A Surprising Sunday!

Just walked in the door from work, $211.00 richer (or poorer may be more accurate.)

Still, that's a pretty sweet sum on the night before Labor Day. That is after tip out and tip out is usually anywhere from $25 to $30.

It started out slow and the managers started cutting servers.I only had one or two crappy tips and that always has to be expected.

We went down to two servers by 9:00 and luckily I was one of the two.

I work with mostly young kids and thank goodness they care nothing about making money, only about getting out of the restaurant as quickly as they can. GOD BLESS THEM, they help me more than they know.

My last table was a party of eight and they left me a $50.00 tip that put me over the top!

Waiting tables is a crap shoot. You can really bank or you can really bomb. There is only so much you can do to change what kind of tip a customer will leave, but "Baby can I work a table!"

Of course after doing it for over 32 years...I'd better be good at it or what kind of slow learner would I be?

I've learned a few helpful tips on my own along the way:

NEVER ask a woman when her baby is due, unless her water breaks at the table.

If gender is in question, NEVER use "Ma'am or Sir."

NEVER ask if they need change back when picking the bill up, it's THEIR money and of course they want change...it is up to them to choose to leave you some of it and asking usually decreases what they might leave.

NEVER piss off a cook (there's no other way to put THAT one)

Learn as much Spanish as you can...it comes in real handy in a restaurant kitchen. I have learned more Spanish in my serving career than I ever learned from Senora Pallares in high school.

ALWAYS treat the kitchen help with respect...they may be here without a green card, but they are putting out the product that makes or breaks your tip.

I was kidding around with a few of the Mexicans the other day and one of the fry cooks told me that "Diego" wasn't Mexican but was from Salvador. I told them they didn't have tunnels THAT long yet. Sometimes when there are three or four of them back there at one time, I feel like I am working with the penguins from the movie "Happy Feet." I think that is the movie, about the environment and global warming, but the four penguins with their accent stole the show.

I treat these guys with respect, learn their crazy names (Ranulfo, Faustino, Edeberto) and treat them as equals.

Of course we always give them nicknames (Gringo ones) and they have even given me one. I am "Pelos Sporados" which loosely translated is "Spiky Hair." I guess that is better than the nicknames THEY have for SOME of the servers!

It is a melting pot that I work in...Managers with degrees in finance, cooks with degrees in Biology, cooks that aren't even supposed to be here and people working their way through college hoping to move on to better and bigger things.

Me...I am just a mom , wife and server. Granted I make pretty decent money for the hours I work, but it ain't easy if you do it the right way and I try to do that every time I walk through the door.

Bueno Noches.... ALGODON