Opinions

Lawdy, with all the craziness going on in and around this cray cray world, and all the spewed hate talk bounced around this election season,  it really makes you wonder... exactly how stupid are  people?

If something is posted on a social media page or website and goes along with someones' way of thinking, it is usually automatically assumed to be a fact and quickly passed on, as factual...

when in fact, it isn't.

All it is , is a widely spread opinion, and you know what they say about opinions.

I see more hateful comments and downright degrading, insulting, racist remarks posted by people who also always post a favorite daily Bible verse than ones who have an actual clue about life.

I'm not thinking that goes over too well with The Big Guy Upstairs... just saying.

Opinions like these are to be addressed in the privacy of the local polling booth...'nough said.

It makes me cringe to see people I've known all my life or for a very long time, accusingly point fingers at others when they haven't always been the saint they appear to be now.

How quickly some forget.

Luckily for me, I've never claimed nor thought of myself to be a saint, and am most  probably further away from being one than closer to, but am okay with that. I am a work in progress.

Here's my spin on life in 2018...

Politically,  until we all agree to meet in the middle... as a nation of  concerned yet mildly cautious moderates and equally cautious but concerned progressives, both willing to listen with an open mind and also give and take... we will continue and shoot ourselves in the foot.

Time and time again and year after year after year.

Our only recourse, our only way of changing anything is to vote.

Never vote for a party or a person, vote for policy you believe in.

 But most importantly.

Yeah, I didn't fact check this one (my bad) but from previous searches am pretty much sure is accurate...and is pretty sad.

Almost half of us aren't even checking in or offering our opinions, which do count, by the way!

If you are that worried about the state of affairs in this country or world, call your local voter registration office and ask what you can do to help.

Don't just bitch about it on social media.

I'm getting older, but at the age of almost sixty, am starting to get it.

Do something nice...today and every day.

It will make you feel better.

Til next time...COTTON

Waitressing 101

I'd say Massey and I go out to eat lunch together about once a week.  Sometimes I can't believe she still willingly goes with me.

I can pick a place apart, especially if it has sit down service.

Especially franchises.

I never let the server or management know, and rarely let it affect the tip I leave, but instead secretly vent to Massey the entire time the we are in an establishment, from the instant we walk in the door.

If I am ignored at a host stand for more than thirty seconds (and is not busy) I'll leave. (if I'm not starving)

Seat me in a booth and ignore me for five minutes while it's not busy, I'll be gone.

And I won't be back.

On the other hand, do an excellent job and don't think I won't be the first person to point it out to my server and management, and any interested co diners.

Plus my tip will most def be around twenty five percent, if not more.

Number one: The initial greet at the door.

No one should have to stand at a host stand long enough to feel like walking around to find some help. That is a negative way to begin a visit and immediately puts you on notice, as a server.

It's up to you to recover the fumble...they won't likely see the host again until they leave.

I started my serving career on Old National Highway in College Park, Georgia at the Red Lobster. It was so far back that they were still actually called Red Lobster Inns. Originally billed as a "Harbor for Seafood Lovers."

We wore a polyester blue dress with a white sailor collar in  the back and red tie across the front. We had to wear panty hose and white shoes...not tennis shoes. At the end of every shift you had over an hour of side work to do and another hour of doing silverware. We had bottles of ketchup, two different steak sauces and Tabasco. You had to combine and fill every bottle. Take every cap and soak in bleach water until it was clean, then clean it again. Then you had to take a clean rag and wipe the inside of the neck of the bottle so that no ketchup or sauce showed above the label on the neck. Then you put all the freshly washed caps back on, after drying them and moved on to the salt and pepper shakers and sugar caddies.

All for thirty bucks in tips in your pocket if you were lucky.

Crazy huh?

It was just Red Lobster but they trained the crap out of ya. Not so much the waiting tables as the worker bee part.

I moved from there to Steak and Ale.

I switched out my sailor suit for a short plaid skirt, low cut peasant blouse and black tights. My money doubled.

Then I moved on to Crowley's Scotch House.

Tavern on one side, upscale dining on the other, boasting huge lobster tails from South Africa, weighing almost two pounds.

Then I plunked down in to Johnny's Pizza for well over ten years.

That's where I learned how important it was to work hard, do your best job and more importantly, how to adult...finally.
It only took thirty years!



Most servers don't seem to realize how closely every aspect of a restaurant, from front of the house to the back of house, need to work together, for success and prosperity.

A lot of servers act like the restaurant kitchen is theirs, to hang around in, talking, eating or avoiding work. It's not.

Just ask any cook.

Servers are terrible about cleaning up after they eat in the back, roll silver in the back or polish glassware in the back. They leave empty silver and glass racks, unused linen, polishing rags and half a dozen drinks cups and leftover food they ordered (from a cook no less) all exactly where it was when they finished the assigned server tasks. Then when the cooks get off work an hour or two later, they are stuck cleaning up our mess left in their kitchen before they can leave.

No wonder most cooks aren't big fans of a lot of servers.

Neither am I, and I am a server!




Here's how my work day goes, every day, every shift, every time, for the last thirty years or so.

I'm on time, if not early.
I am clean, neatly dressed, look professional and prepared to perform my job from the jump.
The minute I hit the clock I begin to work without anyone having to ask.

If it happens to be slow, I find something to do or something which needs to be done.

When a customer sits down at my table, It's showtime... for them as well as for myself.

#TrueFact

Nobody likes having to part with hard earned money and not enjoy themselves while doing it.

When I got a job at the world's busiest airport, in fine dining no less, with  a well known Atlanta dining powerhouse group... I hit my professional stride.

My first day of training, I came home and told my husband I felt like they were training me to be a brain surgeon.

Hands down the most intense, thorough and eye opening training I've ever had as a server.

I think the most important thing I learned about, besides fine cuisine, wine, aperitifs and digestifs,  were basically skills of survival and prosperity for a "Lifer."

I paid attention.
And it paid off.

Not to give away their secrets  but essentially boiled down to this one thing:
"Allowing customers to experience joy while dining."

BAM!


My own rules:

*Be there with something before a customer needs or has to ask for it.
*Anticipate needs and go a step beyond meeting them.
*Know who to chat it up with and who to simply serve quietly.
*Treat every single table as a top priority.
*Never pre judge or assume, ever.
*If you're not making good enough money, you're not doing a good enough job.
*There is no "I" in team; be a team player.
*You all look good together or all look bad together.
*It's not always going to be easy, that's why it is called work.
*Dress for success... a filthy or wrinkled uniform is totally unacceptable and speaks volumes about your sincerity as a valued employee.

Every server has them.

Mine usually go something like this:

 I have way too many tables at once, in a restaurant I've never been in before, am using a computer program I've never used before and sometimes don't even know what the table numbers are or how to even get to my tables.

They are more like nightmares.

I enjoy my job. A lot of people can't say that. I feel like it keeps me young and in shape.

 A servers' job, done correctly is a very physically demanding one. A tremendous amount of servers spend more time trying to get out of doing work than it would take to simply get it done. I feel like at the age of fifty eight, (hopefully)showing younger servers (some not even twenty) the way to do a job correctly (every time) and have a positive attitude while doing it, is most definitely noticed and will inspire them in some way to be a better person, or at least a better employee.

You get to laugh at my job.
A lot.
Every. Single. Day.
That's a big bonus to me.

Every shift being a payday doesn't hurt either. I was extremely spoiled by my last job, but was the needed ends to a means for us, at the perfect time...literally.





So now I'm doing my gig for peeps in Florida.

Bonus points, am down to four shows a week for a total of twenty hours.

I almost feel like I'm stealing.

 Instead of a three hour (sometimes plus) commute to and from the work place each day (sixty miles round trip) and paying twelve bucks a day just to park...it now takes me fifteen minutes to get to work. I park for free in a garage directly in front of the restaurant and takes me less than a minute to go inside work from my car.

Yes there are still good shifts and an occasional not so good shift, but in the long run my average take is (luckily) more than enough for me.

I now consider myself semi retired,

and fits me like a tiny glove!



In the grand scheme of things; Life is (mostly) about Karma, the Golden Rule and Paying it Forward.

The perfect Hat Trick or Trifecta, for your best shot at a successful existence.

The bottom line is, whatever you choose to do in (or with) your life...do it well.

Don't be a slacker...you'll end up a lacker.


Til next time...COTTON

For Better Or Worse

Number one: why did anyone ever think it was okay to allow guys to wear Daisy Dukes length shorts and number two: why do I always look like a Tom Boy?

This pic was taken while on our honeymoon. California, in September of 1990.

This one was taken in 1991 while we were in Jamaica. Zachary was the end result of this trip, nine months later.

Extremely fitting, especially if you know Zachary.

All three of our kids are as different from each other as their parents are from each other.

Always looking in different directions.

Always.

Our oldest is now thirty two and our youngest just turned twenty three.

Every time I think about my kids, and how amazing they are doing now,  makes me realize what an advantage our marriage has been to them.

They always had the same momma and daddy, who both lived with them, every day and year of the way. 

They were always provided with a comfortable home and later uncomfortable times were made as pleasant as possible.

#yourparentswereloved

So our twenty eighth wedding anniversary is tomorrow.

We have lived together for thirty years.

It has been a trip and a half, but would do it again in a heartbeat.

Throughout  our marriage, we were rewarded with three incredible kids and the most loving family ever.

Yeah, we're gonna call this marriage a success.

Happy Anniversary, Jed aka Timbo!

Love, your crazy wife

(This picture still makes me laugh out loud)

I Enjoy To LOL

Got muh hur did today.

I always check in online with the app so I can see how busy they are. I won't wait more than five minutes for a cut. If I walk in and there are more than three people waiting, I turn and walk right back out the door. I pay fourteen dollars for a cut...and always pay with a twenty, no change.

I'm a pretty low maintenance (crazy) person. I don't wear a whole lotta makeup. If I'm not working I don't wear it at all, unless I have to dress up and go somewhere.

So I walked in today after checking in online with an estimated 0 minutes wait time.

Perfect!

There were only three women in the entire place and were all employees, chilling in the empty salon chairs. 

They recently closed the Great Clips I had been going to since moving here, and this was my second time at the new location. I recognized one of the stylists from the old place but didn't know the other two. One was Latino and the other Chinese. The one I recognized from the other place was Hawaiian.

What a cool, eclectic, across the board mix of chicks!

The woman who cut my hair was a very attractive woman, probably in her early forties. She introduced herself to me and said "I am Gina, from Mexico."

Well howdy, Gina! Can you do a razor cut?

She did a very good job, took her time and did exactly as I had asked.

By the time I got out of the chair, there were six people waiting in the chairs by the door and a line of four people standing at the register to check in.

The woman at the front of the line was being helped by my Hawaiian friend from the old place, who also does an excellent job.

The woman at the front of the line was in her sixties, with a ragged knot of partly colored but mostly gray hair twisted up on top of her head like she was getting in a bath tub and didn't want to get it wet. It wasn't even in a bun.

 She was going on and on about how she wanted the same person to cut her hair who cut it the last time, and didn't it say who cut it on the computer screen? They had given her one person but that person couldn't do the hair cut she wanted so they had passed her off to someone else...and that's who she wanted to cut her hair. My Hawaiian friend, who now had five people standing in line ready to check in behind this lady, was trying to be as nice as she could. 

I was kind of standing off to the side of the register waiting to pay, while Gina, from Mexico was standing directly behind my Hawaiian pal who was being held hostage by Granny Gray Hair at the front of a now seven person deep line, waiting to be able to use the computer and ring me up.

It got me tickled so I kinda turned my back to them all and pretended to look at something riveting on my cell phone.

Ms. Hawaii told the woman neither stylist even worked there anymore, and the computer listed her last visit as being on October 22, 2017.

Then the other shoe dropped.

Another woman, probably in her later sixties, sitting in the chair directly by the front door, waiting her own turn, immediately piped up quite loudly said  "Last  year?!"

I starting laughing and couldn't stop. And it wasn't just a giggle.

I took twenty one dollars out of my back pocket, handed it to Gina, from Mexico and told her to keep the change. 

I laughed all the way to my car, just thinking about that other woman chiming in with her accusatory comment,
"LAST year?"

Number one, if you only get your hair cut once a year, you can't be that picky about your hair style, or who cuts it.

Number two, it's not an annual physical, it's a hair cut.

People watching is the ultimate full time binge worthy comedy show, with no re runs or hiatus.

I think that is why I enjoy serving the public for a living so much. I seriously don't think I have ever worked a single shift over the past thirty nine years without laughing hysterically at something or someone, at least two or three times. Plus you are pretty much in charge of your own success.

 Bad servers generally don't make good tips.

It's the kind of job anyone should feel lucky to have, and I do.

Tim has the serious job, I have the fun job.

Of course his pays a lot more, and that's good for me too. It's like I have the best of both worlds.

I used to think our problems were huge, and maybe they were, but only financially and still feel bad I fretted so much about it.

There was no need . We were and are, loved by many, and love them all as well, right (hopefully one day paid) back.

There are so many people I know right now... from childhood, church,  high school, college years and even some from moving here, who are fighting the battle of their lifetime...literally.

THAT, my friends, is a problem you have to worry about.

Reach out to someone going through something, be it big or small. Never judge, just love.

Just be there.

Religion and politics are a non factor when someone needs my support. It has always been that way with me and always will.  Love isn't a contract, agreement or treaty you sign.

Love is a life long promise, to never be broken, from your heart to theirs.

This world needs love, now more than ever.

I've been left with excellent examples.

We've dodged Florence, for now. You never know with Mother Nature; if she's PMSing, you're screwed.

This also made me laugh out loud. 

I hope everyone in the path of Florence is spared. Irma tweren't no joke and was a long few days of total inconvenience and sweltering heat; for us, and our three dogs.

Til next time...

Contented Cotton