Daily Excerpt: Surviving Freshman Year (Jones) - Sunday Lunch

 

Excerpt from Surviving Freshman Year by Gregory Jones - 

Sunday Lunch

            Austin barely got to work on time. He had been out late the night before with Brandon and some others they met through a college-age Bible study sponsored by a local church they attended. Austin usually went to church with his family on Christmas and Easter but had never been a regular attender. Brandon had invited him, and it seemed like a good way to make new friends. Austin was enjoying the study and had made new friends, and they had enjoyed a fantastic game of capture the flag the night before. They had gathered at the church playground, which bordered an open field and a wilderness trail. The students had divided into two groups with each group choosing a base on opposite sides of the church. The object of the game was simple: The first group to get the other team’s flag and return it to the spot where their flag was located would be the winner. What made this really fun was the inclusion of water guns. Everyone had a water gun to spray members of the opposite team. If you got hit, you had to return to your team’s flag and start over.

            The game went much more slowly than Austin expected since everyone tried to stay out of sight while approaching the other team’s flag. It was already dark, and everyone moved slowly while trying not to make any noise. Although Austin’s team lost one more game than they won, everyone on both teams had a great time.

            Austin rubbed his eyes and clocked in. He worked at a local restaurant and Sunday lunch was one of the busiest times of the week. It was 10 a.m., and he started getting his section ready for the lunch rush. Since he started attending church, Austin would normally be there, but a condition of this job was weekend availability. Although he had worked at the restaurant for a couple of weeks, this would be his first Sunday lunch shift.

            Something the other employees were saying to Austin confused him. While getting to know his coworkers, Austin had mentioned that he had started attending church. Now his coworkers kept referring to the customers that would be coming for Sunday lunch as “your people.” It was clear this was not meant as a compliment. Austin could not figure out why everyone was dreading this lunch shift so much. When the doors were unlocked at 11a.m. and customers began arriving, everything became clear.

            Austin was hosting for the first hour of his shift and would then start serving customers. The first to arrive was a family of four, two adults and two teenage children. A man and teenage boy both had on khaki pants and polo shirts. The mother and teenage girl both had on dresses. Austin guessed from this that they had just come from church. They approached the host’s stand where Austin greeted them and began walking them back. The mother saw the row of booths they were approaching and loudly objected.

            “I do not want any of these booths! They are too close to the kitchen. The last time we were here, I couldn’t hear myself think for all the noise coming out of there.”

            Austin was calm and professional. “I’d be glad to find you another place to sit. Right this way.”

            He escorted the family to a booth further from the kitchen. “Will this work for you?” he asked.

            The woman said, “This is much better.”

The family sat down. Austin handed them menus. “Your server will be right with you.”

Austin paused for a moment and left when he realized no one was going to say anything else. The family didn’t have to thank him for finding them another seat, but he had expected them to as a general courtesy. He had also paused rather than walking away because most customers would say thank you or at least smile and nod that they had heard him. Simply turning and leaving seemed rude to him. However, when everyone just looked down at their menus, he suddenly felt very awkward and just left.

The next family he greeted was shifting back and forth impatiently when he greeted them. There were two men and a female in this group, also dressed in clothing that told Austin they were coming from church.”

“Good morning. How many will be in your party today?”

“Where have you been? We’ve been waiting for five minutes!” exclaimed one of the men.

“I’m sorry. I needed to find my last party a different seat,” Austin explained. He thought about the time spent with the previous family. Even with finding them an acceptable booth, he couldn’t have been away from the host stand more than three minutes. In reality, it probably wasn’t even two minutes. But he held his tongue. “After all,” he thought sarcastically to himself, “the customer is always right.” Thankfully, this party did not object to the booth where Austin seated them.

Every group that came in had clearly come from church. Austin figured these families must have gone to the early service. He chuckled as he thought that they might be in a better mood if they had slept in and gone to the late service.

A group of three elderly ladies came in next. As they slowly came in through the lobby, Austin glanced out at the dining area. Each server had a cluster of tables in order to keep watch over his or her customers. Each party that Austin seated went to a different server, so no one became overwhelmed. Austin looked at the next section to be seated for an open table.

Austin greeted the ladies and began leading them back.

“We can’t go that far!” one of the ladies exclaimed.

“We always sit at one of these tables,” another said, pointing at a group of tables close to the lobby.

“Of course. How will this table be?” Austin asked the ladies.

They sat and were given their menus. Austin excused himself and returned to the host stand. He had an odd feeling he was being watched, and he quickly realized why. Roger, one of the servers, was staring him down as he approached Austin.

“You just gave me another table! Janie was next to be seated,” Roger informed him.

“They wanted a table up front,” Austin said, defending himself.

“Fine, whatever,” Roger said as he let out an audible sigh and stormed off.

Austin understood why Roger was aggravated. It was tough on a server to get two tables at once, but he had not done it on purpose. He stayed calm. His coworkers knew he went to church so he was determined to model a good attitude. The attitude of the customers, however, had totally caught him off guard.

At noon, Travis and Melissa came in to take over hosting. As the full lunch crowd would be arriving, more servers came in, and the full dining area began being seated. Austin was ready to begin serving.

The customers seated in his section were some of the rudest people Austin had ever seen! Just as with the customers he sat while hosting, it was clear to Austin that the families now being sat in his section had just come from church. Austin made an effort to greet each table quickly and take their drink order. Despite this prompt greeting, many customers shifted in their seats and sighed as if they had been waiting an eternity. Some ordered their drinks without looking at Austin or acknowledging him as a person. One family asked if they got a discount with a church bulletin. Austin apologized and said they didn’t before excusing himself to get their drinks.

            This went on for the next hour. The church crowd seemed terribly grumpy to Austin. Soon his section was full. He got each table’s order in and food out to those whose orders were ready. He took a moment to go back to the host’s station. He saw people sitting in the lobby and knew there was now a wait to be seated. A customer was waving her arms at Travis and Melissa, who both looked defeated.

            “You know it’s going to be busy on Sunday. Why aren’t you prepared for this?” 

            “I’m sorry for your wait,” Melissa said.

            Travis said, “It should only be about 15 minutes, and we’ll have a place for you.”

            Austin thought better than to get involved and just kept walking. It was amazing how upset some customers became after being told there would be a 15-minute wait.

One large group was given a longer wait due to the table size they would need, and an elderly woman in the group was letting the host know very loudly how upset she was about the longer wait. She would instantly point out when any smaller party that arrived after them was called to be seated.

            As the food was ready to go to Austin’s customers, he asked if there was anything else they needed. This question led to a nightmare situation for Austin. Customers seemed like they could only ask for one thing at a time. At one table, a man asked for extra ketchup. When Austin brought it, a woman at the same table asked for extra napkins. Austin brought the napkins, and a third person at the table asked for steak sauce. Austin was happy to help. This was his job, but running back and forth for one item at a time kept him from his other tables. From the way his other tables were behaving when Austin checked on them, he knew that his absence would not be treated with any degree of understanding.

            Despite these challenges, Austin made an effort to provide each guest with great service. He had treated each person with respect, smiling even when met with rudeness by some and indifference by others. Some were polite and interacted with Austin in a more pleasant way. But these were the minority. At first, he was sure the grouchy families were just grumpy because they were hungry. As the day went on, though, he realized that only a few of his tables gave him any kind of recognition.

It was at least encouraging to think about the large bills that these families would get, which would hopefully lead to generous tips. Unfortunately, that source of hope was quickly extinguished. As the first few tables finished their meals and left, Austin was shocked to find that many tables had only left a few dollars as a tip. The bill and credit card receipts both had 10%, 15%, and 20% tips calculated for customers. Despite the math being done for them and receiving excellent service, the collective Sunday lunch crown proved to be horribly low tippers. Austin could not believe what he had just experienced.

            Then, something even stranger happened. A second wave of customers came in around 2 p.m. Austin’s coworkers explained that this was the non-churchgoing crowd. They had probably slept in and were getting a late start to their day. They were more casually dressed, and their attitude was also more relaxed. As Austin greeted his tables, he found them to be much more pleasant than the church crowd.

Austin greeted his first table. They were talking and laughing but stopped and looked at Austin. “How are you today?” one of them asked. Austin was startled. This was the first customer all day to greet him in such a positive way.

As they left, they were also good natured. One man said, “Hope you get out of here in time to enjoy this beautiful day.” Austin also found the midafternoon customers to be better tippers.

When his shift was over, Austin began thinking through what he had just experienced. He had been raised to treat people with respect. The customers were there to be served, but that shouldn’t entitle them to treat the employees so terribly. And his coworkers were calling this group “his people.” He caught the transit back to campus, and during the ride Austin thought of a recent discussion in his Bible study group. The discussion revolved around being part of the church. The physical building was just the meeting place of the church. It was up to each person to take the church into his or her community. Austin asked himself how he could make a positive influence for Christ when the group his coworkers dreaded the most were Christians. He also struggled to make sense of how the nonchurchgoers were so much more pleasant.

Scripture

Philippians 1:27-28

Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God

2 Corinthians 1:12

Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, with integrity and godly sincerity. We have done so, relying not on worldly wisdom but on God’s grace.

Colossians 3:23-24

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

 

1 Peter 2:13-17

Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.

 

Questions

 

1.     If you were Austin, tell how would you conduct yourself with each of the following groups:

·       coworkers

·       customers that you may only see once

·       regular customers that you see each week

 

2.     Consider the following as you read the scripture verses for this chapter:

a.      Philippians 1:27-28. Why do you think the way Christians conduct themselves matters? How might you face opposition for conducting yourself in a way that honors God?

b.     2 Corinthians 1:12. What benefits come from behaving in a way that honors God?

c.      Colossians 3:23-24. Austin’s customers may not always appreciate the effort he puts into providing excellent service. What reasons can be found in these verses for Austin to continue striving to provide great service?

d.     1 Peter 2:13-17. How does submitting to human authority honor God? When would be a time it is not appropriate to submit to an authority figure? Who in your life is it hardest to show respect for?

 

3.     We are not guaranteed to be treated fairly by people with authority over us. This could include family members, teachers, and both supervisors and customers at our jobs. How does the scripture verses from 1 Peter say Christians should conduct themselves?

 

4.     In this chapter, Austin is dealing with difficult customers. Put yourself in their position. The customer should have the benefit of good service. In this chapter, specific behaviors we see include requests for different seating, continuously asking for extra items such as napkins and steak sauce, rude behavior, and poor tipping. Are all of these behaviors necessarily bad? Which ones bother you the most? Why do you think that is?

 

5.     In this chapter, we see examples of rude behavior. Although this behavior is hurtful, no serious damage is done. Unfortunately, sometimes we can be treated in ways that are abusive. There is a difference between simply being treated unfairly and being abused. How would you determine where that line is with the different groups in your life (family, friends, teachers, supervisors, or customers)? What are appropriate actions to take if you feel being treated poorly has crossed that line?

 

6.     Throughout life, you may meet people who have been turned off by Christians because of how they conduct themselves. They may feel that Christians are rude, judgmental, or think they are better than other people. How could you be an effective witness to those who have this opinion of Christians? What could Austin do to be a positive example for his coworkers?

 

7.     The customers in this chapter do not consider how their actions and attitudes are being viewed by the restaurant staff. Where are some places in your life that others may be observing your behavior?

 

8.     The chapter opened with a story about Austin and his friends playing capture the flag with water guns. Some people may have a misconception that Christians never do anything fun. What could you invite friends to do that would show that being a Christian doesn’t mean you aren’t allowed to have any fun?

LITERARY TITAN GOLD AWARD

Read more posts about Gregory and his book HERE. 

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