It has proven to be a good job for us. The schedule is indeed flexible and the money is sufficient to meet our needs. We understood that becoming servers would not be glorious. "What do you do?" someone asks innocently at a gathering. My response, "I make $2.50 an hour delivering eggs and bacon every morning at 6 am to people that have not had their first cup of coffee". I repeat, not glorious.
The real difficult part of the job is being managed by inexperienced youngsters that have no regard for you as a person. Whomever is managing you on a given day gets to decide your fate for the day. Will you be standing around for an extra two hours when there are no guests in the restaurant? Maybe, depends on the mood of your manager. Will you be put in the worst possible section where no guests ever come to sit? Maybe, depends on the manager.
Yesterday, Michael and I had a difficult day because we were stuck in one of those situations where you are helpless and only the manager can make a difference. In yesterday's case, the manager chose to disregard our needs. It was very difficult. We were being clearly mistreated. I was so very angry. It was a simple fix. The manager only had to make a simple logical change and she chose not to do it. At the end of the day, Michael had only earned $11 when everyone else had made over $100. So frustrating. I will tell you, I did not handle the situation like a christian should. I was angry. I was mad that she cared so little about Michael. When Michael tried to make his case, she stared blankly at him and then walked away. How could she treat someone this way? Why would she not make the necessary changes to help Michael increase his earnings? It would have been simple, but she chose not to. So, I did the thing I should not have done. I went to my coworkers and complained about what a jerk our manager is. I only instigated the situation for the entire staff.
So, this is a lesson about how to NOT respond when being mistreated. I failed. I did not even ask God for help in the situation. After leaving work, I was talking to God about how he should smite our supervisor. I decided to read my bible. It "ironically" fell open to Luke 6: 27.
"But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
No, God, I do not want to hear this. I want you to smite her, SMITE her. The Lord began to talk to me. The situation was more than what it appeared in the natural. It was a supernatural attack by the enemy to upset us. And unfortunately, I walked right into his trap. At our job, everyone knows that we are going to be going to the missions field next year. During this situation, we were not giving God glory. The Lord spoke to me about how we will face many more of the types of attacks. The purpose will be to discredit our christian name. We cannot fall prey into these simple attacks. We need to be ready for the battle and with the mindset that the enemy will attack again.
Prayer partners, please include this when you pray for us. We need help when we encounter the tricks of the enemy. Pray that we are standing strong. We will not only be attacked at our job. The enemy will not limit himself. He will attack every area in an attempt to keep us off the field. Our enemy is sneaky.
But Jesus has already overcome.
And dont forget to pray for our supervisor. I know I will be.
Has there ever been a time that you were clearly mistreated? How did you handle it?
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