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My transition from restaurants to healthcare

I have been working in healthcare for ten months at a major hospital in the south.  Before I was in healthcare I was a waitress at various restaurants in Arizona and Michigan. When I was working as a waitress I enjoyed    interacting with people and learning about their interests. Working in the restaurant ‚ I was dealing with the general public and it is hard to have compassion for someone who’s major concern is the newest fad diet and complains about their food as it’s hitting the table. The transition between healthcare and food service was a major shift in perspective for me. The people in the hospital are sick and have a right to complain.  Working in a hospital and taking care of the sick has made me stronger and more empathetic. I used to have a short fuse and was easily irritated while serving tables. A patient who is quadriplegic‚ brain isn’t functioning‚  and they can not speak‚ brings my nit picking and complaining from a ten down to a five.

The sixteen years I worked in the restaurant gave me skills that I would use now. Running around with my head cut off on a Saturday night and I have got the guy that thinks he is a wine connoisseur and wants to try five different wines first before buying the shit wine on the list while having to give him a cheesy smile will teach you a lesson in will power and humility.  People who dine out can treat you poor and I had to learn to suck it up‚  put my Big girl pants on‚ and go onto the next table. The hostess would tell us servers that it was an hour and a half wait and it would be a couple of hours till we were off the wait list. I could not panic when I was getting triple sat with a six table section. While effortlessly making sure all my tables had perfect service‚ I also had to talk people into buying expensive wine and buying the thirty dollar special. Learning to multi-task has been a asset to my working in healthcare. All healthcare is juggling all the tasks you have to get done to take care of your  patients.

In the short window I have worked in health care it has made me realize life is ephemeral. Some of the people I have met in the hospital are sick and do not have along time to live. The stuff I worry about such as “am I good enough‚ I have gained five pounds and everyone is going to judge me‚ I only have an associate’s degree and I am lame”‚ doesn’t matter when comparing to someone dying of cancer.  I have had some patients give me some of their pearls of wisdom. A 90 year old woman told me she would have had more fun looking back at her life now. Another person shared with me‚ “don’t sweat the small stuff.” These people are at the end of their life and know having a bad hair day or getting a flat tire is not a big deal in the grand scheme of it all. Living in the present moment and enjoying every day is what matters. Compassion has been embedded in my soul and I am glad I get to experience it in my present career.