I’m a waitress not a servant.

It has been really getting on my nerves lately. I’m going into my fifth week working at a bar/restaurant and every time I’m serving a customer I can’t help to think…

"I have a journalism diploma. Would you like fries with that?"

I wouldn’t be bothered by the job so much if it wasn’t so degrading and if more people showed respect towards what servers do. I don’t believe that many people even know that servers in Ontario only getting paid $6.50 an hour.

To make matters worse, I start my shift at 5 p.m. and work until early hours in the morning. I get home from work and my boyfriends waking up to go to his work. To make matters worse, I would probably be getting home a lot earlier if the owners hired a cleaning service and didn’t make me and my fellow co-workers scrub and vacuum the place. It’s completely ridiculous.

And then, there’s the owner. Everyone talks about him like he’s this big bad guy. So, I try my best to stay out of his way and as much as I would like to think that what others have said didn’t get to me. It has and I’m scared shitless of the guy.

Sometimes, he’ll follow me around to make sure I’m doing everything right. It was last week when I was serving a table of six. I just finished placing the last plate and the owner was right behind me and said.

"Hey! Little lady, how come table fifteen doesn’t have there drinks?"

I wanted to scream at him.

"You have to be kidding! Don’t you see I just finished bringing out this table’s food? How in god’s name am I supposed to be two places at the same time?"

Instead, I bit my tongue and went to get the drink orders. I almost lost it, but decided that I need the money right now. Plus, even though the place has its downs, it does have its ups as well. For example, my coworkers are kick-ass awesome. They are all team players. At the end of the night, no one will punch out until everyone’s finished their duties and if one person is taking a bit longer to finish then the rest will help that person out.

So, I guess all in all it’ll be okay for now. I just wish I could get over the fact that I’m a college graduate. I’m sure plenty of people are in the some position right now. But, it can be hard to accept the fact that I just spent thousands of dollars to go to school and I’m getting paid minimum wage.

~The Journals of D…

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