Applebee’s resilience

Resilience is something that not all people have. During many situations at my work, it becomes chaotic when it gets busy. I am required to keep everything under control, be aware of all my guests, and keep calm in stressful situations. Being a host at Applebee’s, you are the first person customers see when you walk through the door. It only takes five seconds to form a first impression. If a customer gets a bad first impression because of me, they also assume that the service will be poor, as well as the quality of their food. Working in the face of the public, you need to have awareness, be able to have strong problem-solving skills, and not to be afraid to ask for help.

Working at Applebee’s as a host isn’t a difficult job. If you have your game face on, customers will not know when you are stressed, or under pressure. While trying to seat customers, I have to problem-solve when I run out of tables. It is my job to construct a plan to get tables cleaned, and sat again. On a busy Friday night, we usually end up having a wait of about 30-45 minutes. We constantly have customers who don’t understand why they have to wait, and also don’t seem to understand they may not be the only ones that are waiting. When a customer approaches me with an issue, I have to smile, and help the customer understand the situation we are in. To be resilient, you need to be aware of your surroundings. When I’m under stress, or feeling pressured, I need to have strong problem-solving skills, as well as awareness of what if going on in order to make the customers happy.

While customers are flooding through the doors, it is my job to put on a smile, and be outgoing. It is very important to be aware of who is coming in, and any accommodations needed. My one greeting to a guest tells the guest what to expect for the rest of their visit. Being outgoing during the dinner rush can be difficult. Being a host, You control the restaurant. You determine how quickly meals are delivered, as well as how much a server makes in tips a night. If you rapid fire seat, the kitchen goes down, and the cooks get weeded. At this point, the servers all have full sections, with no one with meals. Having control over a difficult situation by asking for help to open a table for a customer, shows the them that we are resilient by not be afraid to ask for help, in order to keep things under control.

Working at Applebee’s, or any place where you deal with customer service, you need to have resilience in order to show customers that you have everything under conrtol, and are able to handle stressful situations without an issues. As the penguin said in Madagascar, “Just smile and wave boys, smile and wave.”

Photo by JeepersMedia on Foter.com / CC BY