Jack’s Winning Words 5/21/21 “I really believe that waiting tables makes you a better person.”  (Judy Greer)  Today is Waitstaff Day, time to put down “something extra as a TIP.  Daughter Beth’s first real job was as a waitress at Joey’s Café.  It was her introduction to “the demands of the public.”  Eddie, the cook, was quick to give her tips (non-money).   It doesn’t matter what your occupation is, you can still be a servant and make someone’s life better.  If you worked as a server, what interesting event do you remember?  ;-)  Jack FROM WILLMAR REV:  Still at it . . . several similarities found in serving in a local coffee shop and serving in the local church?! 0;-) ===JACK:  Some pastors sometimes take a part-time job as a coffee shop server (or other restaurant server) so they can get a different kind of contact with people.  Have you ever done that?===REV:  The various chaplaincy outreaches serve as such (some volunteer and a couple are paid). (*) A G Hours spent out and away from the Church Building and Office: ...almart/Subway...Routine Community Outreach: 7 hours (Mondays)...   Law Enforcement Cener ...   Rice Hospital ER & Ambulance Services ...   Willmar Fire Department ...   Divine House Administrative Offices (Paid) ...   Divine Home and Hospice Care Administrative Offices (Paid)...   Frieda’s Cafe ...   Other retail business and hospital offices, as I walk by visiting with those listed above.  ===JACK:  It doesn't look like you have time to serve coffee at sTARBUCKS, or to be a WALMART greeter. FROM ST PAUL IN ST PAUL:  working in the Livonia Convalescent Home for $1.10 an hour as a orderly one summer.   i got into some very "human" and smelly situations but it was a good lesson for life. ===JACK:  There are "situations" that help build empathy.  When we avoid them, because "we don't like the smell, the sight, the feeling," our lives are the less because of it.  Livonia helped you become a better pastor...as I see it.===SP:  i would agree.    also running Jack Hammers for the Wayne County Road Commission for two summers in college.   i met a group of workers that i would never have been exposed to otherwise.  i also sold Mary Jane shoes for two summers (parttime work) and that too was a real learning experience.   also worked at two Bible Camps during seminary summers.   lots of exposure to lots of different people. ===JACK:  "People (who have the opportunity to be among ordinary people) are the luckiest people in the world." FROM NORM'S BLOG:  In your post there's this piece of advice from a restaurant worker – “It doesn’t matter what your occupation is, you can still be a servant and make someone’s life better.”  There is a lot in this piece of advice that is rooted in the  teachings of Christ – serving others and making their life better. There is purpose in service to others and a rewarding feeling of accomplishment if something that you do makes someone else’s life better.===JACK:  Thanks for always coming up with something that helps cement the idea behind my WWs. FROM JU IN NC:  We serve at whatever we do.  When I hear people at work complain about Monday morning, I remind them that Monday morning is the best opportunity to begin serving our customers for the rest of the week.===JACK:  I seem to recall from reading your diary that the way you worked and treated people was appreciated at the PX.  I think that the training you received during your growing up years paid off in the long run.  I like servers who do good work...not for the tips...because that's their nature. FROM BB IN CHGO:  I served for a decade at many restaurants.  I still dream of tables of people waiting for food and kitchen glitches.  The work was hard on your feet but rewarding and I felt my enthusiasm made for a better day.  The tips often depended on making some kind of connection with the people and making them feel you’d gone out of your way to make their experience pleasant.===JACK:  Whether as a waitress, or just as a person in general, things go better when you make the people around you feel that they're having a pleasant experience.  You are that kind of person. FROM BLAZING OAKS:  I never waited on tables in a restaurant, but my daughter Sarah worked in an upscale Pizza place (if there is such a thing!) And often said the people who look least likely to afford a generous tip were often the ones to do so, and every once in a while she had a party of 8 or10 who were a lot of work and left nothing!!  Life lessons...:-)===JACK:  Some restaurants pay a low wage, figuring that tips are part of what is earned.  Since I haven't been in that business I'll leave employer and employee to come to an agreement.  Pastors often get a gift after performing pastoral duties. I never looked upon those as a tip...but they have to be reported to the IRS as income.  FROM A SUNSHINE BOY:  working my way thru college and wanting to eat, I had a meal job serving fraternity boys - no tips but I did get fed -  thus I don't recommend serving fraternity boys or fraternity boys period . . . course I'm sure I'm bias ===JACK:  Serving fraternity boys beats going hungry...and teaches social skills, sometimes negatively.  You came out OK with no visible scars. FROM MAGP:  I remember Mike and my Mom, Eileen, telling about being a carhop at A&W when she was young. They had to pay for any broken glass root beer mugs out of their earnings. I guess that was to make them more careful.===JACK:  Waiting tables involves more than witing tables.  It means "learning to be careful...the value of cleanliness and good service...the value of money...how to get along with different kinds of people.  I read this morning that A&W was the first fast-food restaurant, started in 1919. FROM LBP:  Does DQ girl count? Given the long lines in the summer I’d think so. It was my first job, outside of babysitting, and I will still recite things I learned there.===JACK:  Ah! Patty and  Frank!  "Hey,  I'm not paying you to talk to your boyfriends."  Frank has since died, and Patty has remarried.. ==LBP:  “I’m not paying you to be worried about school or your boyfriends. Leave all that at the back door. You can pick it up on your way out”  As a manager now, that’s a hard one, Especially with folks working from home now.  We cannot always leave it at the door. ===JACK:  Frank was a successful manager, because he was "hardnosed."  If you want the manager's job, then you have to take what goes with it.  Personally, that wasn't for me.  I would have let you talk to your boyfriends.