Fresh out of high school and preparing to attend the local community college, I needed a way to make some dough.

I took the first job in town that had a “NOW HIRING” sign out front.

That job? Bus tables at the Outback Steakhouse.

It was an easy gig… I worked 3 or 4 days a week for a few hours and would cash out with some decent tip money at the end of the night.

In between taking orders and bringing out food, all the waiters would talk shit about the customers and management.

The waiters would say things like, “table 7 is full of assholes” and “I’m going to make them wait a little longer.”

I would often find a waiter or two trying to avoid getting another table by hiding in the back by the dishwasher.

I worked there for nearly two years and this was how almost every single waiter was.

The only waiter that was there the whole time I was and didn’t join in the shit-talking was this guy named Patrick.

We all thought this guy was nuts. He was super hardcore compared to anyone else who worked there, including the proprietor.

He laid claim to a specific area of the restaurant and would ask to get his section seated as quickly as possible.

Many times the hostesses would seat his section… then one of the other waiter’s tables… and then seat his section again. He welcomed it.

And the folks who came knew him because of this. The number of people who would walk in and say “we want Patrick” was waaaay higher than it was for anybody else.

Outside of him getting more tables than the other waiters, he was also intense. I’m talking Shia LaBeouf “Just Do It” intense.

After sprint-walking his way from one table to the next and into the kitchen… he could often be heard sternly talking to the kitchen staff asking them where his food was for his customers.

He was focused on one thing: his customers. And believe me, they were HIS customers.

There were times Patrick was so booked that we had a separate waitlist just for his section… And when it got too long, people would leave and go somewhere else instead.

Look, at the time, I also thought this dude was crazy. How could he not be? Every other waiter I worked with didn’t operate this way.

But looking back now, Patrick was the freaking man.

This dude worked his ass off to earn his reputation with customers…

He knew the best spot in the restaurant to get to and from the kitchen… without being too close to the chaos so customers wouldn’t be disturbed…

He consistently made way more in tips than everybody else…

And he never once gave a damn about what any of the other waiter’s thought about him.

The most successful people in their fields are like this. They’re crazy… Obsessed… with having success.

To the point that they don’t care if you don’t understand it. They let their success speak for itself.

I was too young at the time and I didn’t have my mind right… But there was a lot to learn from Patrick.