Naked Chorizo Food Truck: First Day!!!

Hi Everyone!
So I began my senior projects a day early. It's Sunday, May 5th and the truck I'm interning with, (Naked Chorizo) asked if I wanted to help them out at the SOMA StrEat Fair for the special Cinco de Mayo celebration. Obviously, I was more than enthused to join in. And honored that they invited me to work at such a big event!

It was a big day right off the bat. I had to make my way all the way over to Pacifica to help Zenia (owner of Naked Chorizo) "start off", which is a necessity for all food trucks. It's basically where their off site kitchen is, which is where they do some extra food prep before heading to the day's locations. The truck is also kept there, with a fee of $125/month (not bad!)
I met her, but was mortifyingly 20 minutes late because I followed the wrong directions and ended up in San Bruno. It was fine though, as her head cook was just as late as I was! We prepared some rice and salsa in the truck, and about 30 minutes later we headed back into the city for the event at SOMA. We were scheduled to be up and running from 10am-7pm, which means we had to arrive an hour to 30 minutes ahead of time. Once the truck was set up within the cute little closed off congregation of food trucks, we did a bit more prep in anticipation of the day.
It started out slow....understandably, because I can't imagine many people craving a chorizo taco or some crispy lumpia at 10 in the morning. I was shocked at how much responsibility Zenia left me with, as she barely knows me, and has no knowledge of any prior experience I've had (which is zero). Instead of making me do food runs, take out the trash, clean plates, etc, she immediately put me in charge of taking orders. Taking orders!!! Here I am, this little 18 year old girl who knows nothing about the world, and I am suddenly taking orders, writing down numbers, giving people cash, handling their credit cards, explaining dishes and yelling at the chef. It was terrifying and also the greatest experience of my life.

may I take your order? 

It didn't get genuinely terrifying until the lunch crowd rolled in. Now, keep in mind that it was also Cinco de Mayo. So not only were these people hungry, but they were drunk and hungry. Our kitchen suddenly became very backed up, and the truck had a massive line. We had so many customers ordering food, but we also had a huge amount of people waiting for food! And just like that, I became the victim of a pack of hungry wolves. One, three, five people all began shouting at me into the small window of the food truck. "I've been waiting for at least 10 minutes for this food!!" "Why are you taking orders if you can't even serve them?!" "If I don't get my food now I'm just gonna get a refund because this is ridiculous" "What's the holdup? Why is this taking so long? THis is ridiculous!!!"
I felt like I was going to burst into tears and there was nobody to jump in and save the day as I had so secretly hoped. Zenia and the cook were hard at work, busting out orders. I simply looked around frantically, repeating "I don't know, I'm so sorry, AH!" over and over again. I was flustered and confused and felt so helpless. It was just horrific. And ironically, motivated me even more.

a very...cozy kitchen to work out of

Once we all got into the groove, I was taking orders (and getting tips!) like a master. It was my first day ever doing something even remotely like this, and I'm feelin pretty good about it. Although I was standing for legitimately 10 hours straight today, it didn't feel that long at all. I had so much fun today, even through the most stressful times, and the best part is that I am so excited to come back tomorrow. When I got home I collapsed onto the couch, smelling like oil and food, slightly dazed, numb feet, and a bit shell shocked from angry customers....but there's nothing I want to do more than to do it again tomorrow :)