I was off today and still hadn't heard from my mechanic about my car. It was almost time to pick up Massey from school. She is still super allergic to school buses so I called in a favor from Zach's friend who has been staying with us. He made the mistake of dropping by the house thirty minutes before she got out of school so I asked him if he would go pick her up. He said sure, so I text Massey and told her he would be there instead of me.
While he was gone I started thinking...if my car wasn't ready yet, why take a day off while I still didn't have enough money to go get it when it was? If I picked up a shift that would just be more money I would have when it was ready. I called my buddy, Hoke and thank the Lord HIS car was acting up and he wanted me to pick up his shift. Now I had a shift but no way to get there.
Call in favor number two...I called Zach's buddy who was on his way to pick up Massey at school and asked if he could run me to work after he brought Massey home and got the same reply "Sure."
Ironed a work shirt and jumped in the shower for four minutes. Five minutes on make up, three minutes brushing my teeth and two minutes on my hair later I was ready to go!
When I got to work the owner said we had two big parties coming in and asked if I wanted to be on one of them? Parties are a tough call. It's putting all your eggs into one basket. You either get lucky or get screwed. I gambled ... said I would take the party of twelve and crossed my fingers and sent up a silent prayer to The Big Guy upstairs who I have on mental speed dial.
I told my bartender friend, Oopsy that I was gonna be a glass half full kind of girl. I wasn't even scheduled to work so whatever I made would be more than I would have made sitting home worrying how much my car was gonna cost.
Lucky for me the party showed up and all had teeth no visible prison tattoos and seemed to be business professionals. It turned out to be a group from the new hospital being built and set to open in a few short months, hosted by the CEO. I made sure my service was flawless and kept the wine glasses full.
I waited on three other small tables before my party came in, two of the tables were just couples and the third three businessmen. I made $34 off those three tables and had all my eggs in the party basket.
I presented the check when the hand signal went up and mentally speed dialed The Big Guy one more time. When the room emptied I picked up the check and they had left me a 20% tip.
Barbara came in the room and asked how I did? I smiled and said I could get my car tomorrow and have it paid off by Thursday. When I first got to work I stepped out back and called my mechanic, He said the car was ready and told me how much it was. I told him I didn't quite have all the money and he said to come get it in the morning and we could work it out.
As I cleared the table Barbara and one of our regulars who is an older gentleman were standing in the room with me talking about retirement. Barbara made the comment she was sixty one and could retire next year. The older gentleman has been retired for over ten years. I told them I knew when I was retiring...when my doctor looked at his watch and pronounced "Time of death, four sixteen AM."
We all laughed and as I cleaned the last glasses away noticed they had left half a bottle of a wonderful Merlot. I chirped "This makes it a 22% tip!"
Had I taken a day off I would be well rested but $106.00 poorer. I feel more rested knowing I can go get my car in the morning, work another double tomorrow and have the mechanic paid off by Thursday. Waiting tables is a gamble but one that I love to take.
I'm only good at a few things...writing, chewing out my husband, yard work and waiting tables. My husband rarely deserves it and usually says nothing. (It just encourages me) The yards speak for themselves looking all nice and trimmed and waiting tables is what I do best. I know when to kid and when not to. I know how to make sure dinner is perfect and how to anticipate customer's needs before they have to ask. If you do it right EVERY single time...the odds are in your favor and tonight I broke the bank!
Headed out in the morning to pick up my Lil' Beem, make a bank deposit to cover a check that is floating it's way to the vault as I type (It was a holiday weekend... that always buys me a day or two) and headed back to work to do it all again. Life is good!
Til next time...COTTON (having her PHD In BS)
No comments:
Post a Comment