Miscommunication

When I was in high school, I worked as a hostess at Carrabba's Italian Grill. Working in a restaurant is a fast paced job that requires a lot of communication. Hostessing may seem like a minor job in the restaurant industry but in reality it is not. I was in charge of running the seating "board" for the entire restaurant to run smoothly. One night when we were extremely busy, on an hour wait at least, my boss freaks out on my for not reason! I had been managing the board well all night, so I had no idea what the problem was. Of course we couldn't speak about it with all the guests around, so I followed him into the kitchen. Apparently, unknown to me, a party of 30 had called earlier in the week and made a reservation and they had just arrived anxious for their table. The whole restaurant was packed and everyone already had their estimated wait time. The reason for this miscommunication was that the new hostess had failed to write down the reservation when it got called in, so of course I got blamed! To make a long story short, I had to bump up every one's wait time, including the party of 30, which ended up getting 15% off of their meal because of the fiasco. Needless to say, this could have all been prevented if the new hostess had written the reservation down! It was a learning experience for her, and I bet she won't make that mistake again!

Mock Interview Reflection

This week I had the opportunity to practice a job interview with a real person, which was a huge help to me. I kind of knew what to expect going into the interview, but overall I was pleasantly surprised with myself. I felt like I was a confident interviewee and the interview flowed smoothly. I was actually not nervous at all which was a little surprising because I figured I would be. Maybe this was due to the fact that Angie was the interviewer, and I know she has nothing but constructive criticism to give me..instead of a possible rejection! If I could do the interview again, I would be more prepared in my questions for the prospective employer. This question threw me, because I was so focused on telling about myself that it was difficult to switch gears and ask about the company. Overall, I feel confident in my interviewing abilities, I need to fluff up/extend my resume a little before the next one and I think I will be fine. I am excited to know that the real world is just around the corner, and I am now one step closer to my dream job! (I hope..ha)

Free Topic

Hey everybody I saw something this weekend that I thought was hilarious and I wanted to share it with you. On Saturday night, Saturday Night Live did a skit from the last presidential debate that was in Nashville TN. The SNL cast did a great job of imitating not only Obama and McCain, but also the narrator of the debate Tom Brokaw. If you happened to see the debate last week then you will get a kick out of all of the punchlines. Even though it was only a joke I am curious to see if these jokes on the canidates will have any affect on the way people vote. If you missed SNL you can check out the video clip at:
http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/update-thursday-debate-open/742065/

Powerpoint Presentations

I really enjoyed class this past week because of all the cool presentations. A few stood out to me more than others, but overall everyones was great. I really liked Barbara's PP on the Polish dance. It was cool to see how people from a different culture express themselves through dance. I also enjoyed the marble cake that went along with her presentation :-). Another powerpoint that I enjoyed and found amusing was Andy's on how to give a 5 minute presentation. I liked the use of his pictures and also how he took the assignment, and turned it into his own powerpoint! It was a good refresher on how to do a short presentation, and was also funny! My last but not least favorite was Kit's presentation on cheescake. Cheesecake is my favorite dessert of all time, and it was a great surprise getting it in class! I also think the receipe handout was a good idea, beacuse I definitely think it will be of use for me. Your cheescake was delicious Kit! These are just a few of the powerpoint presentations that I really enjoyed, but I thought everyone did a great job with creativity and presenting.