Working in the front-Of-House, work entailed serving food, taking orders, customer service, teaching customers how to use chopsticks by hand, changing grills, cleaning tables, setting up tables, working as a bartender, cleaning glasses, carrying plate trays to the kitchen.

I worked twice a week for 5 weeks, with the shifts being from 1pm to 11pm. A hugely valuable experience, in terms of learning people skills. The restaurant was in the busling centre of London Chinatown with huge amounts of customer flow especially during peak dining hours, communicating and taking actions such as customer complaints about food taking too long to serve and delivering polite and professional services were vital to the role.

The art of arguing and maintaining my rights were my biggest takeaway. The restaurant did not play by the books. Paying below minimum wage in cash, labelling food fried with pork as halal, illegal holdings of legal documentations were the practices I’ve seen in person. I learnt how to put forward an argument, deal with messy situations as well as general mindgames to get what I want, righteously so. In the end, I was paid in full legal minimum wage and all my demands satisfied. 

There was also the theme of ethics, I learnt a lot more about who I am and what I prioritise in life. I would fight for what I think is right and ethical, rather than following orders. I learnt that I am not a robot, I cannot simply accept what I’ve been told. The general doctrine of “Work hard, be quiet and when the boss sees you, you will be paid more” that I’ve been fed during the work, is something that goes against who I am. In addition, there was a time where a Muslim customer questioned whether the food was halal, I chose to do what is right, even though I knew the boss was there, that I’ve been told to say otherwise. This approach is of course, a double edged sword, giving potential insights about what kind of career I would be more or less suitable in. 

Resistance to inequality, not withering under pressure and the ability/willingness to question are characteristics I’ve learnt that I possess. And I will stand-by them with every day of my life.