Thursday, March 27, 2008
Easy Come, Easy Go
Working in a restaurant, is kind of like working in another society. Restaurants have their own unwritten rules. For instance, if you get off work, then go back to work later and get a discount on your meal and you had someone serve you, then you leave the amount of the discount for the tip. Just one of those rules in most restaurants, like how sweet tea here in the south, is always the tea urn on the left. Just the way things are.
Restaurants also have roughly six different types of personalities that work in them. You always have the wanna be management type, the coolest guy in the world type, the overly stressed about nothing type, and so on. The six same types of people work in restaurants because these six people get along together, and they also don't get along well. Drama, as well as very fun parties, tend to happen when these six types of people mix and get along. This is what makes working in a restaurant fun.
Well yesterday a friend of mine quit/got fired. The managers say he was fired, and of course my friend says he told them where to shove it. Doesn't really matter how it happened, it was definitely mutual. So now our restaurant is down one of our six personalities, the laid back personality. My friend filled this spot in our restaurant very well, so well that we didn't even really need anymore of the laid back type. Oh well, a new batch of trainees will be in soon, with their little books, and shirts that just came out of the bag. Haha trainees. Maybe out of this batch of innocent youth, we will find one that can help us fill this newly created gap in the social atmosphere of our restaurant.
With the economy in a tough spot, and no chance of getting away from being broke, many servers are loosing hope. Hardly anyone can really remember the good ol days of plentiful money and endless parties. Now everyone is pushing forty hours a week just to make some money to put food on the table and keep the lights on. Stay in there, keep working hard and something good will come your way. You never know, maybe you can impress the next table you get so much that they would want to hire you. Easy come, easy go
Restaurants also have roughly six different types of personalities that work in them. You always have the wanna be management type, the coolest guy in the world type, the overly stressed about nothing type, and so on. The six same types of people work in restaurants because these six people get along together, and they also don't get along well. Drama, as well as very fun parties, tend to happen when these six types of people mix and get along. This is what makes working in a restaurant fun.
Well yesterday a friend of mine quit/got fired. The managers say he was fired, and of course my friend says he told them where to shove it. Doesn't really matter how it happened, it was definitely mutual. So now our restaurant is down one of our six personalities, the laid back personality. My friend filled this spot in our restaurant very well, so well that we didn't even really need anymore of the laid back type. Oh well, a new batch of trainees will be in soon, with their little books, and shirts that just came out of the bag. Haha trainees. Maybe out of this batch of innocent youth, we will find one that can help us fill this newly created gap in the social atmosphere of our restaurant.
With the economy in a tough spot, and no chance of getting away from being broke, many servers are loosing hope. Hardly anyone can really remember the good ol days of plentiful money and endless parties. Now everyone is pushing forty hours a week just to make some money to put food on the table and keep the lights on. Stay in there, keep working hard and something good will come your way. You never know, maybe you can impress the next table you get so much that they would want to hire you. Easy come, easy go
Labels: economy, friend, money, restaurant, serving
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Would You Like Some French Fries on That Salad?
100% true story.
It is a busy Friday night at the restaurant. Most of the sections are full and we are beginning to go on our usual wait. One of my co-workers get sat with a five top of the classiest people we have had in our restaurant that night. Ok, you got me, they were wearing overalls and asked if we had Bush beer. Anyway, as the story goes, my friend is taking the five top's order when something completely unexpected happens.
"And what may I get for you mam?" my friend asks.
"I would like the house salad with some fries." The redneck responds.
"Ok, one house salad and a side of fries." The server repeats back.
"Well, actually I want the fries on the salad." She responds
"What?" My now dumbfounded friend finally manages to say.
"Yea, just put the fries on the salad for me."
"Coming right up."
Now I have been serving in various restaurants for well almost three years now. In this time I have observed some strange eating habits of our species. Chicken pastas with no chicken, steaks with cheddar cheese added to them, and even the mushroom removed from our mushroom sandwich, which made the sandwich literally bread, cheese, lettuce and tomato. But never have I heard of adding french fries to salads.
Of course, our head cook decides to be funny when he sees the order walk in, and adds a side of ketchup to the salad instead of dressing. We all have a good laugh at this.
Now the salad has gone out to the table, and of course the lady asks for more ketchup, and proceeds to smother the salad with ketchup. Repeatedly.
Come on America. You ask why is everyone so fat, you ask why health care costs so much, and you ask why everyone seems to be sick all the time. That is your answer. Because dumb people like this one takes a perfectly health meal and destroys any nutritional value the salad might have had. This is your answer.
People in my restaurant get excited about fried appetizers with a side of grease added to it. Some people will eat enough food to feed at least a hundred starving Cambodians, and they will do it in one sitting. Then to top everything off, when I don't believe another morsel of food could possible fit into one person, you ask for desert and then gorge the thing like you have never ate before. This is why your fat.
Most restaurant actually offer healthy meal choices. Low carb, low calorie, and no trans fat menus are all over the place. You just have to make better choices. This is also why our government would rather finance a war than pay for our skyrocketing health care costs. They know that if health care was free, all these whales of Americas would be in their doctor's office the next day getting their much needed arteries unclogged so they can down another two meals at dinner.
I understand that some people have real problems with their weight. Maybe it is genetic, or something doesn't work the way it should, causing you to gain too much weight. But most of the over sized patrons of my restaurant do it to themselves. And I have no sympathy for that.
Oh yea, and diet coke really isn't going to help you all that much when you drink eight of them before I deliver your meal, get some water.
It is a busy Friday night at the restaurant. Most of the sections are full and we are beginning to go on our usual wait. One of my co-workers get sat with a five top of the classiest people we have had in our restaurant that night. Ok, you got me, they were wearing overalls and asked if we had Bush beer. Anyway, as the story goes, my friend is taking the five top's order when something completely unexpected happens.
"And what may I get for you mam?" my friend asks.
"I would like the house salad with some fries." The redneck responds.
"Ok, one house salad and a side of fries." The server repeats back.
"Well, actually I want the fries on the salad." She responds
"What?" My now dumbfounded friend finally manages to say.
"Yea, just put the fries on the salad for me."
"Coming right up."
Now I have been serving in various restaurants for well almost three years now. In this time I have observed some strange eating habits of our species. Chicken pastas with no chicken, steaks with cheddar cheese added to them, and even the mushroom removed from our mushroom sandwich, which made the sandwich literally bread, cheese, lettuce and tomato. But never have I heard of adding french fries to salads.
Of course, our head cook decides to be funny when he sees the order walk in, and adds a side of ketchup to the salad instead of dressing. We all have a good laugh at this.
Now the salad has gone out to the table, and of course the lady asks for more ketchup, and proceeds to smother the salad with ketchup. Repeatedly.
Come on America. You ask why is everyone so fat, you ask why health care costs so much, and you ask why everyone seems to be sick all the time. That is your answer. Because dumb people like this one takes a perfectly health meal and destroys any nutritional value the salad might have had. This is your answer.
People in my restaurant get excited about fried appetizers with a side of grease added to it. Some people will eat enough food to feed at least a hundred starving Cambodians, and they will do it in one sitting. Then to top everything off, when I don't believe another morsel of food could possible fit into one person, you ask for desert and then gorge the thing like you have never ate before. This is why your fat.
Most restaurant actually offer healthy meal choices. Low carb, low calorie, and no trans fat menus are all over the place. You just have to make better choices. This is also why our government would rather finance a war than pay for our skyrocketing health care costs. They know that if health care was free, all these whales of Americas would be in their doctor's office the next day getting their much needed arteries unclogged so they can down another two meals at dinner.
I understand that some people have real problems with their weight. Maybe it is genetic, or something doesn't work the way it should, causing you to gain too much weight. But most of the over sized patrons of my restaurant do it to themselves. And I have no sympathy for that.
Oh yea, and diet coke really isn't going to help you all that much when you drink eight of them before I deliver your meal, get some water.
Labels: food, health, politics, restaurnat, serving, weight
Monday, March 17, 2008
Pepper?
Today was a nice day, and a few customers decide to sit on our patio this evening.
One of my tables that wanted to sit out there was an older couple, not elderly, just older. Anyway, as I bring the table his yuengling, and the lady her wine, I starting reciting the specials as I have done a hundred other times today. Then, out of no where the man picks up the pepper shake and starts putting pepper into his beer. Thats right, THE MAN PUT PEPPER IN HIS FREAKING BEER! I was speechless.
I walk away from the table and decide to regain my composure. As I watch the man through the window, he is drinking, and enjoying his strange beverage. Curiosity got he best of me, and I had to ask this man what the hell he was doing. So I walk back out to the patio and strike up a casual conversation with the table, then I drop the bomb.
"Sir, excuse my curiosity, but is there a reason you wanted to put pepper in your beer?"
The man smiles and says, "It taste good."
I chuckle politely and decide to poke him a little more, after serving tables for several years, you can pick up when your table is not being completely honest with you.
The man then goes on to explain that when he lived in the North, he frequented a certain pizza parlor that only served dark beers. Not being a fan of dark beer, the man got a recommendation for a good one and decided to try it. After the first sip, the man spit out the beer in disgust. Then he tells me, the man who was sitting next to him at the time simply told him to put pepper in it. Having already paid for a beer he didn't like, he figured what the hell. The man finished to pepper brew, and has been using this technique ever since.
"Only in darker full bodied beers though," the man warns me.
"Yes sir," I reply, "I don't like to drink anything else anyway."
I wish St. Patty's day was more often, Irish people are nuts!
One of my tables that wanted to sit out there was an older couple, not elderly, just older. Anyway, as I bring the table his yuengling, and the lady her wine, I starting reciting the specials as I have done a hundred other times today. Then, out of no where the man picks up the pepper shake and starts putting pepper into his beer. Thats right, THE MAN PUT PEPPER IN HIS FREAKING BEER! I was speechless.
I walk away from the table and decide to regain my composure. As I watch the man through the window, he is drinking, and enjoying his strange beverage. Curiosity got he best of me, and I had to ask this man what the hell he was doing. So I walk back out to the patio and strike up a casual conversation with the table, then I drop the bomb.
"Sir, excuse my curiosity, but is there a reason you wanted to put pepper in your beer?"
The man smiles and says, "It taste good."
I chuckle politely and decide to poke him a little more, after serving tables for several years, you can pick up when your table is not being completely honest with you.
The man then goes on to explain that when he lived in the North, he frequented a certain pizza parlor that only served dark beers. Not being a fan of dark beer, the man got a recommendation for a good one and decided to try it. After the first sip, the man spit out the beer in disgust. Then he tells me, the man who was sitting next to him at the time simply told him to put pepper in it. Having already paid for a beer he didn't like, he figured what the hell. The man finished to pepper brew, and has been using this technique ever since.
"Only in darker full bodied beers though," the man warns me.
"Yes sir," I reply, "I don't like to drink anything else anyway."
I wish St. Patty's day was more often, Irish people are nuts!
Labels: beer, Irish, pepper, restaurant, serving, St. Patty
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Lovely Sundays
So today is Sunday, usually a day that most servers despise, except for me. I NEVER work on Sundays. It is not a religious thing, it is not a moral thing, I just hate the Sunday crowd, and have gained enough respect from my management to never work that day. EVER!
So, in order to give a little back to my fellow servers, I hold a cookout almost every Sunday. Everyone brings beer, wine, or liquor, and whatever food they would like to have cooked. My girlfriend and I cook everything and everyone always has a good time.
There is one problem though. Sometimes when you invite dramatic people in mass over to your house, especially after a day of bad tippers and stupid complaints about nothing, drama will happen.
So everything is going well. This week I haven't burnt any of the food, and we are not even close to running out of beer, when the couple that is notorious for fighting in our restaurant start fighting, again.
"You're stupid!" She says
"No you are!" The boyfriend exclaims.
"How about you are both stupid and we can all get back to having a good time." Q exclaims (thats me by the way).
Apparently that was the wrong thing to say because their faces turned red as beets, everyone got quite, and I could already tell our abundance of beer would quickly be evaporated.
What else do you say in that sort of nonsense situation other than just more nonsense?
Next time I will just finish my beer first, that should give me the ability to say something witty.
So, in order to give a little back to my fellow servers, I hold a cookout almost every Sunday. Everyone brings beer, wine, or liquor, and whatever food they would like to have cooked. My girlfriend and I cook everything and everyone always has a good time.
There is one problem though. Sometimes when you invite dramatic people in mass over to your house, especially after a day of bad tippers and stupid complaints about nothing, drama will happen.
So everything is going well. This week I haven't burnt any of the food, and we are not even close to running out of beer, when the couple that is notorious for fighting in our restaurant start fighting, again.
"You're stupid!" She says
"No you are!" The boyfriend exclaims.
"How about you are both stupid and we can all get back to having a good time." Q exclaims (thats me by the way).
Apparently that was the wrong thing to say because their faces turned red as beets, everyone got quite, and I could already tell our abundance of beer would quickly be evaporated.
What else do you say in that sort of nonsense situation other than just more nonsense?
Next time I will just finish my beer first, that should give me the ability to say something witty.
Labels: cookout, fight, serving, sunday
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