Another Crazy Day...Just WAIT Til Tomorrow !

First off I got to work and stood outside of the back door for fifteen minutes for someone to let me in . First it was me and another server. Ten minutes later it was me, another server and the opening hostess. After fifteen minutes the bartender pulled into the parking lot as well. Our security policy is that no one enters through the front door until we are open. I finally called on my cell phone and told the server that was lucky enough to get in the obviously "Secret" door to either have some one open the back door or we would just all walk through the front door together at 11:00. (That is what time we open) Crazy as it sounds us two servers and the hostess finally got in but the bartender must have been walking too slow to catch that 10 second period it took to let us three in and had to stand out back an additional five minutes to gain entry.

What were the managers doing? Secret experiments on the Mexicans in the kitchen...for Pete's sake, when you hear a door bell ANSWER IT !

We got in the building at 10:45 with 15 minutes to take down all the chairs, replace all the salt and peppers and sugar caddies..dust off all the sawdust from the night crew who are doing the remodel and clean up all the crap they leave laying around the entire restaurant.

I know that the managers are busy from the time they step through the door at 6 AM and are sometimes in the cooler cutting steaks , salmon and can't hear the door bell.

But come ON Faustino and Ranulfo! Step in the cooler and let the managers know that the Gringos have arrived. What's the deal, is the door bell only ringing in English or what?

Once in we all skittered about like water bugs scrambling to get the store set up before we opened.

My fave server "Doofus" was working so we had plenty of comedy material to work with once the lunch shift started. He still hasn't shown up with a weapon cocked to clock in but just tries too hard to fit in. He is definitely a square peg guy trying to fit into a round hole restaurant. Once we opened another male server was standing in the expo alley putting bread into the oven when "Doof" walked up beside him and made the comment "Is that 'Nautica' you are wearing?" The bartender heard him say that and said "Oh my God" before he knew it was out loud.

Okay, a gay guy MIGHT say that and it be okay ...but this guy is straight and for the life of me I can NEVER imagine those words coming out of my husband's mouth as a comment to another man.

The other male server is married (and in Doof''s defense DOES wear quite a bit of cologne).. we all made jokes about that for about three hours.

We have a restroom sign off sheet posted at the far end of the restaurant by the rest rooms so that every half hour an employee goes in and makes sure it is neat and tidy, no paper on the floor and makes sure the soap and towels are full. This is a HUGE pet peeve with management as we get scored on the cleanliness of our restrooms when we get shopped...not to mention that no customer likes a nasty rest room.

So anyhoo..Doof comes up to me about 2:00 and said the the general manager asked him to sign off on the bathroom sheet. He asked me what the manager was talking about.

Let me point out here that I did NOT train this guy! I asked him how long had he been working with us.. and told him that he needed to sign off on it every thirty minutes. His reply was "Just tell me where it is."

For Pete's sake...he didn't even know where it was! I told him where it was located and if I had been on top of my game I would have said "They keep it in the office with the General Manager. Just go knock on the door and tell him you need the R-14 sign off sheet and he'll give it to you."

Okay...I AM a smart ass but I do have a heart.

An hour later I went to check the rest room and went to sign off on it. As our restaurant is western themed...we call the women's room "Lambs" and the men's room "Bulls." Right there in his time slot, Doof had signed his name on the Lambs side.

Bless his heart...he is working with some tough seasoned servers that know the ropes so well they could tight rope walk across them blind folded. He's not a bad guy, he is just a guy that doesn't "Get" it.

My new promise is to TRY to help this guy fit in. It may be my greatest mission and may be my biggest defeat. But he has given me SO much material for my blog that I almost ...ALMOST feel like I owe it to him to try and help .

I am torn. If I help him too much...we'll have to find a new reason to laugh throughout a shift. If I don't help him at all...he may show up with that UZI I was talking about.

How much you wanna bet that OTHER server doesn't splash himself quite so heavily tomorrow with cologne?

Got a good blog about Zach tomorrow.

Til next time...Cotton