Any people waiters? Onto my third real job and extremely nervous..

Hi everyone :)
New here and I know this question has been posted twice before, but maybe some people didn't see them!

I'm only 18 and have had two jobs. One was at an amusement park, no one properly trained me and I had a new manager every day. This made my anxiety extremely bad and I ended up quitting after a month or so. My second job was at Canadian Tire (similar to Rona) where I worked on the floor. I was doing decently well, but there were times my manager would be mad at me for something or a customer would get angry and my anxiety would go off, eventually it built up to where I didn't want to show up anymore and called in sick one too many times.

My sister let me know she could get me a job as a waitress and thinks I can do it despite my shyness, but I wanted to know if anyone had any experiences with anxiety and being a waitress. I'm decently good at making myself be friendly in social situations, what concerns me is dropping food, dealing with angry customers, not being quick enough when it's busy, confusing orders/drinks, forgetting the menu or a person's order, and I guess disappointing customers.

If anyone has any insight or stories I'd really appreciate them :)

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Originally Posted by Kali Forrest

Hi everyone :) New here and I know this question has been posted twice before, but maybe some people didn't see them! I'm only 18 and have had two jobs. One was at an amusement park, no one properly trained me and I had a new manager every day. This made my anxiety extremely bad and I ended up quitting after a month or so. My second job was at Canadian Tire (similar to Rona) where I worked on the floor. I was doing decently well, but there were times my manager would be mad at me for something or a customer would get angry and my anxiety would go off, eventually it built up to where I didn't want to show up anymore and called in sick one too many times. My sister let me know she could get me a job as a waitress and thinks I can do it despite my shyness, but I wanted to know if anyone had any experiences with anxiety and being a waitress. I'm decently good at making myself be friendly in social situations, what concerns me is dropping food, dealing with angry customers, not being quick enough when it's busy, confusing orders/drinks, forgetting the menu or a person's order, and I guess disappointing customers. If anyone has any insight or stories I'd really appreciate them :)

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Firstly I never been a Waitor but I am also 18 and worked in a supermarket for 2 years stacking shelves. I found my anxiety was really high working there and I'm so glad I don't anymore. However I began to hate the job so much mainly because it was an obnoxious chain that didn't care about the worker but claimed it did I was treated as a number not a person which gave me no incentive to work hard. In some ways this helped my anxiety because instead of worrying about what I could do wrong (like I did for the first year I worked there) I Began to hate it and the people who shopped there. When I was yelled at by a customer because we didn't have the right cat food they wanted I said good bye and walked away furious I went to the manager told them and she never again showed her face in the shop all I'm saying is the customer isn't always right if anyone treats you in fairly just remove yourself from the situation. Your a human being and can't be treated like that. If it's something you've done wrong such as getting the wrong order. It's a simple and easy mistake to make and I'm sure 99% of customers would feel no anger towards you for it. Mistakes happen! I know this sounds stupid because of the anxiety just try not to take the job so seriously and then you won't worry about it as much that's what I found and I really hope this is helpful to you even though very different

I have no experience whatsoever with waitressing at a restaurant. Firstly because I've never had that job, and secondly because I'm a dude. Lol, just trying to keep this lighthearted for you. But seriously, I have heard numerous other people describe waitressing. The experience will very much depend on what type of restaurant is it and the shift you're working. If it's a popular restaurant during a busy shift, then yes, you'll have lots of orders.

However, I think what I'm about to say applies regardless of almost any job you're working at. You need to learn relaxation techniques, breathing techniques, etc. When you're busy, you need to actually slow down how you approach each and every order and customer. When you're busy and nervous and stressed, that's when you start forgetting things and making mistakes. When you make one, you quickly become hyper stressed and anxious and continue making more mistakes. It's the classic case of a viscous circle.

When it's busy, you have to realise what you are reasonably expected to do. You have to calmly serve each customer quickly, but not rushed to avoid mistakes, and then move on to the next. If something does happen, you have to learn not to freak out, calmly and quickly make the appropriate correction and again, move on to the next. Most decent bosses will appreciate a worker who calmly and quickly recovers from an error.

And in the meantime, get some help in relaxing. Exercise, meditation, quiet contemplative periods, listening to soothing music, engaging in a relaxing hobby, getting plenty of quality sleep, cutting out food and drink stimulants etc.