quickie

So I think I've learned that one guy, who I thought was as good a server as me, could use some pointers.  I was helping him with a large table Sunday evening and you could tell straight away it was a 'different' table in that they weren't related or celebrating anything.  Turns out they were a group of self-proclaimed 'intellectuals' and were a book club. 

They were discussing Mark Twain's The Tragedy of Puddin'Head Wilson. 

I've never read it. He never read it. This server (it became apparent) hasn't much knowledge of the Civil War, at least not as much as these people. Yet he made it his business to discuss with these people. Some seemed a little annoyed, others indulged him. 

Perhaps, I thought to myself, this is one of the reasons he complains night after night about low tips and two tops the rest of us aren't. 

On another note, just saw this post on how a German restaurant is now "waiterless". They're coming to America.

Familia

At the age of ten I was recruited to be a busboy at my family's first restaurant. Since then restaurant life has meant family to me. 

Three years after leaving the family business I find myself at this current restaurant thinking these people are like my family.  I really do appreciate and have come to care about a few of them very much.  And as crazy as it may sound I believe they care about me too. 

This morning I worked my "real" job where I trained seven new recruits. Part of the training involved welcoming them and telling them that they were now a part of our "family" there.  I've done this same training a dozen times in the past 10 months and I never paused when I read this before. I practically stuttered, because I knew it to not be the truth as I know it could be. 

I enjoy that job. It pays pretty well and the benefits are excellent, but I truly love the people at my "night" job and look forward to seeing them moreso than the people at my day job, and I think it has to do with the fact that I hold more than a couple of them close to my heart. 

And I'll tell you (I've got to learn to write more succinctly, I know), i don't think I'm a very good server. There are co-workers whom I think are as good as me if not better, yet I continually get larger tables and they get smaller ones. I don't understand it, but I accept it and I appreciate it. And I will be the first to tell you I f*ck up every now and again and I admit it to management, yet they continue to not punish me the way they do others.  

For that and for the friendships I've made and for the new family I have I am grateful. 

When life gives you lemons

I was going to make this post about the highly intelligent people I work with who are our hostesses (did I mention they were good looking too). 

But alas, something happened at the end of the night that I can't get my mind off. It's because I'm sitting here in major pain.

All week long I've been home sick with a bad cold and fever and finally I feel good today. I ate a big dinner before going in to work. Normally as the night progresses at work I pick at the food we have, but not today. That is, until the very end when I got thirsty.

I want to apologise in advance to all of the people I've ever served a dirty glass unknowingly to. Your server is your last line of defense against a dirty glass. 

Think about it, when that glass is full of imitation expensive wine or imitation expensive vodka/cranberry, you don't see what we may see. So usually, we do try to send a less than stellar glass back to the non-english speaking dishwashers to get properly cleaned.

Tonight I was so thirsty and was really in a hurry to leave that I grabbed a glass, didn't check it and drank lemonade. 

I consumed absolutely nothing from 3 p.m. until midnight.  

Then that glass of lemonade turned my stomach within 3 minutes flat. 

I'm in so much pain right now.

On top of that I have to be up in five hours to train a crop of new people at my other job.

Ok, enough complaining.  

My tables and customers were all good. Some days I just wonder about the people who seat you. But I'll talk about that another day 

imperfection

"Give yourself permission to not have to be perfect that first time out of the box."  - Merlin Mann

Over and over I've told my co-workers that I need to have a blog.  Some of the stories both with customers and co-workers are much too valuable to keep inside.  So today, after three years of talking about it I'm beginning it. 

I'll write about the customer, twice my age who died in my arms after the heimlich maneuver didn't work and about the fact that I still wonder why minorities and foreigners as a rule don't tip very well (I am a 'minority' and english is my second language). 

Mainly I have stories from my restaurant experience but occasionally I'll have some from my 'upscale' retail job.  It's just that job isn't as interesting most of the time.  

Again, this post isn't perfect, but hopefully I'll get better at it.