I have been working since 2014, which means that I have about eight years of work experience.
I started out working during the summer and my first job was in Eesti Ekspress selling newspapers. The way this worked was that on Thursdays when the Ekspress was published, all the young people would gather at the Eesti Ekspress office at 7am and receive a certain number of newspapers from there. Then, everyone went independently to different places to sell newspapers and, at the end of the day, we were told who the best newspaper seller was, meaning who sold the most newspapers. The upside of selling newspapers was that I got to work at such a young age. I was only eleven years old. My salary was small but, at that age, I rather appreciated getting some work experience. This job was a good trial for me because I had to offer newspapers to people on the street myself. No one would really come up to me to buy a newspaper. Overall, it was definitely a good first work experience I got at a fairly young age, though I would not do this job again.
I did product presentations on and off for about three years. Mostly I would go to a store and offer a variety of edible things for customers to taste. You’d need to go to the store by yourself and ask for the warehouse key from the information desk for which you’d need to sign. From the large store warehouse, you’d have to find everything you need for your presentation yourself – from ice boxes to advertising posters. After that, you’d need to find a place where you can stand. You’re not allowed to present just anywhere but no one tells you where to stand. Logically, you should be close to the product you’re presenting but still leave some room for customers to walk past. At the same time, there should be enough people walking through there, so it’s difficult to pick a spot. You also need to somehow make the place attractive for customers. You could call out to people to come and taste something or arrange the products on the table so that they would be appealing to people.
You also had to take pictures of the presentation stand and people tasting the product to prove that you were present at the store. In most cases, someone from the company of the product presented was also there. They would often present themselves as customers, so that you never knew who was there to check up on you and had to be pleasant and polite to all customers.
I have all kinds of interesting stories from product presentations. There were moments where I had to explain a product to people and there was a language barrier. The most memorable moment for me was when I was presenting a product at a store late in the evening, and there were not a lot of people around. A tattooed man, who I had spotted from afar, came up to me. I suspected that he might be tipsy. As a young girl you think that you’d rather not deal with someone like that but then he came up to talk to me. Actually, he was surprisingly polite but then it was revealed that he had just been released from prison that very day. The man didn’t scare me, but I was still keeping an eye out for the security guard because you’re totally alone at product presentations. This is just a memorable incident which also goes to show that it was very independent work, which requires a lot of courage.
Since 2019, I have been working at restaurants during the summer. At the first place I was a summer assistant, which means that I was more like a runner or errand girl. I helped the waiting staff to some degree. I took food to the tables and took orders, but since I was underage, I didn’t serve alcohol. After that, I worked at another restaurant where I would sometimes also help out during the school year. I had previously only had minimal experience in restaurant work and learned a lot at this place. I started working my own tables, making drinks, and overall getting into the restaurant life. Now I’ve been working at a third restaurant since autumn and I am doing everything that is part of the job of a server.
Overall, the job of a server involves x number of things that you can never be prepared for. A large part is interacting with customers and the moments that could occur with customers. For example, if the toilet paper runs out in the bathroom then it’s your job to replace it. These are things you might otherwise not think about. The current job is also one where I have sometimes started the day completely alone, I conduct the morning preparations – stock drinks in the fridges, prepare the bar, and turn on the lights and music in the restaurant. I create an atmosphere that customers want to come to. I’ve also finished the days alone, had to clean everything up and set the alarm for a large restaurant all by myself. Again, a job with a lot of responsibility which requires a lot of independence.
During Covid, there were some interesting incidents. There are people who don’t understand why Covid passports need to be checked and verbally abuse the waiting staff. In reality, I haven’t done anything, it is government law and the waiters can’t help it. Recently, the police visited the restaurant to check how and whether we follow the law.
There have been all kinds of misunderstandings with customers but there have been even more positive moments. For example, someone writes their phone number on the receipt. Fortunately, or unfortunately, there is a lot of flirting in the service industry, and sometimes it’s maybe hard to tell where the line is. A person is, after all, working, and not there to entertain the customer. But really, when you see that a customer is truly happy with the food or service and gives you great feedback afterwards, then that means a lot. That also makes the server happy.
One of the upsides of working at a restaurant is that you get to interact with both customers and within the collective. I believe very much that others will treat you the way you treat them, so, for me, my work team, and the people I work with, are extremely important. I always try to be helpful. For example, when I am not busy, I help others or, if I can, I go to work a bit earlier or stay later to help out. Luckily, people in the service industry usually understand that even if your workday is over, when you see someone struggling with a lot of work, you don’t just run away, you stay and help. At work, the most important thing for me is my team and being comfortable with them. It must be fun, but you also must work well together. Events outside of work with colleagues are certainly what connect employees and help create a good bond with each other. Thanks to those I have got to know people I think I would otherwise never have met. It’s important to get to know people outside of work, because that is how you find out who you share interests with.
I also think it’s cool that I get my daily steps just at work. For example, if I have a full day of work, I can easily manage 20,000 steps, so I actually get to move.
One of the downsides is that, as a server, you can’t tell the customer when you are having a bad day. If something is wrong, you still must put a happy face on and interact politely, the customer doesn’t care that you’re having a bad time. This job can sometimes also be exhausting, and some customers don’t understand what a server can or can’t do. For example, when a customer tells you that their food is cold, you apologise and offer to remake it, but it’s actually not your fault. If there is something wrong, it’s the server that gets that feedback.
Now I am working because I realised that I have some free time from university to make some extra money. Making money is a great way to spend your free time, in my opinion. I don’t want to be a server in the long term, it is just a temporary job for me. Right now, I like it, though, and I am happy to work as a server.
This article was edited by Maria Schotter, a Content creation, and Collaborative Relations team member at the youth information portal Teeviit.
Published in the youth information portal Teeviit in 2022.
