If there’s one thing I love, it’s routine. And for me, that routine isn’t complete without a part-time job thrown into the mix. Since high school, I’ve worked at about five different jobs, each one adding something unique to my experience, and trust me—once you get addicted to that feeling of putting in the work and walking away with cash, it’s hard to stop.
In this post, I want to take you through some of the rather intresting (and fun! and…occasionally horrific) stories from my part-time job journey over the past three years.
PARENTS PARENTS PARENTS
Father : “I’m not sure if you are aware but you extended the lesson by about a minute, now my daughter is gonna be late for her math kumon class!!”
Me : “Oh I’m sorry. ( I feel bad for your daghter.)
Mind you, it was 9am on a Saturday, and his daughter was only 5.
I have worked in a couple of jobs involving communication with the child’s parents, which was inevitably part of my job. Namely, I worked as an academic tutor and a violin teacher. During high school, I took a job at a local music tuition center in Singapore. One thing you should know about Singapore is its strong, strong emphasis on education ; there are literally buildings filled with tuition centers! So, I guess it’s no surprise that the parents of the kids at the music school were very demanding—both of their children and of us teachers. From fathers who complained about the tiniest changes in the schedule because their kids had jam-packed weekends full of classes and activities, to mothers who were convinced their child could ace the highest-level music exams, even after I repeatedly suggested we take it step by step, starting with the lower grades.
It was the same thing with online tutoring. Some parents wouldn’t leave their high school student’s side. Seeing them sitting right in front of my laptop screen made me break out in sweat. Parental love is great, really. But sometimes not so great when you’re on the receiving end of a stray bullet of the extreme kind.
WEIRD MANAGERS AND FULL TIME EMPLOYEES
Exhibit A : The Married Manager
Him: “In case you were wondering, my wife and daughter are away today. They’re visiting her grandma.”
Me : “oh”
Him: “What I’m trying to say is that, you know, there’s no one else at my house today, so if you wanna you know?”
Me : “oh.”(No, I don’t know.)
A simplified version of a conversation I once had with my manager at the restaurant I worked at back in Japan.
My first service sector job was at a mid-range restaurant in the heart of Tokyo. Fresh out of high school, I was just trying to earn some extra cash to prepare for the financial disaster I knew was coming—attending university overseas, which is now my reality. First day at work, and I had no clue what I was doing, everyone seemed older than me.
Then he walks in—a tall guy with long hair, just the right amount of muscle, and who seemed like he knew what he was doing (emphasis on seemed). The kind of confidence that said, “Yeah, I’ve got this” (spoiler: he did not.) Also, this description just totally exposed my type in men, but let’s not get into that right now.
You can probably guess how the story goes from there. At first, I was just relieved to have someone—anyone—who was nice to me. Some days he wore a ring, and other days he didn’t, so I just assumed it was a fashion thing. But in retrospect, the ring was way too casual and nonchalant to be a mere accessory. Now, I don’t know about you, but I take proverbs pretty seriously, and “love is blind” is definitely one of them.
Just as I was mildly falling for this mysterious guy, I overheard him talking to another coworker one day, casually mentioning how the nursery hours had been extended. You can imagine the shock on my face—nursery hours?! That’s not exactly a phrase you expect to hear from a single guy.
And that brings us to the conversation at the top. Up until then, the weirdest interaction I had with him was spoon-feeding him leftover cake and other random stuff. Thankfully, I hadn’t engaged in anything that could’ve resulted in his wife suing me—huge relief there. I went to that job to earn money, not to lose it over some guy.
After this experience, I became more cautious around men who are over a decade older and seem to have their lives together but still flirt with me. I mean, his shirt was probably not wrinkly because his wife ironed it, and he didn’t have to eat leftover lunch buffet during breaks because his wife made him lunch boxes.It’s clear that his life was built on the foundation his wife provided, which is why he had the time and energy to say weird things to a decade-younger part-time employee like me in the first place.
But, of course, watch me go and repeat this mistake in Exhibit B—not necessarily with a married manager this time, but with another full-time worker, a decade older. Sigh.
Exhibit B : The Manipulator
So this story started in a pretty familiar way, with an older full-time employee zooming in on me. This was at a restaurant in London. Don’t ask me why, but by the end of the first week, we were Snapchat besties. He showered me with compliments and all the attention I needed, but there was one thing holding me back from getting more serious: a female coworker kept warning me not to get close to him. She never gave me a reason, which only fueled the whole forbidden love vibe. We went to Winter Wonderland together, but her warnings echoed in my head, so I decided to keep a bit of distance while still feeling attached.
A few months later, I hit a rough patch in a different relationship in my life and was feeling pretty low. I thought, “Why not confess my feelings?” Looking back, that was such a bad idea; I was lonely and desperate for comfort. His response? “I need to think about it.” I panicked.
The next day, I went to work and I saw him almost back-hugging this new girl in the kitchen, whispering sweet nothings and giggling. I got what my coworker was warning me about, but I still wanted the details. So, I texted her, and you can imagine my shock when I found out I was basically a bet to him. She told me the ways he always bragged about getting with girls from different nationalities. Even before I started working there, he knew I was from [MY NATIONALITY]. He told everyone he could eventually shag me, and people from his country always bragged about dating [MY NATIONALITY] girlfriends. He told everyone at work that we were dating……( even though we weren’t! It’s kind of pathetic for a 27 year old!) That explained all the weird looks I got when interacting with him in front of other coworkers, and my 50 year old married manager asking me “how was last night :)) ?” after my first night with the man. The scariest part? Throughout this whole mess, he kept telling me not to believe what that female coworker said about him because she was a “bitch.” Hence, the title “manipulator.” I still cannot believe that I totally ignored her and chose to trust him instead. It seriously hurts my feminist soul that I picked a random dude over a caring female coworker.
Now, his next girl is even younger than me and from a different nationality. I genuinely fear for her.
WEIRD CUSTOMERS
I’m a strong believer that you haven’t truly witnessed the wildest and weirdest aspects of humanity until you’ve worked in the service sector.
Exhibit A : The “I’m still EATING!!” man
Me : “Hi, we are closing in about 10 mins. Is it okay if we just settle the bill first?”
Him : “NO IM STILL EATING!!”
Me : “Oh okay, I will come back in 10 mins.”
~ 10mins later ~
Me: “Hi, so the lights will turn off very soon (total lie! but yes we’ve already been working over our shift hours.) Could you check the bill please?”
Him : “NO IM STILL EATING!!”
Me: “Oh okay ( sending SOS eyes to my section manager)
I didn’t even feel bad for myself; I felt bad for him and, mostly, for the girl he seemed to be on a date with, who he was about to lose. Because, God, I’ll never forget the fear in her eyes. If I were in her shoes, I would’ve bolted out of there.
Exhibit B: Middle age Men
Him : “Could you explain the differences between these 2 dishes?”
Me: “Sure, this one is more soupy because of the sauce, and this one has a simpler seasoning and it’s dry”
Him: “Oh?? Unlike you right now talking to me?” *feircely stares at my lower body with a grin revealing his yellow teeth *
Mind you, he said this right in front of his wife and daughter. And the 2 of them kept on apologising to me on behalf of him. If you know anything about middle-aged men in Japan, this story might not surprise you. But really, pervy middle-aged men are about as low as it gets! I’ve had similar experiences with other male customers too, like when a man asked me to disassemble the chicken wings and drumsticks for him at his table or when another man ( yes a man, again) purposely brushed the dishes against my waist EVERY SINGLE TIME!
BACK KITCHEN AKA THE MORAL HARRASSMENT HEAVEN
The moral harassment that happens in the back kitchen of a restaurant is truly something else, especially in Asian culture, I assume.
It was an everyday occurrence to see someone crying at the bar while making drinks after being yelled at for dropping something. I’ve heard screams and offensive language fly from the head chef to the line chefs. The head chefs are always nice to the girls but is incredibly tough on the men and older women. It’s a hotbed of ageism, sexism, and all sorts of other gross stuff.
Just to clarify and avoid any reputational damage to my current manager at my job, I want to say that he treats everyone with respect and is genuinely a nice person, in case anyone who knows me in real life is reading this!
P.S. THE FUN PART
Of course, I wouldn’t be doing something like this, even for the sake of money, if there weren’t moments I truly enjoyed.
I remember bursting into laughter with my coworker while serving beers that had an exceptionally high bubble ratio because we were running low on the beer server tanks. I remember the day we got to try hidden menu items or new dishes or the day a cute dog wandered into our restaurant, or the time we “accidentally” placed an extra order just so we could enjoy it ourselves..!
Rereading what I’ve written, I mentioned that I like routines at the very beginning, but I guess I quite like chaos too.
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