Personal Narrative: Jake's Wayback Burgers

Before working at Jake’s Wayback Burgers over the summer, I used to mow lawns for pocket money. Thus, I didn’t have any restaurant experience. However, one night I faced my most daunting challenge while at Jake’s, working a dinner rush with just me and one other co-worker; also, on this night I will take away something that I will use for the rest of my life.
I clocked in at Jake’s Wayback Burgers on a Saturday afternoon. Business moved as usual with the traffic of people gradually increasing that led up to the dinner rush. The fourth member who was scheduled to work, came in thirty minutes late; she seemed to be doing fine when suddenly she started to bawl her eyes out in the back of the store. I had never dealt with a hysterical person before, I didn’t know what to say to calm her down. But,
I remembered my training and let her go home early because she couldn’t work in her current state. “The three of us can make this shift work” I thought to myself. I was running the register, fries, and milkshake station, while my other two co-workers were on the grill and preparing the food. Then six o’ clock came around. I was glued to the register as an influx of people poured in through the door. The milkshake tickets piled up and I started to panic on the inside. How was I going to get these orders done, and run the register? But I kept myself collected and knew that the most important thing to do is to get the orders in first.
Then I heard a blood curdling scream from behind me. I turned around and the fry-cook had burned his hand on the grill when placing a patty down. Without even hesitating I took him to the back of the store, treated his wounds, and wrapped his hand with gauze. Luckily, the burn didn’t leave any blisters, so the skin wasn’t damaged much. I was surprised at how well I handled the injury, despite never treating anything more than a scratch. I had kept what I learned in training in my head, and let him go home early. Stepping back out into the kitchen, I see the line of hungry customers is out the door. At this point, my mind went into “alert mode.” I knew that I had to be as efficient as possible to serve everyone.
I put myself on the grill and my co-worker got all the orders in at the register.
I was completely focused on the orders, cooking mistake-free. Nothing else entered my mind to take away my attention for even a millisecond, it was just me and the kitchen. As I was flipping about twenty patties on the grill, I made sure the French fries were constantly being made, I was making the milkshakes as the patties were cooking, and I was preparing most of the orders so the customer can get their food hot and fresh.
At about eight o’ clock, the restaurant started to settle down. I was flabbergasted at how well I handled the rush with only one other person. For the first time in my life, I was put in a very stressful situation; but, quick decisions, complete focus, and the use of my training allowed that Saturday evening shift from being disastrous to being successful. I learned that when facing a high-pressure situation, it is best to keep collected and execute each action correctly.
I will take the lesson of how to work under pressure with me forever. I know I can be successful in college because I can make sure I’m doing the little things correctly no matter what challenges I
face.