Readers: the advice that is about to be given is from my personal experience and perspective completely. That being said take the advice or not, the choice is yours.

Conflict resolution is applicable in every aspect of life. Whether it be with friends, family, co-workers, or internally, conflict is inevitable in life. It’s how we face the conflict and resolve it that truly matters. As with all our soft skills, there is no formula on how to be an expert on them. In my personal experience, I truly have learned the bulk of my conflict resolution skills by working in the restaurant industry during my college career. Although, that’s not the desired standard way given an incredible education from Drexel University, it’s the truth. 

I began working in restaurants when I was 18 years old. I have done everything from host, bus, make a drink, serve countless tables, and even manage. My first co-op was in 2020 during the middle of the world falling apart. I had accepted a job working for Nudy’s Cafe which is a family-owned breakfast restaurant with 12 locations spread out across the Main Line. Nudys Cafes

 This was the first time that Nudy’s would be taking a co-op from Drexel University under their belt. The human resources at Nudy’s quickly took a liking to my resume and I was offered the job on the spot during my second interview. Nudy’s was looking to make their restaurant more modern and known through social media.When I accepted the job pre-pandemic, I was under the assumption I would be doing a little bit of everything. This included being able to learn the ropes of managing a restaurant on my own, learning for the first-time what office work would be like by working at their office headquarters, and assisting in revamping their social media. However, when COVID-19 happened, for lack of better words, “shit hit the fan” and I was jobless.

In June of 2020, the owner reached out to me when the world started to pick up and offered me a job. However, there were many changes made within the company and most of the individuals I presumed I would be working with were no longer employees. Being the individual I am, I decided to give it a chance even though I had no idea what the job entailed at that point. I quickly became the employee that was placed wherever they needed someone doing whatever they needed, which was not what I signed up for; however, I was grateful to be employed during such an uncertain time. 

At the time, as was the case with many other businesses, Nudy’s was struggling to staff all of their locations. They recently had a new location open and needed someone to manage the Conshohocken Location. I was given the training to manage the restaurant and started working at least five days a week.  I was confident this was something I could do since I had worked in a restaurant for over two years with many different roles. As it turned out, the technical skills were not what I was struggling with, it was difficult to be taken seriously and earn respect from the staff at the ripe age of 20. 

One of my notable learning experiences with conflict resolution that has stuck with me ever since is when I dealt with a situation with one of my staff members when I was managing. Our owner set the precedent that the Nudy’s uniform must be always worn. One of the young women who was serving at the restaurant continually would come to work out of uniform even though she knew this was a rule that was highly enforced. Instead of being loud or demanding while exercising power, I asked to speak to her privately about the uniform. I told her gently that she must wear her uniform to avoid further consequences. I listened to her concerns and was understanding. I learned that when dealing with conflict the number one aspect is that people just want to be listened to whether they are going to get their way or not. To this day, I know actively listening to the other individual is the main role in conflict resolution. If I am ever in a position of power again, I will continue to do the same thing.