Thursday, January 10, 2008

The "Bread" Cutter

We were laughing at work recently about an episode I had at work a few months ago. I work in a mid priced Steakhouse, in an all too wealthy community. (obviously I commute to work). We serve bread with all meals...and you know if it's free; they ALL want it. It is a multi grain Boulle, served with butter, and the customers eat it up like nobody's business. Actually at work, we like to call it "Christian Crack." It is just a large round loaf of bread that everyone that walks into our store is rabid for. It is served on a little cutting board with a small dish of butter, and a steak knife stuck in the end of it so that you can cut it into slices. Sometimes you will even go up to greet a table, saying "Hi, my name is Kelly", and they will immediately say, can we get some bread?... Like I am withholding something from them intentionally... although actually as a saleswoman, I would like to sell them something first! But I am ALWAYS happy to bring them their "FIX" , and keep the bread "Jonesing" down to a minimum. I had two couples one night; nicely dressed, about my age.. a little uppity for me... but HEY it's ALL good when serving the public for your paycheck! I brought the mandatory first loaf, and one of the women asked for another loaf (of course!) I said cheerily.."SURE, I"ll be right back with it !" Then the other woman spoke up, and said to my utter amazement... "and could you cut it up for us?" Well, if she had been handicapped in any way, or maimed, hurt, or obviously unable to cut up her bread, I would have happily and cheerfully done so. But this woman could have been my twin sister, in great health; maybe her hand hurt from the 5 carat diamond ring weighting down her "cutting Hand". I asked if they were serious, thinking they were kidding, to which I got a haughty reply.."could you? " I said happily.. sure I can, ( hiding a smirk ) and took their precious, uncut loaf back to the bread station. I held it down with a wax paper sheet and hacked it into five or six slices for them, and took it back to their throne.... I mean table. The other woman, I guess noticing my chagrin at having to slice up bread for perfectly competent people my own age; said.. " I think what my friend meant, is that she thought you had some bread cutting machine in the back that could slice it for us ." I think at this point I should have just let it go, but in my 28 years as a server, I have had handicapped people, mentally impaired people , or older people with arthritis so bad they could hardly hold a fork; and this woman found it okay to ask me to slice her stinkin bread up. So when the friend commented about the "bread cutting machine" , I just couldn't help but reply.... "NOPE....it's just me and a knife!! " People amaze me every day, not only at work, but in almost every instance I encounter with the public. Of course I still love my job, ( and so far haven't gotten fired with my friendly, yet amusing humor...or maybe it's just us employees that think I am so funny!)It is a tough job being a public servant .. they need to find another word to replace "servant", and maybe I would feel better. But all in all, I LOVE my job, I am good at it, and most people love to have me wait on them. Just another thing that I wanted to put out there, and I am sure that millions of other servers can relate TOTALLY. Till next time...Cotton

5 comments:

Frances said...

Trying to post a comment. Frances

Frances said...

Kelly, it is so good to know that if I ever go to Longhorn's again I can get my bread sliced. Longhorn owes me anyway. On Christmas Eve ten of us went there for dinner. We had 6:00 reservations. We were there and were told it would be 1 1/2 hours before a table would be ready. At 7:30 we ask about our table and were told we were next. At 7:45 the manager came out and apologized and about 7:50 we were seated. They had signs up that they were closing at 8:00 that night. When we got to the table there were two platters of onion rings and shrimp. Then two waitress' took out orders. When we got our food two of the people did not get theirs, so they got the waitress' attention and told her they wanted to eat with the rest of the group. Finally got their food. When we finished eating they brought us two hugh desserts. They were sweeping and cleaning up the entire time we were eating. Needless to say next Christmas Eve will find us some place else. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.
You are a good waitress and I have had your service there. Frances

Auto'Blog'raphy of a Waitress & Mom said...

This was the first Christmas Eve that I did not work. Sorry that you had that experience. But it seems that Longhorn tried to take care of your situation with free appetizers and desserts, and to be honest; when it is Christmas Eve, most servers are trying to get out of there, ( the sweeping and cleaning).. as most of the people that I work with are single moms..probably wanting to go home and get ready for "SANTA" I am sorry that you had a bad experience, but as my website boasts,.... it is a hard life as a server; and as much as we like to serve the public.. we have to remember ourselves. But if you come back to my restaurant.. I will gladly cut your bread myself And buy you another dessert!!

Unknown said...

Since when does Longhorn make reservations? No offense but where is your Christmas spirit?? Next Christmas Eve maybe you could cook at home and save yourself the heart palpitations of eating out because eating out on that day in PTC is a nightmare wherever you go.

Joannah said...

Only in PTC! Have you seen our " Model Friend" lately? Tom and I are coming in a few months. We wont make you slice our bread though...