Sierra November India Papa Echo Romeo

This sem is all about practicle work and how well we survive in it, and where survival is concerned, the fittest survive. It's a competitive world out there and we all try to do our best, some mere hope to do exceptioally well, some work toward it, and some are so sure of themselves that it is a given that they hit what they aim for. I'm like that, i take for granted that i will provide perfection, but not today, today it all changed.

Its Thursday and its my first practical for service, and i am restaurant manager or RM. I know i have to set a benchmark and that i have to give it my all. I am expected to give nothing short of my 110%. On Wednesday itself i ran my staff trough the procedures, i didn't wnat them to go into the field unprepared and panicking, their performance would, indirectly, affect my image as their leader, and i can't have that on my benchmark. Anyways, i didn't realize i overlooked a few things. I'm going to make sure that this never happens ever again.

Okay, so since its my first time being an RM and its the first practical and it IS a benchmark, i thought i'd invite some people whom i'd be honored to serve. I invited mr. Allen (whom still owes me a visit to the restaurant) and Dr. Tan, a friend of my mothers. This proved to be a bite too big for me. She did come, and so did her guests. Four guests from Mancheter Uni, some lecturersfrom business (i think), and student council (i think).

They came in small groups (there were 10 of them) and we were thought to serve them all at once, on the other hand i am expected to serve them instantaneousely, so here i have a conflict of protocol. This is, of course, not the only conflicts i had. A request that affects the whole group is made by the guest, but the thing is, we are instructed to move at the host's order, again another conflict. I wasn't expecting such complications to arise, but, it was sorted out eventually. The VIP's were happy, we fulfilled our required amount of sales, and my duties as an RM are over, for now.

So okay, we (emphasis on we) did a good job. I'm glad that whatever i ran them trough the previouse day stuck with them. Mistakes were made, but so what? we learn, and it was our first day on the job. I made mistakes myself, quite a few actually, and i couldn't have done it without my team.

Now that i reflect on it a bit (again) Brian (or was it Eric) told me that we'd do fine as RM, since we've worked before and we know what we're supposed to do. Well, actually, it doesn't matter if i'ved worked before or not, this thing we're doing is not the same. In work, we have already procedures put into place by our predecessors. But in this line, i AM the predecessor for the next RM (Nanthaya). I don't have guidelines to follow or refer to, all i have is my lecturer( thank god he is all a noob RM needs) and my gut instincts. I remember how it was like working as the staff, all i did was either make or take the drinks and serve them to the guests. It was simple back then, no steps to follow. Today, in addition to having the stress of serving VIP's, we have a bunch of notes and procedures we have to strictly follow stuffed into our noggins. This fresh knowledge and the need to acess that information at the snap of a finger could be very stressful. But no doubt, we managed. And quite well i might add.

Well, at least thats one responsibility over with, i should prabably get back to my marketing assignment. Redundant little rat!

Und Bis Bald! - Nim