Alison Williams: My experiences as a deaf waitress

Working in a busy customer service environment may seem faintly terrifying to many people who struggle with their hearing.

I have worked in bustling restaurants for most of my career, yet I have only been wearing my hearing aids since last year.

Strangely, I feel that wearing my hearing aids gives more legitimacy when I explain that I am hard of hearing.

Maybe it’s because phrases like “I’m a bit deaf” are so commonly used.

I am lucky in having a very understanding workplace. The most common reaction to my aids has been “oh! Cool gadgets!”

They are quite snazzy ones, apparently they even have Bluetooth! Although I’m a bit of a technological dinosaur, so I haven’t actually tried that feature out yet.

The breakfast chef and one of the receptionists have teased me, threatening to hack into them, and start playing me random tunes and sounds during my shift!

There are definite challenges in working face to face with people, when you can’t always hear them very well.

There’s only a few times you can ask people to repeat themselves before it gets embarrassing.

Often, it’s the way that people talk that is the problem. Sometimes I think I should take up a career as an elocution teacher. The number of people that mumble, or run their words together, or refuse to look at you when they’re speaking…

It can get awkward. Though I really don’t like it when people assume that I’m dumb, or don’t know what I’m doing because I don’t always get what they are asking for. It’s not that I don’t understand you, I just can’t always hear what you are asking for.

I have had to sort of train the people that I work with, with varying degrees of success. There have been quite a few occasions when supervisors have dashed past behind me, calling out to me to do something.

I barely catch one word in ten. This has led to several awkward points, where I’ve had to chase down the supervisor. Although without looking like I am. Must remain professional at all times around customers!

A big issue for me is the amount of background noises that there can be in large functions. For instance, if I’m serving at a wedding. The hearing aids can turn things up, but that just makes the hubbub even louder. Sometimes I want to yank my hearing aids out. Or yell at everyone to quieten it down a bit!

Not quite catching things can lead to some interesting misshearings. One common one for me is to hear the chefs talking about quail eggs. Which I often hear as whale eggs. And feel very glad I don’t have to cook them!

Maybe it’s part of the stresses of the job, but the chefs have often been the ones I have to keep reminding. No, I can’t hear you if you’re looking away while talking to me. And no,  I definitely can’t hear you when you’re shouting across a busy kitchen.

To be honest, I don’t think many people with perfect hearing would be able to hear them either.

There are definitely challenges in working face to face with people when you can’t always hear them very well. I think my hearing issues do make things at work harder than they would be.

Although I can still manage to hear people talk about their lives, and their stories. And that is definitely the best part of the job.

Alison studied Literature and anthropology at University and has worked in hospitality for several years, in different places around the country. When not at work, she can be found writing, reading and going out with her dog.