My Hair Teaches the Importance of Teamwork
Get the mp3/podcast of this episode free on iTunes.
Here’s the full transcript:
Hey! It’s Jessica. Today’s going to be a little bit different. I’m going to tell you a story about myself and I promise by the end, there’s going to be a point so just bare with me.
.
A couple of year’s ago, I was waiting tables. I was in college…literally it was about 12-13 years ago. I was just working my way thru college waiting tables at night and I loved it.
.
I actually went on to wait tables for 12 more years once I graduated college and just stayed in the restaurant industry before I became a coach, which I am now. I am working…I would walk to work because I didn’t have a car. I would walk about a mile to a mile and a half and I would work nights.
.
One evening, a gentleman came in. He’s probably in his 40s…early 40s and he said, “Party of one.”
.
Now, I was near the front, so I was greeting him and was going to go ahead and get him a seat since the hostess wasn’t there. And what most servers say when someone says “Party of one”, we are just like, “Right this way.”
Actually, this time, I just said, “Ok, Party of one?”
And he said, “Unless you want to join me.”
.
And of course, you do the server laugh and you are like, “Ohhhhh ho ho ho, I WISH I could! You know..I’m working..”
(darn 🙂 )
.
I went to seat him and he stopped me in my tracks and he paused. And he looked at me awkwardly.
.
And he said…(JUST LIKE THIS)….
.
“You have niiiiiiice hairrrrrrrr.”
.
Pause.
Pause.
Pause.
.
My hair was actually just like this (in a bun) and I’m thinking you could hardly SEE my hair.
Umm..okay?!?!?
And just the way he did it and looked into my eyes was kind of creepy, so I was just like:
“Ummm…thank you.”
And immediately I made sure he was not eating dinner with me and I sat him in another girl’s station.
.
Now, while he’s sitting in this booth…my station is towards the front of the restaurant…and he SHOULD be sitting in the booth facing the opposite way but for some reason, he actually ate his whole meal facing out, STARING DIRECTLY at me the entire time.
.
So, at first, I was thinking I was paranoid and overreacting. But then even my coworkers and other people in the restaurant started to notice and were asking:
.
Do you know that guy?
Does he need something from you?
Is he trying to get your attention?
You know, thinking I was his waitress.
And I’m thinking…NONE of the above.
.
They told me not to worry about it..”We got you.” Just keep doing your job and don’t worry about him. And everyone kind of reassured me, who cares if he’s a creeper, they’ve got my back.
.
So then, I can tell he’s about to leave, so I go to my table and talk to my table. I don’t even know WHAT I’m saying. I’m just making sure that I DON’T HAVE TO TALK TO HIM. And I realize he’s waiting on ME. In my peripheral vision, I can see he doesn’t keep going. He’s just standing there.
.
So I’m still talking to my table and I’m just asking them, probably, over and over how their meal is…and they are probably wondering what in the world I’m doing. As I stood there longer, he eventually went outside. Now we have this little lobby area with this big picture window where you can see right into the restaurant with the little free magazines and newspapers below it.
.
So he didn’t leave. He went and stood in that little area and picked up a magazine. So instead of reading it, he held it about waist high and just stared in the window at me for 5-10 more minutes. Now everyone is kind of getting concerned because we don’t know WHO this guy is or WHAT the heck he’s doing.
.
Next thing you know, he’s coming back into the restaurant. So when I see him coming, I start walking towards the back so I can either go into the women’s restroom or I can take a left and go into the kitchen. He’s bolting behind me. We’re literally STEPS APART. I go straight into the women’s restroom. There’s no way he’s coming in there. Hopefully.
.
My manager had just been in the back for a second. She sees what’s going on, runs out and almost chases him down and says: “Excuse me sir. How may I help you?”
“I just need to talk to her.”
And she says, “HOW may I help you?”
“I NEED to talk to Jennifer.”
(Which, my name is Jessica. So, she knew…OKAY..You DON’T know her!)
She says, “Why don’t you have a good night?”
And he says, “I just need to talk to Jennifer for a minute.”
And she says, “HAVE a good night.”
.
And he left.
.
All of us are like, WHAT IN THE WORLD?
Of course, you know, I walk to work so everyone’s like, YOU AREN’T WALKING HOME. We don’t know who this guy is…super crazy…and that was the end of it, WE THOUGHT.
.
And this is SO nuts…LITERALLY a year later…it was a YEAR later..I’m working in the same restaurant. I’m a manager now but I’m also waiting tables. We were opening on a Saturday morning. Me and one other server were getting the restaurant set up and in walks a gentleman in his early 40s. I see this gentleman and immediately think..hmm..he looks familiar. Which…he could be a professor at my college, he could be a student, he could be a customer that had come in there before. I just knew he looked familiar.
.
So, of course, I’m like “Sir, how may I help you?
And he says, “You know, I’ve NEVER been back here. This is a really cute setup.”
.
It was a Mexican restaurant and we had all imported, really pretty pottery and murals and fountains. He just kept mentioning that it was so nice. So, I guess, he was selling goods to restaurants like napkins and cups. He was just wondering if he could leave his proposal to see if we would be interested in switching our vendors.
.
So I said, “Sure..let me go get the other lady.. maybe she can help you more with this.”
.
And he’s like “Okay great.” And I’m going to walk off and he says, “WAIT A MINUTE…”
.
“You have niiiiiiice hairrrrrrrr.”
.
I AM NOT KIDDING. Immediately…IMMEDIATELY…I’m like, I know EXACTLY who this is! So I go racing to the back and it’s the same manager that was there the year before and I’m like, HE’S HERE! This is the NICE HAIR GUY and I don’t know if he says that to everyone and it was coincidental but it was funny and creepy all at the same time.
.
She pretty much sent him on his way and that was the end of it.
The Importance of Teamwork in All This
From that..I’ve always been the kind of person that’s a do-it-yourself-er. And I’m a loner and I don’t need help and I don’t need anybody, because I can handle it. In this situation, I needed backup and I needed her to step in and I needed her help.
.
It kind of shows the importance of teamwork even when you think:
I was in school.
I’m walking to work.
I’ve got my job.
I’m in control, but then guess what, we still need other people in our lives.
.
And the importance of teamwork still exists even when you might think: I’ve got this. There might be a situation or a scenario where someone else stepping in and lending a helping hand and you ALLOWING them to do that, WILL be helpful.
.
So this was one experience for me where, all the sudden, I was young and I thought I was invincible and I’m not even saying this would have resulted in anything negative (hopefully) but I could rest assured that my team had my back. The importance of teamwork was necessary. My coworkers were there for me and I wasn’t alone.
.
I don’t know if you’re going thru life and you think you can do it all yourself or even if you’re struggling with something and you’re keeping it all inside because you feel like you’re the only one going thru it, I guarantee there’s someone out there that will listen, that will help you, that’s there to encourage you. And if DON’T have that person, message me. I help people everyday.
.
We have team. We’re called Dare 2 Dream. We’re a team of coaches that are simply regular people on a journey to get fit, to get healthy, to get our lives right, to be encouraged from the inside out. It’s not just about the physical or the scale or the muscles, but it’s about being the best versions of ourselves every single day. If you need that in your life…if you don’t have a team and you need a team…shoot me a message.
.
I will message you back personally. You can email me at jessica@jessicabowsernelson.com. I will tell you that you have nice hair (ha!), but I will also make sure that you are safe and happy and motivated to get to where you want to go in life. So there’s my crazy story for the week!
.
Hope you enjoyed it! See you next time!
Digging Deeper,
Jessica Bowser Nelson
