Chapter 14

Service

For the next five days Josh did everything he could to help run the restaurant. While Dharma slept in the manager’s office, he took orders, served food, cleared off tables, washed dishes, cooked, and greeted customers. Anything Carroll needed him to do he did, but his favorite part was greeting and talking to the customers.

He met all kinds of people with all kinds of personalities. Some treated him with kindness and respect, while others treated him like a servant who was beneath them. They had no idea of his background or that he was responsible for some of the commercials they saw on television. To some, he was simply a waiter, someone with nothing better to do with his life. For this reason, Josh thought everyone should have to wait tables at some point in their life. They would have a new appreciation for the restaurant business and the people who serve. They would understand that those who serve are real people with real, families, real challenges, hopes, and dreams. Once people experienced life as a waiter, they would never again be rude to servers, and they would give bigger tips, too.

In his role as a waiter, Josh knew it didn’t matter what people thought about him. What mattered was how he felt about serving. He loved it! The minute he started serving others, all his problems went away. Instead of worrying about his life, his future, and his job, he was focused on making sure other people were happy. He wasn’t sure whether he was the only one who felt this way about serving, but when he met Pamela, a coworker, he knew he wasn’t alone. As much as Josh loved serving, Pamela seemed to love it more. One day while on a break, Josh asked her why she loved her job so much. “It’s the people,” she said. “I just love the customers.”

“Even the negative ones?” Josh asked, always trying to learn something from everyone he met. He was a student of life, and he wanted to know what made Pamela tick.

“Yes, even the negative ones,” she said, smiling. “But I don’t see them as negative. I see them as people who need more love and attention. I think they are negative because they’ve been let down before. They’ve had bad service and have lost their faith in people. I see it as my job to earn their trust. To show them I am willing to do whatever it takes to make their meal enjoyable. And it’s so funny. The more I love them and earn their trust, the more they open up to me, and their negativity melts away. It takes a little more effort, but it’s so much more meaningful.”

“Do they appreciate it?” Josh asked.

“Oh, yes,” Pamela said. “I’ve been working here for four years, and I have a wall full of holiday cards at my house from so many of my customers. They come in with their families, and I’ve been able to watch their children grow. Even when the place is slow, which has been a lot lately, my section is always full because so many people ask for me.”

After meeting Pamela, Josh realized why he loved waiting tables so much. Like Pamela, he loved to serve.

Josh also noticed something else about working at the restaurant. Despite working harder and expending more physical energy at the restaurant than at his “real” job, he felt more energized at the end of the day. The more energy he shared with a service mind-set, the more he was refueled. He decided that hard work doesn’t make you tired. A bad attitude is what makes you tired.

Josh thought of these things as he waited outside the restaurant to say good-bye to Carroll. He had worked there for five days, the movie was no longer popular, the restaurant had slowed down considerably, and Josh knew it was time for him to leave and figure out where to go next.

Carroll met Josh and Dharma outside to say good-bye and to ask him one more time to stay and work at the restaurant with her until they could open their own restaurant together. But Josh knew that although the restaurant reminded him of his desire to serve, he wasn’t meant to be in the restaurant business. He was meant to apply what he loved about waiting tables to his current job or a new one. He was meant to bring a server’s mind-set to whatever career he chose.