Along with completing summer work and relaxing in the little time she had, Junior Oriana Zhao added more to her resume by spending her summer working as a waitress and a cashier at Sushi in the Box every Monday and Tuesday where she earned $9 an hour.
The restaurant opened at 5 p.m. in the summer, so Zhao would arrive 30 minutes earlier to begin her set up routine. She was in charge of putting cash into the register, refilling condiment bottles and salad sauce, prepping miso soup bowls and washing the salad. She would then refill seaweed salad to-go cups for the bentos and the eel sauce for the sushi, clear the counter and supply the counter with utensils, to-go bags, sushi box lids and plates. At around 9 p.m., she would start packing up.
“The worst part about the job is how physically exhausting it is,” Zhao said. “But I chose to work at Sushi in the Box because it was local and larger restaurants would be more exhausting and stressful for an inexperienced worker like me.”
Working at Sushi in the Box is Zhao’s first job and she does admit that being a waitress and a cashier isn’t as easy as it looks. However, this job has helped her develop the patience, attentiveness and positivity needed for good customer service skills.
“The best part about this job is that I get to meet people of all sorts and practice my Chinese,” Zhao said. “I learned how to communicate with others efficiently and how to work the cashier. I have dealt with rude and difficult customers but maybe the customer may have just had a bad day, or they were in a hurry.”
Zhao does enjoy receiving employee benefits, such as discounts and free dinner. Although school has started, she is planning to continue working two days a week.
“I want to save up some money for college,” Zhao said. “I don’t know how I’m planning on managing my time with school, work, and extra-curricular activities but it’ll work out eventually.”