Dinner time, Bon appetit, Essenszeit, L'orla di cana, Srans on...!

It came to me the other day, after moving in with my partner, that I come across all different types of languages in my day to day life - in and out of the work place..!

It really amazing me as to how I can keep up!! 

Firstly, it starts with me waking up at 5.45 am to get myself awake and ready for the early morning breakfast shifts; which sometimes turns into a very fast, very organised chaos; with everyone coming down at once. I'm always ready to decipher the needs from our large groups and foreign tours.

For example, with our German and Italian guests, it's mostly understanding whether they would like more ham or more bread, but on the rare occasion it's also trying to explain what our famous 'love it, or hate it' Marmite is - the  hand movement and face of disgust are enough of a sign to tell me they 'hate it'!

Downtime after working usually involves chilling out with my Royal Marine serving partners - who is currently on summer leave before his next deployment. So the language changes entirely once again, with his bootneck colloquialism! A simple request for a cuppa turns to a 'wet', water becomes 'oggin' and dinner turns into 'scran'!

Time to come back to work for the evening service...soon comes around! 

This time its a walk to work through Plymouth's City Centre - and if I've got the inclination and the sun is shining, its a slight detour through the beautiful Barbican and along the majestic waterfront to The Hoe.

A night working at Steve's Brasserie brings a whole different area of language. Not only is it bringing a friendly service with some very good 'scran', it's also knowing the difference between customers such as our regular guys on business, the quick rush pre-theatre food before a show, to the small family get togethers and the intimate couples having an evening of romance via candlelight - where the language is certainly 'love'!

Knowing when to put on the jannerism, and whether they would understand is a fine line!

As well as all of this - speaking with the chefs is a whole other kettle of fish!!

At the end of a split shift day, many languages have come about, but all in all, when I'm stuck for words, a universal smile gets me through - perfect for the hospitality industry!

:) 

With love

SmilieWaitress X