As a professional singer and actor, I have had a total of 33 jobs in 17 years. I have worked at least 3 jobs or more simultaneously in addition to performing over the years. Each week, I will discuss one of my former or current jobs. My twenty-ninth job was banquet server for Exquisite Staffing (Cipriani).
Getting the Job
I applied for Exquisite Staffing on Indeed.com. I went to the interview and was hired on the spot again. The uniform was my biggest concern because it required quite a few items. You were given an all white jacket, and you needed to get a lighter, a crumber, wine key, white shirts, dress shoes, and black pants. The company suggested purchasing a second white jacket for $60 so I bought one. Since I worked several shifts a week, I needed a second jacket.
The Experience
Cipriani gave more consistent shifts than Amerivents. There were four locations, and I worked at three out of the four locations: Wall Street, 42nd Street and 25th Broadway. I never worked a shift at the South Street location, but worked most of my shifts at the Wall Street location.
I preferred working at the 42nd Street and 25th Broadway locations because the management was more organized and the staff meal was the best. Wall Street gave me the most shifts, but the management was disorganized, the staff meal was usually not enough for all of the staff for each shift. I worked several high profile events with guests including Oprah, Busta Rhymes, The Beach Boys, Donald Trump, Wendell Pierce. Events were as small as 150 people and as high as 1400 people depending organization.
Quitting
I worked at Cipriani for a year. This job was starting to wear on my body because all the the locations have marble steps. After a year of going up and down marble step several times every night for a year, my knees were starting to hurt for the first time in my life. On my final night at Cipriani, I literally felt like my knees were going to buckle underneath me and it was a bit scary.