Monday 2 November 2009

From Receptionist to Manager

"So you were a receptionist before this and suddenly got your big break and now you're the general manager?" Ahh, why I felt the need to even attempt to defend myself. Yes, right before starting at the Admiral Codrington I was in fact a receptionist. A receptionist in a 1 Michelin Starred restaurant in London that has been around for 12 years and averaged around 200 covers or more a day. I was the receptionist, table planner, and sometimes most importantly, the only native English speaker in the building. I helped respond to emails, complaint letters, checked menus, and even assisted in the occasional CV writing and text messaging. "Katerina, how do you spell lingerie?" Later on, "Katerina, how do you spell naughty?" The rest of the content of that message was a mystery but I can only hope it was for his wife!
My first restaurant job was at Bibendum, around the corner from the Cod and also where Fred and I met, then to the White Swan, BORING!!
Anyways, I shall never defend myself and my past to anyone but only look forward and work on the job at hand. And that job is huge! I'm nervous, excited, terrified, happy, completely in over my head, and am so ready to show them that a former receptionist can do this bigger and better than those who came before.
I keep finding myself thinking and saying comments that were once said to me and drove me INSANE! "Can you do something about your hair?" "You need to wipe the tables in the direction of the grains in the wood." "Hold the champagne by the stem, not the glass." Things that I have held against these former managers for years and years. Things that I have found myself wanting to pass on now that I'm the manager. I have had some very successful managers from some very successful businesses and I just hope that their hard work and determination have rubbed off on me and over time I'll be looked at as the general manager rather than a former receptionist.

1 comment:

  1. Very well written. Surely time for an update--if you ever have a moment.

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