Oh boy. First day of work

Yikes. I'm in trouble. I just had a four hour shift at a job I dont know if I'm hired for. It was... interesting.
So I got a call on Monday from the Taco place on my block, and the girl asked if I would be able to come in on Tuesday at 10.30. So I said sure! I need a job, this is a job. Problem solved. Then she said that they have 4 candidates that they are considering for the position, and they would like me to do 2, 4-hour shifts for "training" and then when we were all done doing this, they would chose which candidate they wanted (and might even chose two! oh boy!). So, now, I realize that actually Im just going to work for them for 8 hours, and I dont actually have the job, and it doesnt seem like they will be even paying me, just "trying me on" sort of. Great.

Well, even if I dont get the job, it was definately a learning experience. Ha! So this place is basically like working at Chipotle. They have more options on the menu, but its the same idea. So that part at least is a piece of cake. I'll just have to learn what comes with different meals, and a few specific items. But the problem is, I still dont speak English! Surprise!

One of the requirements for the staff at this burrito place is that they speak English. When I interviewed for the job, the two owners, (both Americans), said that I might be useful at being the English speaker when other English speakers come in, because even though most of the counter people speak English, many of them have just the very basics. And they also thought that maybe I would be a positive influence on some of them because they are trying to push this idea of customer service, which is not the norm in Budapest. Ok, so that all sounds good. And in addition, supposedly about 70% of the customers speak English. Great. No problem.

Well, try telling me that now.

The day was awkward from the first few minutes I was there. I arrived at 10.30, half an hour before the store opens. From the first seconds, I looked like a goon, because I couldn't find the "back door" where the employees enter. (Its actually inside the courtyard of an apartment building behind the store.) So finally I get in, and kind of, wander around, hoping someone will see me and tell me who to go "report" to. But, I just wander for a bit and no one says anything to me. So finally I find one of the guys who told me about this job. He says hello, and goes back to working on the computer. So I stand there, talking to no one, not really sure what to do for a little longer, until finally I ask him if there is somewhere to put my coat.

Goober moment #2: This guy takes me up the stairs to the closet area, and I trip and fall UP the stairs. Awesome. I had only been there for about 3 minutes and already look like a big nerd. So I jumped up really quick to see if anyone had seen me, and then followed him up.

Then he took me on a very brief tour, basically showed me the tortilla press, and the line with the meat and toppings. Then went away. So then it was about 10.40. So I wandered around, looked at things, leaned on things, overall completely confused and totally awkward. There were two other counter people looking at things on their laptop, but of course I couldn't really talk to them.

After a few minutes, one of the girls came over and got a drink. She showed me where the cups were that we should use, and the marker to write our names, and then said we could have soda. Let me make one point right here: Do not take your Coke for granted. Or your refills. Even if you work in a restaurant. I went over and was debating about what to drink, and knowing that Coke is such a hot commodity, I followed suit of everyone else and got Sprite. As I was drinking, I had an epiphany. SODA HERE DOES NOT MEAN SODA - IT MEANS SODA WATER. OOOOOHH man! This is such a big deal here! I drank my Sprite down so fast, and turned to see if anyone had noticed! I think I was ok, but I will never make that mistake again!

Finally, after what seemed like forever, we opened, and almost immediately there was a home delivery order. One of the counter guys told me I should make it. Great - something to do, other than stand around looking like a geek. So I looked at the ticket,

"Something something burrito-
-something
-something
-tejfol (sour cream)
-something
-something
-sajt (cheese)
-lime (lime)
- something

This is when I knew I was in trouble. But I am a pretty quick learner, and have been grocery shopping a few times, so I watched and asked about all of the food terms, and caught on to that pretty quickly. The big burrito wrapping is an aquired skill, but I would say I became intermediate by the end of the day. Also, I know very basic Hungarian greetings, and when trying to listen for specific words, I assumed I would be able to get the gist.

That is not how the rest of the day went. I was optimistic for the first few customers, but soon realized that I could barely hear their voices, let alone understand orders in Hungarian! And on top of that, it seemed that almost every person had a question about something! How can I understand all of that! The situation pretty quickly had me feeling a bit sick. I was afraid to even say hi to anyone, fearing that they would just start rambling away in Hungarian. It was a bit of a situation. So for the last half of the lunch rush, I heated a few tortillas, made a few of the home delivery orders that have printed tickets, and generally looked confused and probably scared.

But it wasnt all bad. I did enjoy making the burritos for the Americans and British people that came in. It was a little comforting to know that there are people here like me, from home, who speak my language. Its something I was beginning to doubt completely. So all in all, I still hope I get the job (obviously), but I am definately nervous about it. I know my learning curve will be steep there, not about the tacos, but about the language and the people.
And I will DEFINATELY have to find at least one other job. (I hope its the hostel! :) And also some teaching........ )

(And I did get paid, 2600 forint. For four hours. Just over $4 an hour. Look out for another post on Friday, when I have my next "training day".)