Bug Soup

Published on 20 October 2023 at 14:00

I had wild experiences in my first two jobs. Since I was only 15 years old and wanted to work at a young age, I wanted to find a place to work that was close and somewhat well-paying. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t expecting a $30-an-hour part-time job. Anyway, my first mistake was choosing to work in food service. Some restaurants will pay an employee well, but never enough for all the hell they have to go through. 

After interviewing for my second job, I was instantly hired. I honestly did enjoy it at first, I’m just not sure what went wrong. I was trained only as a hostess at this restaurant. I got hired at $8.00 an hour which isn’t great, but I was promised tips from each server at the end of my shift. I got a maximum of $10 in tips on a good night. Sometimes $2 or $3 tips were given, and I wanted to cry. To be fair, I finished a lot of work and got sent home early half of the time due to the emptiness of the restaurant. I wanted to stick out working there until I was 16 because then I’d have an array of job options open to me. However, that doesn’t make what I saw there any less painful.

At this point, I started working weekends only, which was fine with me. I was busy with schoolwork and needed a bit of a break during the week. Working there got worse and worse. I waited until February 10th, when I’d give my two weeks and quit my job on my 16th birthday! I always had a feeling deep down that the employees there didn’t exactly like me, but I never dared to say anything to them. 

I’ll never forget the most disgusting experience there when I decided I’d never eat from that kitchen again. I had one of the only friendly co-workers make my food all the time, but this boundary crossed the line. This poor old woman came in and sat in a booth. She was a little old lady, probably with a small appetite. She ordered a cup of wedding soup. What is supposed to be a delicious Italian soup with pork meatballs and various spinach greens was turned into a hot cup of health violations. Many servers and cooks were all in the back, along with me. I stood in the corner and kept to myself often. The manager poured a cup of soup for the customer and put it on a plate with a napkin and some crackers. She held it in her hand, along with a few other items. She turned to the girl working the takeout counter and said, “Pull that bug out.” 

I didn’t know what to do. Was I supposed to explain to the lady not to eat her soup because there may or may not be more bugs in it? Maybe I should have dumped the soup in the sink in the back or put vinegar in the container and warned the manager the soup tasted off. I regret not informing that lady in the restaurant. I feel bad that she took the rest of the soup home. 

After leaving that job, I met with one of my former coworkers a couple of months later. She explained to me that a majority of my old coworkers, some of whom I thought were my friends, would talk about me while I was seating customers in front of the restaurant. I will admit, I definitely wasn’t perfect in that job. I was far from it. I did one too many things wrong in that job. For starters, working there was my first mistake. 

I should talk about this in therapy because this anger is not healthy.

Latte Love, 

Jill

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Comments

PAP
a year ago

Loved your story. The restaurant lost a good worker. I blame the manager/owner for not having business knowledge, morals and ethics.