I squeeze into my now very tight jeans, put on a black t-shirt, slip on my black flats, pin my hair up and put on a bit of make-up. I do my last important checks...three favorite lipglosses, CHECK... wine knife, CHECK... pen, CHECK. I'm all ready for my first night of work in Italy. Now i have been working in restaurants and waitresing since i was 14 years old, i can do this job with my eyes closed. Or can I? My first month here in Italy has been spent by sleeping in, reading books, writing stories and sunning myself at the lake. Not a very good way to learn a new language!
Luckily for me I'm working with a friend,who speaks English, in his restaurant. An amazing place up in the green mountains behind Cannobio. This place has a grand old presence, a gentle cozy personality all of its own. Its a beautiful, rustic 300 year old stone cottage that has had a thousand different lives and tell its stories through its walls and the funny old trinkets that adorn its shelves and crevices.
So i take a deep breath at the front door, fluff my hair and walk inside. The night starts great and i feel totally at ease, the other waiter 'Genius' is also a friend of mine, and also speaks english. His delightful younger sister is working behind the bar, even though she cant speak english we understand each other.
I use the little but useful Italian i do know to greet people and order drinks for the tables. I'm feeling pretty cocky by now, thinking ' Shit I'm good! I'm working in another country that speaks another language and I'm doing OK! '. I hear the bell ring for the kitchen and run down the stairs to take the food. Before i leave the kitchen i ask one of the chef 's the Italian word for 'behind'. If you have ever worked in a restaurant you would know this is a pretty important word in a restaurant kitchen. You say it in the kitchen loudly if you walk behind someone to notify them you are there because the kitchen can be a very dangerous place, sharp knives, hot oily pans and boiling water. So chef gives me the Italian word for behind .... 'dietro'....then he tells me the names of the dishes i have just picked up. I leave the kitchen repeating my new word... dietro, dietro, dietro and head up the stairs to the candle lit dinning room. I arrive at the table with the 3 dishes in my hand. The customers look up and look at me, I look at them, they smile at me, I smile back at them...and i keep smiling. I don't know what to do, i have forgotten the names of the food in my hands. My brain is doing a Homer Simpson . I stand there asking my brain to do some thing, please a little help here? but my brain says ' Nope, i got nothin kid! '. By now I'm a deer in headlights, eyes wide and frozen. Luckily for me the woman at the table gets what is going on, smiles and tells me who ordered what food. So i place the food on the table and say "Grazie" and pull a stupid 'Sorry I'm new' face, walking away feeling like a total twat.
The bell dongs in the kitchen again and a little butterfly starts a party in my stomach. As i tap down the stairs thinking here we go again. I give myself a little confidence pep talk outside the kitchen...come on girl, you can do this, you can do this! So i bound into the kitchen confidently. I have to pass close behind one of the chefs to get to the food pass. So as i squeeze behind him i confidently yell out "DENTRO"....i catch my breath and freeze on the spot and the kitchen goes awkwardly quiet as i realise, standing bum to fanny, behind the chef that i just screamed out "INSIDE".....yes i just told the chef i was 'inside' him. Embarrassing moment number two, CHECK.
Mortified, i hurry past the chef, pick up the food and am only in the kitchen long enough to hear what number table the food is going to. As i head up the stairs I'm thinking ' how embarrassing was that?'. As i head toward the table I'm thinking ' Fuck i forgot to ask ask what the names of these dishes are...' That little butterfly in my stomach starts again and is having a rave party, glow sticks and all. My brain is like a dusty deserted street in an old Western movie, just a few tumbleweeds rolling past and the sound of wind. I'm begging my brain to occupy itself quickly with the names of the food, some words even, any words, english, italian, Mongolian....i don't care what...anything...please! I arrive at the table, they all look up and look at me, i just look at them......................OH Crap! deer in headlights syndrome again. I have to do something, so as i stand at the table holding the three plates smiling i shrug my shoulders and say a nervous "Non lo so in Italiano" which sort of means in english "I don't know what this is called in Italian". My bad italian doesn't work because the man at the table is German, double crap! Luckily 'Genius', the other waiter is behind me so i graciously lean back and ask (not so) subtly out of the side of my mouth "....WHATS....THE...NAME....OF....THEEEESE..." holing the plates up a little. He graciously helps me out and i put the food on the table, before i leave my face does the half cringe, half smirk 'Sorry im new' face again, i wish it wouldn't do that.
I head over to the bar where i dramatically slump on the counter, looking defeated. The gang ask me if I'm OK and i whinge back like a four year old " No. i cant remember any words in italian or english and i just told the chef i was inside him!" Everybody smirks, kind smirks, as they have all travelled before and surely been through the same and can see the funny side in it all. They all reassure me that im doing great and that maybe i can just say 'Occhi ' in the kitchen instead, which means a sort of ' watch out! '. With my new 'behind' word i carry on like a trooper. As the night passes my confidence comes back as i begin to proudly announce food at the tables, take orders for drinks and dessert (in italian!) and say a cheery "buona serata" as people leave. I go into automatic pilot clearing tables and cleaning and the night passes quickly.
By the end of the night i am past tired and just excited that i just worked my first shift in a foreign country and i did good, more than good, GREAT! As i stand in the bar polishing the last load of glasses looking around, i think to myself maybe 'Inside' was the right word after all, because something inside of me changed that night. A powerful sense of confidence, achievement and excitement had moved inside of me and i had a feeling they were there to stay!
No comments:
Post a Comment