What would you say if I told you to be a waiter or waitress you had to go through an audition process?
Well that is what the servers at Ellen's Stardust Diner in the city have to go through before they are allowed to hit the stage and sing to hundreds of hungry New Yorkers and tourists every day.
Before I go into how a wonderful life lesson from a singing waiter over quesadillas I'll let you see the man himself in action... well kind of.
This was my color teams waiter Sean, or SDJ for short. He's a photographer with a background in musical theater who has been working at Stardust for years on and off.
Sean's Top Three Points (and how they relate to NSO)
1. Being on, even a a bad day
One thing Sean really talked about a lot when he was serving our table was the fact that although his job was hard and sometimes very taxing on his voice he was very grateful that he has had the experience and the opportunity to have it.
He spoke about how it was almost impossible to actually have a bad day on the job because literally at least once every hour it is required for you to get up and sing the song of your choice. At least once every hour you are the complete center of attention and knowing that allows for him to push through days were he may not be feeling the best emotionally and/or physically.
This is something that translate almost directly to NSO, excluding the fact that Sean is a singing waiter and we are orientation leaders. As soon a we put on those polos and step into the spotlight we are not really allowed to have a bad day because the first years experience at orientation is very dependent on us as orientation leaders. Also just like Sean is grateful to have a job that allows him to do something that he loves on days that he may no love, we should be grateful as well because being the center of attention on a bad day might be all that is needed to force someone out of a bad day.
2. A smile is contagious
Sean also mentioned that empowerment is something that he is interested in and mentioned a study on smiles that he was reading. In the study he mentioned that people who worked in mental institutes would just smile and each and everyday the smiles would carry.
A smile is something that can brighten a persons day and a smile is also free. Smiles are something that we as an orientation staff need to throw out a lot more freely in the summer just to remind everyone staff and student that there is someone out there for them.
3. Work hard
Although many of Sean's coworkers have been recently placed into broadway shows all over the city Sean made it very clear that although Stardust is very well know it will not get you the job that you want. It will give you the opportunity to practice singing and gain skills, but no one is truly "discovered" in the diner. The servers that want to get anywhere need to take initiative and go out look and apply to the jobs that they want, not expect them to be handed over just because they have this amazing job that allows for growth and experience.
I'm not gonna lie. At first Stardust just seemed like a fun place to go that does things a lot different that your average diner but I go so much more out of the experience than I ever expected. Maybe it was just because my team was lucky enough to be sat in Sean's section or maybe it's because everyone feels similarly to Sean but I'm not going to question it.
I'm just going to grateful that I met a great guy who taught me a thing or two about his job that could be transferred to my own.
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