UH OH !

I just got home from work. I talk about how we have "Secret Shoppers"...guess who got a bad shop?

UH OH ! It was me. They ripped my service apart. Out of 1o0 points they gave my service a 69 ...NOT GOOD. It was so bad that you think they would have stuck out in my mind , but for the life of me I can't remember them. First off they said I didn't ask them if they had eaten there before and I find that HIGHLY unlikely. I start every table off the same way, introduce myself and ask if they've eaten with us before. Okay, maybe for the first time in twelve years I did it differently...still HIGHLY unlikely.

They said I let dishes pile up on the table. I am so anal about pre bussing my tables that by the time my guests leave there is nothing there but drink glasses and napkins. It's why the bussers love me..because my tables are so easy to clean and re seat.

They said their potato was hard. Well TELL me for Pete's sake and I'll bring you another one. I don't generally poke a person's potato before I take it to them. They said I seemed rushed...what server isn't?

Granted I am a bit high strung and go a million MPH most of the time. It is just my nature, my personality and my way. So they got me on THAT one.

I try to constantly remember to slow it down..but it's JUST NOT IN MY GENES. Trust me, I'll be checking myself strenuously on every shift.

What is crazy about these reports is that they are taken VERY seriously by the managers and their bosses. I dropped the ball. There is no one to blame but me.

In my defense (not that it matters a lick) it was Wednesday ...day 19 of a 21 day stretch of working without a day off. My husband has been out of work for six months and I am the only bread winner in a family of five. I have so much on my mind at any given time of the day that it is a miracle that I can be nice to anyone, much less concentrate fully on what I am doing.

Two of the managers are having a meeting with me tomorrow to talk about the shop and that is one meeting I am not looking forward to. The pressure being put on them from corporate is insane and I realize they have to address my failing report.

But after being at this store for 12 years with ONE bad shop...I feel like that is a pretty good average. Unfortunately it isn't good enough for corporate and if I go in tomorrow and lose my job over this, I may kill myself.

When you have a job like mine and a life situation like mine...it is hard to make it all work smoothly.

So these people didn't like me, they thought I rushed them (they were there for 2 hours...is THAT rushing?)

I have people that come to our store and will sit in the lobby for thirty minutes waiting for one of my tables to come open so they can have me as their server. Just tonight I had three different tables tell me what a wonderful server I was.

None of this matters when you get one bad shop.

All I can do is go into work in the morning and listen to what a bad job I did on ONE table. Although I find it hard to believe that I did ALL of the things they wrote about, it doesn't matter. I often wonder if these "shoppers" realize that they have some one's job on the line when they write their little report?

I am the only person working in our house so I just have to suck it up and step up my performance and hope that I get a GOOD shop really, really soon.

I can do this. I can take this criticism and show them that I can give flawless service even to a "A" hole. I need my job. These people got a free dinner and the opportunity to pick me to pieces. I have to shake it off and regroup. I am better than what they wrote and if it kills me I will never have another shopper's report like this. I just hope my managers give me the chance.

Keep your fingers crossed for me.