I Quit My Day Job

Every now and then, I dissapear...

I always promise to be back, but sometimes... well, you know.

I am a junior high teacher by nature, and I spent the last year teaching preschool (I KNOW, HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!? Well, they offered me free preschool for my 3 yo. son...)
Anyway - teaching preschool didn't exactly pay my bills, so I still had to waitress. So basically, I gave up a 3 hour waitress shift and picked up 15 hours of daytime work. How I managed to think that would work out, I don't know... I spent many days teaching in the morning and waitressing the same night. Exhausting...

But I made it through the year and I just gave up the teaching job. Now I am back to waitressing again.

I really liked teaching preschool, but the waitress perks are just too much to resist. That everyday payday is my favorite.

Stillllll waitressing - - -

Yep, so I had a meltdown a while ago...
In addition to my crappy job and the stress of the holidays, I was being sued by a bunch of liars for almost $200,000, and I am fighting with the car dealership because my new car is a lemon. It was only a matter of time before I snapped....

So I took a little break. I gave away a bunch of my shifts. I worked a few extra hours at my other job - the one I actually like....

But now I'm back - and nothing has changed, except for my attitude.

I have found that keeping things bottled up inside is not a good idea! As servers, we take crap from people all the time - and if we want to keep getting paid that $2.63 an hour, we smile about it.

So I decided to stop doing that. And it feels liberating. If you want to be rude to me, you are just going to have to wait to do it, because I will walk away from your table at the first sign of disrespect, and I may not come back. If I like the people you are with, you might be able to get them to order you something.

I have plenty of stories to share....

Total Meltdown....

yep, that was me Saturday night.

A couple weeks ago, I had a REALLY bad night.
Just in case you missed it...
And Saturday was starting out to be the same.
I was in Station 9, I got yelled at by Mr. Shitter, my regulars were late, and I held a table for them in the middle of a busy Saturday rush, and I was dealing with my own Holiday stress.

I went out to the break room to try to cool down. One of the bartenders was out there and he made the mistake of asking me what was wrong. It was like a cork was released. I had a total meltdown as I screamed what was wrong. What was wrong with the restaurant and the fact that we still have too many servers on even though business is back to normal, the customers who are jerks, the constantly crashing kitchen, the door servers who can't seem to find the back of the restaurant, the way the bathroom smells. You name it, I yelled it.

In my 17 years of waitressing, I have never had such an abusive outburst - AND IT FELT GOOD!! 17 years of being nice to people that secretly disgust me, and it finally came out.

Anyway - Once I was done screaming, I laughed a little, pulled myself back together, and went back out on the floor.

Really not that funny....

I have a cold, so in order to get through the past couple of nights, I have pumped myself full of cold medicine - which makes me a little dizzy, nearly deaf, and seeing spots. Not to mention, I seem to be laughing at everything.

So table 21 was sat with a family that seemed to have everything except a sense of humor. They ordered the finest wine, the Filet Mignon, and several of our special "Combo" meals. I put in the order, brought the apps, and everything seemed to be going fine.

I was at another table when the manager delivered their meal. All of the combos were mixed up. Great - $90 check and I can just see the tip going down....

I went to the kitchen to see what was wrong, and found out that The manager had brought a combo from another table's order, and mine was already being eaten by another customer. Even better - that tip is shrinking as we speak!

I explained the situation, and the table was actually kind of understanding. The meal came out again - delivered by another manager. STILL WRONG!!!!! Are you kidding?!?

"This is kind of like a Saturday Night Live skit!" The lady said to me. I apologized up and down, then went back to the galley to laugh. I couldn't help myself!! Was this really happening?

We finally fixed this - and my $90 check earned me a $13 tip.

Dizzy.....

One of the waitresses I work with is slightly ditzy.

That may be a severe understatement, but I like her a lot because she keeps me laughing. At this point, I know her well enough to point out all her little quirks - and laugh at them with her.

Here are a few of the questions she has asked me since I've known her:

Do we put ice in the iced coffee?
~I told her no.

Are we out of water?
~Only one of the faucets is broken, honey.

How do I order a FROZEN mudslide?
~Press the button that says frozen mudslide...

What is on the Bacon Cheese Burger?
~Bacon & Cheese

Sometimes I wonder how she makes it to work every day...

Locked In!!!

Wanna piss off the wait staff?

Lock the door to the smoking area!

This is the latest thing in a long line of complaints about one manager I just cannot bring myself to get along with.

We have a small area out by the dumpsters that some of the workers use for a smoking area. We also use it to talk on our cell phones. Sometimes if you have a spare second, it is nice to get a little fresh air. We didn't abuse the going outside privilage, until recently.

This particular manager decided to set the alarm on the back door. So, out we went without knowing about the alarm, only to be shocked by the loud buzzing. Since only a manager can disarm the door, we went back to work and watched him come back, look around, fix the door, and walk away.

A brilliant idea was born.

I ran over next and set the alarm off again.

Out he came, obviously irritated, and disarmed the door.

Next another girl ran over to open the door again.

OOOOOOoooooo was he ever mad when he came out again!!!

It was only getting funnier. Finally, on this last time, he left the door unlocked. Hmmmm - We'll see if he sets the door again next Saturday...

THE BEST SATURDAY IN MONTHS!!!!!!

Saturdays blow. They suck. The generally piss everyone off, which does not make for a very good work environment.

The kitchen is always understaffed, the door servers are always slammed with take out so they can't take care of seating properly, the dishwashers are usually 2 hours late, the wait staff is overstaffed, and the bar usually doesn't have anyone working service. Did I miss anyone? For some reason, we all have issues on Saturday night.

But last night, management decided to put a few more people on. Our kitchen manager ran the kitchen - Awesome move!! More doorservers were scheduled - yea!! And they scheduled a service bartender - ME!!

I was so excited! I haven't worked the bar since August, but I was able to jump back in with no problems. Since I was the service bartender, I didn't have to deal with customers!!! Nothing I'd want to do all the time, but it was so awesome to just work and not have to worry about anything other than the recipe for a VO Manhattan or a Frozen Strawberry Margarita.

Next week I'm back on the floor, which is fine with me, but it was so nice to have a little break from the usual.

Should we get a raise?

Hmmmmmm.....

This seems to be the question of the year. I have heard some rumors about a raise in pay for wait staff. Since so many of us make FAR LESS than minimum wage, (I personally make $2.63 per hour from my restaurant.) I can only imagine what this legislative act would do to my company's payroll. The company I work for has over 100 stores with probably 30+/- wait staff employed at each. Can you imagine how much more they would have to pay every hour? It makes me giggle every time I think about it!!

It still seems wrong to me that the company I work for expects me to complete sidework and daily cleaning, yet they don't actually pay me for any of it. They simply provide me with the opportunity to make money. Like I'm a private contractor or something....

So the question is, should we be fighting for more money? As much as I would love to receive more than $.26 in my weekly paycheck, how would that increase affect my tips? If people knew that the wait staff recently started making minimum wage, would they leave less in tips? Do they even know how much I really make now?

Waitressing in Heels

I can be such a moron sometimes.

In a rush out the door last week, I actually put on the wrong pair of work shoes.
During the day, I teach preschool - in HEELS. Not uncomfortable heels, but not the kind you would want to be running around a crowded kitchen in, either.

So, I wasn't paying attention to which pair of black shoes I slipped on, and I didn't realize what I had done until I got to work - 25 minutes away from my comfortable safety shoes.

My manager was already shorthanded, so she told me to go out there and be careful. Ummmm.....ok....

One of the other girls felt bad for me - after laughing for almost 30 minutes - and she let me take her early cut. But I still had to waitress for almost 3 hours in 2 inch heels. Not an experience I want to repeat again any time soon. As soon as my back stops aching, I may be able to laugh about this.....

PAID Vacation!!!

Oh Yeah - You read that right - I am a waitress with a PAID vacation!

So working for a huge corporation DOES have it's tiny little benefits...

On October 7, I reached my 5 year mark with the company I work for. That means that I am entitled to a 3 week paid vacation! How exciting, right??? Too bad I only make $2.63 an hour.....

Seriously, for the vacation days, they do pay us minimum wage. Not sure what that is, exactly, but I can guarantee it is still a lot less than what I normally make on any given night. So, I'm not REALLY taking a vacation. I have put in every day off since October 7 as individual vacation days. Which means that I have made approx. $25 per day on every one of my days off!! After taxes and whatever, I may actually have some Christmas shopping money!!

I know, I won't complain because this is actually the first waitressing job I've ever had with this benefit. Instead, I'll just enjoy the extra cash, and maybe a new pair of shoes....

Discover Card Strikes Again!!

The couple was nice enough.
The service was exceptional.
They were one of my first tables, so I wasn't busy yet and I was still in a good mood.
The food came out fast and cooked perfectly.
There was nothing wrong with dinner....

$45 bill - $6.50 tip.

Discover Card is an ongoing drama. More Tales Of Discover Card...

The Friend List

Every restaurant has this, right? You know the list of you with your picture & then the picture of the people that you are meeting. I mean how else will I know who you are waiting for.....

Well apparently MY restaurant doesn't have the right Friend List.

We had two women come in last Friday. Each sat down (actually within 10 feet of each other), and waited for their friend to come in. We were aware that they were both waiting for a friend, but the 2nd to come in had walked around the restaurant to look, and did not see the other woman. Believe me, we certainly pointed out that there was another woman waiting!

Well, when they finally realized what they had done, the women were so upset, they yelled at both the door servers and the waitress.

"Why did you let us sit apart for that long?!? We should have been sat together!!"

Right... 'Cuz you were in the Friend List...

There's SALT on my Martini!!

I love people - I really do.

I served a flavored martini last night that came complete with a Sugar Rimmer. Yumm!! It was one of my favorite drinks, too.

So I checked back on the lady to see how she was liking it. "This Martini has SALT on the rim!" Riiiiight~~

"Actually, only the sugar is dyed purple. We keep the salt white."

"Well, I can taste SALT"

And who argues with a customer? So, I explained the situation to the bartender. We all rolled our eyes, and a new martini was made.

I brought it over to the table and apologized again for the salt on her rim.

After a few more minutes, I returned to check on the new martini, and the new SUGAR on the rim.

"Oh, this is fantastic. That you so much for making me a new one and using the sugar instead."

The funny thing about people is that you can make them believe almost anything. We didn't change the sugar. Her new martini had the EXACT SAME sugar on it as the first one did. Since the salt is actually much larger and whiter than the purple sugar, we would have noticed it right away. We double checked the sugar before applying it to her new glass, and there was none.

Did She Forget About Us?

Nope, not at all. To say I've been busy is an understatement, but in the end, does the customer really care where the waitress actually went? All you know is that I dissapeared and you still need another Pepsi.

Well, I'm back with the Pepsi, and I have a little Jack to put in it as well.

Enjoy!!
Beth

Who's Gonna Pay Me?!?

Tonight will be my very first bar shift!!

I have had the training. I studied the recipe books until my eyes crossed, and I am ready!!

This SHOULD be an exciting night!!!



So how come I feel a little guilty about working tonight?

Here's the REAL story. The reason I am working tonight is beacuse I was added as the third bartender. The extra help put in place by the additional business we still haven't benefited from.

Since the restaurant only pays bartenders $3.65, - I know, I get a raise!!! - my actual pay will come from the two bartenders already on. Yep, at the end of the night, they pool their tips, then figure out how many hours each worked and everybody gets paid the same rate per hour.

Now they have to pay me too. So, if we don't make any extra money because of all that extra business, they are basically paying me out of the money that they would be taking home to pay bills with. To make matters even worse, I know how much they have each counted on thir Wed night money to make up for other nights.

So here's my question - Why does the restaurant get to decide to hire extra help, then expect their current employees to pay them? I guess it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.......

My New Job

SOOOOOO -

This past week my restaurant was remodeled.

As a group, we are vehiemently opposed to change. In fact, it generally pisses us all off. But they changed our restaurant anyway!

For the most part, the change is actually a good thing. The new system for sending orders into the kitchen is amazing. Ticket times have been cut in half - Always a great thing.

I really do love the look of the new dining room. It is a far more professional decor, and the designers paid very close attention to every detail. The customers have offered some great feedback as well. It is well liked.

The down side - They put more servers on the floor to accomodate the additional business we are expected to receive. This means that my 4 table station is now cut down to 3 tables. And this weekend, we didn't receive the additional business. So when I got home with my cash in hand on both Friday and Saturday nights, I had about half of what I would have normally made. After an entire week off for the remodel and training, this was not encouraging.

The worst part is that everyone else is excited about the additional business. (Truth is we actually sold $2000 over last year for Friday night - Probably went to take out - NOT a big deal to me.)
The kitchen staff is raving about how busy they are. They are all getting more hours because they have been over staffed, too.
The managers are excited about the additional business because they are going to get larger bonuses.
The porters are loving this because there are now more of us to tip them.

The only people losing money are the waitstaff. And they still continue to pay us $2.63 per hour.

They keep promising that next week will be better. We'll see - and I'll keep you posted!

The Black Hole in the Kitchen

"Where did my waitress go???"

My father's reply - "Into the Black Hole in the Kitchen."

Have you ever noticed that sometimes when you really need a waitress, yours is no where to be found? Well, as you can imagine, waitresses are real people, too. And sometimes they may disappear for long stretches of time with absolutely no explanation at all.

I guess that's kind of what happened to me over the last month. I have a ton of explanations, but really, who wants to hear them? When I arrive at a table, I don't go into details about the spill or crash or restroom break or helping a team member that kept me away. I just smile my little smile and pretend nothing happened.

So, I won't bore you with the details. I have a ton of stories from the last month. Some of them may explain my absence and others will make you laugh.

Either way, I have returned, and I brought your dessert with me......

Judgemental Waitress

I guess this is a "skill" that I have developed from years of people watching.

I have the insane ability of judging the type of person sitting in front of me. I can usually tell as people are being sat in my station how hard they are going to make me run and how much they are going to complain. And I am usually right.

There are a few things that can't help but notice.
People who talk to the door server are generally nice people out for a good time. These people will be easy and fun to wait on.
People who don't smile as they are being sat are already in a bad mood. If the smallest thing goes wrong during their meal, it will be made into a major disaster.
When I greet a table, some people don't even say "hello". When I ask how people are doing and receive "Water with Lemon" as a response, I can tell that this is going to be a long hour.

ok - now those are just some small examples. Obviously they are not the only telltale signs. However, these are the first things I notice.

As a silly little game, actually more of a defense mechanism against that let down feeling you get when someone leaves a bad tip for no reason, I try to guess the tip amount before I go to clear a table. 95% of the time I am right.

I try really hard not to be judgemental, and I greet everyone the same no matter what sort of feeling my gut gives me, but people are just a little too predictable.

Another Freak Weekend...

Yep, not only was this weekend a holiday weekend, it was also a full moon. Now that's a recipe for a full fledged Freak Weekend. And was it ever.

I'm not sure exactly where our regular customers had gone, but we didn't see too many of them over the weekend. Instead we once again had large groups of weird people. The tips were insane. I had a large group that ran me into the weeds leave me $5.46 on a $68 check - and then I had an older couple who were the sweetest and nicest people to wait on leave me $11 on a $26. Nothing made sense.

I waited on a gentleman who asked me to make a suggestion between the "Yucky Chicken" and the Fish & Chips. I thought he was joking and told him he should definitely go with the "Yucky Chicken". Only to realize that he was pointing to the "TERIAKI" Chicken and because he had a fairly thick accent, I didn't understand. Open mouth - Insert foot... But he loved the chicken - and thanked me for the suggestion.

The high point of the weekend - On Monday night our town fireworks were set off in the ball field not too far from our restaurant. I was working, and we could all hear the booms. Since almost everyone in town was there and not eating in our dining room, we really weren't too busy. So all the servers, the manager, and several of the cooks went out into the parking lot to enjoy the fireworks. It was a bonding moment.

I love fireworks. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!!
(And to my regulars - PLEASE COME BACK FROM VACATION SOON!!)

Another Interesting Work Week.....

An entire week has passed since I last wrote and a lot, although nothing of any importance, has happened.

My restaurant is gearing up for the upcoming remodel. (Rebranding is the official term) The last week has been full of little suprises that are supposed to make us more prepared for our new grand opening.

Most of these little suprises involve moving items that we really need to be able to find in a hurry. The crackers were moved on Tuesday. I opened 5 bags before someone finally told me that all of the bags I had opened were moved to a counter at the front of the restaurant.....OKKKKK.......
And the Mayo and Caesar dressing are GONE!! Luckily the cooks have been helping out with this one. None of the waitresses seem to know where they may have gone. Hopefully, they'll put them back out before too long.

As a group, we are visiously opposed to change. We all complain ceaselessly when the schedule is changed. We don't take kindly to newbies. We certainly don't like changes in management. And now they are about to change our entire restaurant?!?!? Needless to say, we are all having some issues as the big day aproaches.

Perhaps it is a good decision to introduce some of the changes slowly. I can't imagine what the grand opening is going to be like as it is. Thank goodness I have the night off. I'll come in to chaos on the second night, and everyone will share their horror stories.

(Should make for some interesting blogs!!)