Seung Hyun Kang/How I Work/Tues. 5-6

During weekends, many people search for something relaxing to do. They sometimes go out for a walk or make an appointment with their colleagues. To most of the people, weekend is a red day; holiday. For me, it used to be a red day until November, 2014. Luckily but unfortunately, I got a part-time job in a restaurant. What I do there from five to ten p.m. at Saturdays and Sundays is far from taking a rest. I work. I do hall serving, cleaning and closing the restaurant.

           I start working at five, but having to arrive at the place earlier than that to get prepared, I leave home around 4:30. It is so lucky of me to get a job close to my place. If my workplace was as far as my school, I would have been spending my whole week working along with studying. As I arrive around 4:50, I quickly change my cloth, tie my hair, and start hall service. Hall serving is sometimes hard, but usually not hard. All I have to do is receive orders from the customers and deliver dishes to them. I sometimes have to clean up shattered dishes and cups or deliver something else than an order; complain. Around seven o' clock, the number of customers decrease and this is when I start cleaning the hall which is restaurant itself.

           Although it is called as a restaurant, the place is not that big. It is part of a huge shopping mall and there are several other shop owners on the sides of the hallway. Therefore, I am the only part-time worker in the restaurant, which means that I have to clean up everything. Around seven, when there is no customer in the hall, I sweep the place clean. I sweep bits of grains, bread crusts, parts of meatballs and everything else. Next, I start doing the dishes. It is a restaurant cooking foreign meal. Accordingly, dishes and tableware are covered with chili sauce and meat oil. So to make them clean, I wash leftovers away and put the dishes, forks, knives and cups into the dish washer to sterilize them with hot water. Around eight, I move on to clean coffee machine. I turn off the power and disassemble the machine (partly) and carefully rake coffee stains off from the machine. I also break up soda machine, bubble them once and corks of the machine go straight into the washer. Around nine, I mop the hall and wash the mop as white as possible with detergent. Finally, I drain water from the washer. Since there are oil stains in the washer, I have to rub them out with a sponge. It is 9:30, I am ready to close the door.

           I go up to the counter. I open the cashier machine and calculate the bills and check if the cash is equal to the account paper. As I said, it is a small restaurant in the huge shopping mall, I have to put the cash into the machine that the mall owns. After entering the restaurant ID and pass into the machine in the end of the hallway, I can settle the cash and come back to the restaurant. When it is near 10, I lower the line for the drape that forbids people from coming into the restaurant. When it becomes 10 o' clock, I can go home.

           It has been almost six months from when I started working at the restaurant. The pay is not high compared to what I do. So, I sometimes thought of quitting the job due to the physical stress. However, the owner of the market is so kind and she treats her workers with care. I could not quit just because the wage is not high and I am tired a bit. I have been using the wage to pay for the language academy during winter vacation. As I have no plans to attend the academy during semester, I'll be working for extra allowance. With the money I earned, I want to take a trip or keep it for my future.