My Restaurant Experience

Yesterday, I went to this new restaurant called Eat Korean BBQ & Shabu-Shabu for a Father's Day treat. As its name implies, the restaurant serves both a Korean barbeque style grill and a shabu-shabu eating experience, but my family chose to only eat the Korean BBQ. The food itself was surprisingly good, with a huge variety of meats, vegetables, and entrees to choose from. But I didn't decide to write today about the food; I wanted to talk about the first interaction right when I entered the door.

In a lot of my posts I have written so far, I mention how I am a very shy kid, and I have a hard time talking to people that I don't really know. Well, my shyness was put to the test yesterday at this restaurant. When we first entered the building, my family was a bit lost, and I eventually found the entrance and entered the restaurant first. The receptionist's desk was right next to the door, and he started talking to me. Normally, I would have waited for my dad to talk to him and tell him how we had a reservation, but my dad was far behind with my mom. I was stuck: should I just do the talking, or should I awkwardly wait for my dad to arrive? In that quick instance, I decided to speak myself and calmly told the receptionist that we were a party of 5 who had a reservation. The man was confused (I'm pretty sure I didn't make a mistake), but we eventually got to our table.

To most people, talking to the receptionist at a restaurant is nothing important, but to a shy person like me, it was a step out of my comfort zone. My dad usually does the talking for the family, but when I was forced to do things myself, I realized that socializing wasn't that bad. I'm not saying that socializing is impossible for me; I can do it when I am forced to, but I make it very awkward. However, that little moment yesterday helped me realize that socializing wasn't so bad after all. I think calling all those insurance companies and dental offices helped me come out of my shell a bit more. It's still a work in progress.