Question about in game activities

[devonm0 37]

I'm planning a set of activities that serve as paying jobs that will be the main source of income for players of my game.  My question is, is it inherently bad to make an activity that prompts the player to have something to write down information on because the amount of information they would have to remember if not written down is likely beyond the scope of the average player's ability to recall on command?  You see, while it is technically a distraction, or even a 'mini-game', it will become important to what I see as being most players because of these activities being the main source of in-game income, and I really don't want it to be too easy, but I also don't want to be asking something ridiculous of the player.

[JRolik 24]

In my opinion, I'd probably rather not have to write something down outside the game. I think it'd be better if there was somewhere the information is automatically listed, like a 'help' section they can look back at if they're confused. If that's possible, anyway.

[devonm0 37]

That's all fine and dandy, but a help file wouldn't help for what I have in mind.  At least not for the ones I'm currently making.  For example, a server at a restaurant.  For that, you would speak to guests and they would place their order, then you would return to the counter to put the order in before reporting to the customer on how long it would take.  Then a timer would appear and the order would be ready at the end of the time IF the correct time was given to the customer, and regardless of whether or not the food is actually ready, you have 10 seconds to pick up the food or else the customer will leave dissatisfied.  The information that would need to be recorded would be the item, the price, the preparation time, and the time until the food cools.  Customers will always be unable to decide between three items, and they would always have very different cooling times.  This is meant to take advantage of the difference in spacing of certain seats compared to others.  If the food cools before it arrives, you won't get top marks from the customer.  Luckily the information is all constant, but the choices that the customers can't decide between will be grouped into different sets that pop up randomly.  That's why I think this design would require some actual note taking.

 

There would also be a cooking job at the same restaurant where you would have a recipe that would be viewable at any time, but it isn't up constantly so some might prefer to take notes.  The majority of tasks in both of these would be handled by the character, with the player having to make choices from a list that pops up to tell either the player or the customer what to do or how long.