Handle Lunches Like It's Your Job

They say “a well-fed crew is a happy crew”. I always repeated that phrase in my head every time I would go through the motion of calling the restaurant and relaying everyone’s orders. When I was a Post-Production Assistant, I made it a point to make Lunch Orders the MOST important responsibility of the day. Because it is. Everyone looks forward to lunch. If that savory Chicken Pot Pie wasn’t waiting for you at 12:30pm, I would have screwed up. That’s on me. And you can bet that I’ll be going to go back to the restaurant to get it.

Now, it’s definitely easier said than done, especially if you’ve never done it before. Here are some of my tips in helping you make this task a little bit easier. (This advice is also shown in my “Handle Lunches Like It’s Your Job” Youtube Video here).

Print out your full crew list.

Why? So you don’t forget anyone. Also, you have records of what everyone ordered so that just in case they want to order what they ordered last Monday at Joe’s Falafel, you can show it to them. Thirdly, number code your crew. Meaning assign everyone a number and use this number to communicate to the restaurant so that they don’t have to match your food order with names. It can get messy that way, trust me. I learned the hard way when I had three “David’s” on my crew once, it wasn’t pretty.

Double check your order.

…when you’re at the restaurant. Take the 10-15 minutes to double check that the restaurant got everything right. Look at the receipt, go line by line, and look at each order. It really sucks to have to do this (I don’t even do this on my own when I’m ordering take-out!) but you will thank yourself later for being so careful and feel confident that everything is there. And if you found a mistake, guess what? You just saved yourself a trip from going back to the restaurant and from someone not having their lunch ordered properly. It’s worth it in the end.

Also, think of this as practice in becoming an Assistant Editor. Wax on, wax off right? You will be doing this exact same skill when you’re QC’ing your work before you hand it off to your Editor. Making sure all of the dailies line up with the script supervisor’s notes, the “Circled Takes” are properly reflected, and watching your movie before a screening. Consistently getting lunch orders right is Hollywood Editing High School. Build this skill.

Offer to drive back.

You’re going to mess up. You’re going to forget to get the side salad or the no pickle request. Mistakes will happen. But it’s how you deal with it that matters. Firstly, say sorry. Don’t even add an excuse - i.e the restaurant was busy, I was in a rush, I thought this or that… none. No excuses. Just say you’re sorry and say that you’re going to go back and get it right now. Now if it’s for a pickle, I hope that person is courteous enough to let that go but if you completely forgot someone’s order or got it wrong, I would go back.

The point here is that you will make mistakes, but staying calm and taking care of it will always speak more volumes than a simple mistake.

Alright, well thanks for stopping by and reading my tips on handling lunch orders as a Post-PA. If you missed my other blog post on other reasons how to take advantage of your time as a Post-PA, check it out here.

I also do 1-on-1 mentorship phone sessions if you want to get my help personally here.

Thanks so much again for reading and see you on the next blog post!

-Alfonso