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!

Shameless Advertising

Sorry - I have to do this. I have been running a Craft Resources Website for years, and I recently added a new Auction section. The TRUE reason for my absence was the publishing and promotion of that.

But I'm back.

So if you are looking for any handmade crafts - Please feel free to join us:
www.freecraftfair.com/craftfair

And if you are looking for some waitressing laughs, come back soon!!

Thanks for your understanding!!!

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......

Not Just Another Friday Night

Well, tonight started like every other Friday night. Traffic was a little slow, so my husband was late. Nothing unusual there. Fridays in the summer are always slower because people are heading out of the city to the lakes up north.
My ride back toward the city wasn't too bad. I knew about a traffic back up on my usual route, so I took a secondary road and hit the highway a little further up. Again, not a problem.

I was just sitting in my car, listening to my tunes on the radio. Heard a couple of songs I could sing along to, so I cranked the volume. This is where things started to get a little crazy. Because the music was so loud, I didn't hear my phone ringing. And ringing. And ringing. 27 missed calls in all.

When I pulled into the restaurant parking lot and shut off the radio, I finally heard the call. My husband was frantic on the other end. Apparently our son had fallen and cut his head open. He was probably going to need to go to the ER.

I never even got out of the car. I just turned around in the parking lot and left. I called them as I left and tried to explain my situation as calmly as possible. (I probably didn't make a lot of sense.)

Sooooo - I spent most of the evening with my daughter while my husband and son sat in an ER waiting room. 12 stickers, a new teddy bear, and 3 stitches to his head later they finally arrived home around 11:30 PM.

The joys of living with a 3 year old.....

Thinking Blogger Award

Yippie!!

Thank you to heavenabove for Tagging me for this award.

I started writing as a way to get out of my bad days, and to know that I have readers out there who enjoy my rantings is just icing on the cake.
I love to make people laugh.

Thank you for this award.

As part of the award acceptance, I get to "Tag" 5 other bloggers out there who make me think. I have never been one to make hasty decisions, so it may take me some time to pour through some of my favorite bloggers and make a decision.

To be perfectly honest - One of the first blogs I would have tagged would have been the one that tagged me. Wildlife Alive . It is an amazingly thought provoking look at how the world of humans and animals collide. It is a very inspirational blog to read.

Thank you again,
Beth

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!!)