Outback Steakout

Imagine a buzzing crowd of famished customers waiting to be seated on a busy night. They overwhelm the host stand eager to get the best seat in the house. Some customers engulf the entire waiting area. The hostess was dressed in a luminous white collar shirt and in somber black pants. She is nervous and feels quickly overpowered by the persistent demands of the customers. That hostess was me.

I was the new host at an Outback Steakhouse. I was still in training and I couldn't keep up with the job. When the duty of pleasing everybody falls upon your shoulders, it can be an overbearing burden. Unfortunately, I had a misconception before I got hired that hosting was easy and quite effortless. I was extremely wrong. Hosting is one of the most important positions in a restaurant. They control the traffic of customers and the impact of it on the kitchen. We are the first faces people see when they come in hoping for a memorable experience. There is pressure to execute our job with the highest of honors. Sometimes, we deal with conflict! Conflicts that range from customers complaining about their steaks to arguments over the bar. That's what I felt throughout my …show more content…
I sensed that I was going too slow for some of the customers' liking. I had even gotten a complaint that the wait times were too long. Tension built up in like a volcano ready to explode. I was frazzled and distressed by all the expectations I was expected to meet. (Every training day I made mistakes such as seating the wrong booth or table.) I started to despise working on busy days and prayed I would be scheduled on days where little to no customers showed up. Honestly, I felt like quitting. Thoughts that I was incapable of handling the job haunted me every night before work. A voice in my head said, "You know you aren't fit for this." Waking up for work was the worst. A dark cloud loomed over me as I would freshen up for