Friday The 13th...WHAT A LUCKY DAY !!

Got home from work today and decided to have a girls night out with Massey. We were originally going into downtown Atlanta to an event at the Biltmore Hotel. It was a jewelry and clothing show . The tickets were $35 to get in but they gave you a goody bag supposedly worth three times that. I thought we could just walk around and look at things we couldn't afford. When I got home from work I looked it up on line and it seemed a pretty pricey affair and maybe even one that you had to be 21 to get in (cocktails and such.)

I got my anniversary check at work today for my 12 year employment date, $1000.00. Unfortunately after taxes and them catching up my state taxes the net was $616.00. Still it was a welcome shot in the arm AND the bank account. I decided to splurge on a dinner date with my daughter and once we decided against the down town affair (I was relieved...too much $$$) I let Massey choose where we would eat. She picked her favorite restaurant, Mama Lucia's here in Newnan.

If you are ever in the southern crescent of the ATL...it is well worth a visit. A family run business...their son is a good friend of mine and used to work with me at my restaurant. His dad used to be a manager with our company and his mother works there as well. It is a lovely place and the food is out of this world.

Our waitress tonight is the wife of one of our former bartenders (see previous post "Andre the Giant, Doofus." One of the bartenders at Mama Lucia's is the wife of one of my favorite former managers so going there is a very homey and friendly feeling.

I splurged and had one glass of wine, Massey had Parmesan Encrusted Talapia over sauteed spinach with tomatoes and a Caesar salad. I had Veal Piccata with capers (YUM) over angel hair pasta and a Caesar salad as well. It was MARVELOUS! It was so nice to see my friends and chat with them while we had a lovely girls night out. I don't get to see them often but we keep up via FB or when they come into my restaurant.

Massey and I were adding up the tab in our heads, already thinking that we could take the leftovers home to the boys and feed them as well.

Crystal (we'll call our waitress that for this post) brought us our check and packed up all the leftovers for the boys and sent home that wonderful bread with the olive oil, spices and cheese in a small container. I picked up the check and of course had to hold it as far away from my face as I could just to read it (too vain to wear my dollar store reading glasses in public) and saw the total:

$6.96

I asked Massey to look at it to make sure my eyes hadn't taken yet another turn for the worse. Sure enough that was the total. I told Massey to try and get Crystal's attention, but before she could the owner came up behind me. She was setting up a party behind us and said that the girls (Crystal and my bartender friend...we'll call her Jen) wanted to do that for us and they would be mad if I left a huge tip. She said she let them use their employee discount on us.

Here came the water works! I told the owner (we'll call her Barbara) that I couldn't do that and she said the girls really wanted to do it and it was her pleasure to let them use their discount. I tried to leave $50...she said no, she said no more than $20 so I left a twenty on the table and went to the bar to find Jen. I gave her another ten and asked her to take it as well and split it with Crystal and she refused.

What have I ever done to have such wonderful friends and family and have so much support?

Massey and I decided on the way home that we would babysit for each of these young mothers to give them a night out like we just had.

Massey thanked me controlling my water works and keeping them to a minimum and we left and went window shopping at Lizard Thicket and enjoyed a wonderful evening together. While we were leaving the store, Tim called and said that the financing had come through for the trucking company he and several others were starting up. Tim will be sales manager and another couple has put up all the financing and it is a great opportunity for him. Today his background check came back from Walmart and he starts at the first of the week. (Thanks to another wonderful friend we'll call Lisa and her husband we'll call Russ.)


Who would ever think that Friday the 13th would turn out to be such a fabulous day?

I think my new lucky number is "13"

Sometimes The Public WEARS me Out!!

I was at work tonight when a customer was seated at my table...He was awaiting the arrival of his wife and two kids. He ordered water for all four of them. He asked for a bowl of peanuts...which I brought him . After returning to the table , he told me they were stale and asked if I could find him a "fresher" bowl ?

Number ONE: The peanuts are free.

Number TWO: They are ALL out of the same stinkin box.

Number THREE: "Did ya come here for the PEANUTS??"

Once his family arrived, they placed their order... still griping about the peanuts, but had their meal, consisting of a shared meal between the parents and two kids meals.

I waited on them as I would a family that had just ordered four Porterhouse steaks and a thirty dollar bottle of wine.

He wanted to see my General manager, who was currently out back helping to repair the dumpster unit out back in case of an inspection from the health inspectors. He was covered in sweat...heaving a shovel to clean up the mess sometimes left by the people who dump our dumpsters. I asked him if I could tell my "GM" his name, to which he replied "he would only know me by my face."

I assume (probably correctly) that he wanted our restaurant to donate to a school function or buy an ad in a money mailer or some type of advertisement.

The meal went smoothly.

After the meal, his kids and wife went to the restroom . While they were gone I took the bill to the table and asked if they needed anything else.

His reply was... "Can MOMMY have her water put into a 'GO' cup"?

Who is he talking to?

No one else is at the table.

Is he actually calling his wife "MOMMY" to me?

It struck me as strange. I could never imagine my husband saying that.

Maybe he had a brain fart, or maybe they just speak that way so often that it seemed normal to him.

They left me a $5.00 tip on a $60.00 tab.

Maybe it was because I didn't produce my General manager on the spot, or maybe "MOMMY" is in control of the checkbook.

I happen to give GREAT service to EVERY table that I wait on.

I happen to make $2.13 an hour.

Maybe he ought to tell MOMMY that one!!

This is just an observation, just a vent.

It was the only tip that I got tonight that was under 20%.

"Tell MOMMY that she OWES me one"!!!!

If my husband EVER calls me MOMMY to a waitress, I would take him outside and flog him to death...and then I would go back inside and tip the waitress at LEAST 20% for listening to a grown man not only talk down to the waitress, but stiff them on a tip.

GOOD LUCK ever getting me to get you to the HEAD guy in OUR place!

AS I say, it is just an observation, just a rant...just an example of how people want SO much for SO little.

Till next time....COTTON

PS I hope none of my customers ever find me , or my blog!!

Don't Go "POSTAL" on me!!

I was working a Saturday day shift...standing at the hostess stand chatting with the host, when the mailman came in the door with the mail. It was the middle of summer, it was about 100 degrees outside. The mailman came literally dripping into the front door of the restaurant...holding a bundle of mail for us. I of course was quick with my witty rendition , singing lightly.."WAIT A MINUTE MR. POSTMAN"!! His response was to stare at me like he was getting ready to pull out an M-16 and leave me in a puddle of blood that would be a lot more impressive than the sweat that he was drenched in, coming from every sweat gland that he had in his big ole body. He continued to stare at me, not saying ONE word. As the awkward silence seemed to last forever, I bantered back with a sweet "How are you doing today? It sure is hot out there, isn't it"? This once again got nothing but a stare, and I had the feeling that he was fixing to pull a missile launcher out of his bag and take me out right there in the lobby of the restaurant. So I just meekly replied...."I guess I will just mosey on now..nice to see you". I scurried away from the host stand...not daring to look over my shoulder into the barrel of a missile launcher. The host came up to me and told me I had another table, and I was grateful to have somewhere else to go. I went up the steps to my station of tables...and there he was...seated at my table....our "POSTAL" worker had decided to eat with us, and fate sat him at my table. I began by saying there would be no more singing from this point on, and what could I bring him? He said, as nicely as if he was Charles Manson coming in to eat " I want a cheeseburger, medium, no tomato...I repeat, NO TOMATO..do you have that part? I want a coke with a lot of ice ..I repeat a lot of ice...did you get that part"? I said that I certainly did, and began to give this "HAPPY" guy the best service that I could muster up...all the while shaking in my work shoes. The coke never got empty, the burger was served exactly right. He never got any happier acting with me, but he ended up leaving me a decent tip. A couple of months down the road, I had a man, his wife and their daughter at my table. I kept thinking "where do I know this guy from"? And then he ordered a cheeseburger with "no tomato"....and it struck me like a two by four in the forehead....IT WAS CHARLIE MANSON AGAIN!!!! I once again made sure that everything went as smooth as silk...another flawless meal!! Tonight, we were in a twenty minute wait, the manager told me there were three parties up front that wanted my table...how fast could I turn my tables? About that time, "CHARLIE" the mail man came stomping through the dining room and ran into me. He said "Can we get you to wait on us"? I was FLOORED!! I told him I had several people waiting on my tables, but if he asked a manager, he could request my section. He looked at me with his "DEATH" stare, and replied..."What's your name"? I told him to ask for Cotton..and he stomped back up to the lobby. I waited on him and his family again (another flawless performance....I AIN'T stupid)..and he left me an $11.00 tip on a forty dollar tab. Isn't it crazy how things happen...He Hated me when he met me, but now requests me when he comes in. So my lesson is this....maybe I am not the comedienne that I think I am, but obviously I am the server that I have spent thirty years becoming...and I suppose have succeeded at doing. Who would ever think this grumpy ole guy would ask for my table? It is an honor to have someone recognize my skills as a server (If not my skills as a singer or joker). That is my favorite thing about being a server...a good server. People might not want my singing or jokes, but it amazes me that they want ME to wait on them...and will wait for my table to come open. HEY!! I didn't go to college for NOTHING!!! Till next time....COTTON

The Thirty Year Grudge

I am a member of a website that is for finding old classmates and reconnecting. I have several different schools on mine. I have my college, my elementary school, my husband's high school and the high school that my college room mate went to (my sister also taught at that high school) as well as my own high school. It is fun to start discussions and see how far they get. My most popular post has had over 1400 views and over 67 postings. As anyone who reads this knows...I LOVE to write. Since I have started this blog I have kind of ignored my high school site. A friend of mine sent me a text on my phone last night telling me to read the high school website. I came home from work to find a "diatribe" written about me by a girl that I barely knew in school. It read like a manifesto that was written by the uni-bomber. It began "Not that I am bitter..." and got more intensely bitter with each line...and there were about a THOUSAND lines of the most bizarre comments I have ever read. She dogged me because I was "just" a waitress, and that she made over $400,000 a year. She dogged me for not responding to an email that she had sent me in early 2007. She said that I was mean to her, and was ignoring her extension of the olive branch of her email...more like a beating stick! I remember her well, and she was an odd duck. But to harbor these feelings for thirty years is not only disturbing, but sad. As her rant went on page after page after page... I was absolutely astounded that I had obviously wounded her beyond repair. She lambasted me not only for high school, but for writing so many posts on the website and not returning her email. You know...high school is a tough place (even in the late seventies). I am hoping that she takes some of her $400K and gets some therapy. She informed me that one of her great achievements was being the president of Charlie Sheen's fan club. NOT helpin her cause with me!! I tried to apologize to her, but by that time, several people had responded to her post about me... Let's see.. the first post was entitled "DAMN".. It read..."Looks like someone needs to get back on their medication." After that post, she retorted with yet another long winded roasting of me and my ignoring to respond to her email (I will NEVER forget to respond to an email again...even if it is to say "leave me alone"!!) The more my friends and former class mates took up for me, the more rambling posts she made.... It was almost amazing in a spooky kind of way. Hang on a minute while I go out side to make sure she isn't out in a tree in my neighbor's yard with a sniper rifle..........WHEW!!! The coast is clear for now!! You know, when you are a 15 year old kid, how can you see that 35 years down the road, you can still have an effect on a person that you haven't seen in over thirty years? She kept posting and posting and posting..."STOP IT"!!! I wanted to say, but I was trying to placate her with apologies and kudos for her $400K job that she had "shown me up with." Even that wasn't good enough. FINALLY I made a post that said "Let's just put this all to rest...and lighten up a bit... we are starting to sound like a Jerry Springer episode". The next post was entitled "JERRY, JERRY, JERRY". (NOT HELPIN ). You know, I had a lot of people that weren't very nice to me in high school.. I was flat chested (still am) and wore braces all through high school. But I moved on, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE let this girl move on before she hunts me down and does whatever it is that she so adamantly wants to do to me. YES kids are cruel in high school, but there were a LOT meaner kids than me, even ones that picked on me. I almost feel sorry for her , reading all the responses to her "Tirade". But you know what? She hit a nerve with the "waitress" comment. I may "JUST" be a waitress, but I am a DAMN good waitress.. one that loves her job, enjoys going to work every day and has great satisfaction in knowing that I have customers that call just to see if I am working. I am so sorry that I offended this girl thirty years ago.... But for "Pete's Sake" Move on Sister, remember that I was 15 then, and I am 48 now. If I still held a grudge against all high school pettiness and cruelty...THAT would be a full time job, and then I would not have time to write my blogs.... Now THAT, would be REALLY cruel!! Till next time...."Big ole mean COTTON!"