Just got home from work. Business has been so slow that none of us were prepared to work as hard as we had to tonight.
I walked in the door at 4:45 and we were already in a huge wait
God bless the eaters!
My section of tables were two six top booths and two four top booths. The hostess in charge was a woman that has been with us since opening fourteen years ago. I call her "Put'em down Patsy." She will load you up with as many tables at once as she has to to get people sitting at a table rather than staring at her wondering how much longer they have to wait. All four of my tables were open, so all four of them got seated...BAM BAM BAM BAM! Eighteen people all at once were looking at me all wanting to order first.
The thing about being seated all at once is that they are pretty much all going to finish around the same time , leave at the same time and be replaced by eighteen others at the same time.
Pretty much that was the theme for the entire night. Thank God my section was in the bar area...alcohol always buys you a couple of extra minutes.
The cooks were pumping out the food like mad men. The regional manager was there visiting and helped us out as well. Not only do I have to wait on my own tables but have to help out the entire process by running other servers food and doing side work. My side work was keeping the ice bins full..not an easy task even on a slow night. Thankfully I had a partner on side work. A healthy young athletic buck that I abused for at least a couple of hours. I began to think he might think I had forgotten where the ice machine was! It was chaos, it was bedlam...it was slap CRAZY.
After two crazy hours we seemed to slip into a groove. All my customers were really nice (maybe one or two ---holes thrown in to keep me on my toes.)
The manager that was in the window expediting the food is our manager that drinks a pot of coffee per hour. I told the regional that we didn't even make him cups of coffee anymore, just scooped out the coffee grinds from the filter used to make the last pot and let him eat it with a spoon.
My regional (a super nice guy) said I should just give him a couple of coffee beans that haven't been ground up yet and let him keep them in his cheek to "Chaw" on.
Welcome to MY world.
It is a crazy insane five hour shift that makes you feel like you have been dragged through the mud on a gravel road with briers and thorns thrown in just for fun.
My restaurant is the best I have worked for in my thirty one plus year career. We bitch at each other and gripe and moan when it is slow, but when the bombs start dropping...we all work together. From the dishwasher that barely speaks English to the cooks that are grilling in a kitchen that is over 105 degrees to the seventeen of us servers all clustered together in a fifteen foot long alley way trying to get salads, appetizers, deserts and hot food out as fast as the cooks pass it through the window to the managers having to cruise through the dining room looking calm and composed while talking to guests...even though they are thinking how in the hell can we dig out of this hole we have found ourselves in and make a superb recovery?
But you know what? We always persevere. We always manage to pull it off, we all get through it and get a paycheck and laugh about it after the storm.
Working in a busy restaurant is insane to say the least...that is probably why I love it so much. The adrenaline just pumps you up...the pressure makes you work even harder and in the end everybody wins.
I was bringing out side plates tonight after the rush and dropped a stack of them on the kitchen floor. No dishwasher likes to see you break CLEAN dishes...the dirty ones "Hey that is fewer for me to wash!"
I was apologizing to him when the manager walked into the kitchen. This is my general manager who is a managing partner, meaning he has vested money into the restaurant and therefore owns a portion of the store. He said I was apologizing to the wrong person.
I remember one time when I told Massey that he owned part of the store, she asked me what part he owned? When I told my manager that, he said to tell her he probably owned the restrooms!
All kidding aside I know he hated hearing those plates breaking and I hated doing it. Thank the Lord I think I do a pretty good job for them and they can somehow overlook an old woman dropping some plates as long as I work as hard as I do the minute I walk through the doors.
We are a team at our store. Granted we have back biting and sniping, but when push comes to shove...WE MAKE IT HAPPEN.
We did just that tonight and I walked out with a fat paycheck, sore feet and the knowledge that I can come back tomorrow and do it all again.
LOVE MY JOB...Am I crazy or WHAT?
I walked in the door at 4:45 and we were already in a huge wait
God bless the eaters!
My section of tables were two six top booths and two four top booths. The hostess in charge was a woman that has been with us since opening fourteen years ago. I call her "Put'em down Patsy." She will load you up with as many tables at once as she has to to get people sitting at a table rather than staring at her wondering how much longer they have to wait. All four of my tables were open, so all four of them got seated...BAM BAM BAM BAM! Eighteen people all at once were looking at me all wanting to order first.
The thing about being seated all at once is that they are pretty much all going to finish around the same time , leave at the same time and be replaced by eighteen others at the same time.
Pretty much that was the theme for the entire night. Thank God my section was in the bar area...alcohol always buys you a couple of extra minutes.
The cooks were pumping out the food like mad men. The regional manager was there visiting and helped us out as well. Not only do I have to wait on my own tables but have to help out the entire process by running other servers food and doing side work. My side work was keeping the ice bins full..not an easy task even on a slow night. Thankfully I had a partner on side work. A healthy young athletic buck that I abused for at least a couple of hours. I began to think he might think I had forgotten where the ice machine was! It was chaos, it was bedlam...it was slap CRAZY.
After two crazy hours we seemed to slip into a groove. All my customers were really nice (maybe one or two ---holes thrown in to keep me on my toes.)
The manager that was in the window expediting the food is our manager that drinks a pot of coffee per hour. I told the regional that we didn't even make him cups of coffee anymore, just scooped out the coffee grinds from the filter used to make the last pot and let him eat it with a spoon.
My regional (a super nice guy) said I should just give him a couple of coffee beans that haven't been ground up yet and let him keep them in his cheek to "Chaw" on.
Welcome to MY world.
It is a crazy insane five hour shift that makes you feel like you have been dragged through the mud on a gravel road with briers and thorns thrown in just for fun.
My restaurant is the best I have worked for in my thirty one plus year career. We bitch at each other and gripe and moan when it is slow, but when the bombs start dropping...we all work together. From the dishwasher that barely speaks English to the cooks that are grilling in a kitchen that is over 105 degrees to the seventeen of us servers all clustered together in a fifteen foot long alley way trying to get salads, appetizers, deserts and hot food out as fast as the cooks pass it through the window to the managers having to cruise through the dining room looking calm and composed while talking to guests...even though they are thinking how in the hell can we dig out of this hole we have found ourselves in and make a superb recovery?
But you know what? We always persevere. We always manage to pull it off, we all get through it and get a paycheck and laugh about it after the storm.
Working in a busy restaurant is insane to say the least...that is probably why I love it so much. The adrenaline just pumps you up...the pressure makes you work even harder and in the end everybody wins.
I was bringing out side plates tonight after the rush and dropped a stack of them on the kitchen floor. No dishwasher likes to see you break CLEAN dishes...the dirty ones "Hey that is fewer for me to wash!"
I was apologizing to him when the manager walked into the kitchen. This is my general manager who is a managing partner, meaning he has vested money into the restaurant and therefore owns a portion of the store. He said I was apologizing to the wrong person.
I remember one time when I told Massey that he owned part of the store, she asked me what part he owned? When I told my manager that, he said to tell her he probably owned the restrooms!
All kidding aside I know he hated hearing those plates breaking and I hated doing it. Thank the Lord I think I do a pretty good job for them and they can somehow overlook an old woman dropping some plates as long as I work as hard as I do the minute I walk through the doors.
We are a team at our store. Granted we have back biting and sniping, but when push comes to shove...WE MAKE IT HAPPEN.
We did just that tonight and I walked out with a fat paycheck, sore feet and the knowledge that I can come back tomorrow and do it all again.
LOVE MY JOB...Am I crazy or WHAT?
The picture is a few of the gals at work. I will take a pic of the cooks and dishwashers tomorrow to post, since they are the ones that REALLY make it all happen.
Til next time...COTTON
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