables:
-If two people ordered the same dish, when bringing them out to the table, she would act confused, not sure which dish was for which person. That one always got a good laugh!
-When clearing people's plates, if there was one that was completely empty, she would act concerned and say "Wasn't very good?". That one also got a hearty laugh!

Samandra made babies laugh, and practically brought out refills before people even ordered their first drink. She suggested dishes she thought people would enjoy. She loved her customers (especially the ones that left her 20% or more) and they loved her.

Why all the firing then? Was it because of that one time she spilled a tray of drinks on a customer at Il Vicino? Or the fact that she could NOT open a bottle of wine for the life of her, often pushing the cork inside expensive bottles of wine?

Thankfully, Samandra decided to end her waitressing career and pursue other passions (Design), but she will always cherish the memories of being a waitress (mostly the ones involving stuffing her face with Vive La French Toast and Chocolate Chip Pancakes with extra scoops of butter. THANK YOU, IHOP!!!).

*These are the restaurants that did not ask Samandra back


  1. I keep laughing at the thought of a whole tray dropping on customers! It reminds me of those Sesame Street scenes with Grover as the waiter :) Were the people pissed??

  2. haha! It was definitely a ridiculous moment! I don't think they were too happy about having the tray dumped on them!

  3. I didnt know you worked at macaroni grill...