Been A While

I know it's been a while since my last post, but things have gotten a little hectic lately with family obligations and other things. I haven't had any time to myself to sit down and write until now.

Work is going great. I have finally found my rythym there and I really like it. It really is a good place to work. I have a feel now for the people that I work with. Some I work better with, and some I don't. I've already had a run in with one of those obnoxiously gay back stabbing waiters because I think he was trying to get over on me because I was new. However, the next day, he asked me for a ride home and I gave him one, because I like to keep the peace and we got along just fine. It dawned on me that even though sometimes he is excessively bossy, it really is just his personality. He was even gently telling me how to drive, which I got a kick out of. If it makes him feel better to direct me on how to drive, then so be it. I felt much better about the situation when I took him home to his trailer and witnessed him arguing bitterly with his live in boyfriend who made it a point to tell me to stay away from him because he's wanted for selling weed (who cares) and threw a half smoked joint at him. I mean, no one's better than anyone else. It also made me realize how much I missed making friends in this industry. They're definitely more real than in the "office." I enjoy it.

I have had some interesting customers. Probably the most memorable is a three top I had last week. It was a senior married couple and her much older father, who I am guessing was about 75 or so. The husband was a DICK. I have never seen anything like it.

First of all, he was very abrupt. You know that whole "you are my servant" attitude. And the wife giggled nervously after everything he said and made excuses. "Oh, he's just grumpy in the morning," she said when he snapped at me for coffee. Funny, he snapped at everyone the whole time. He didn't know how to speak like a normal person; everything came out rudely. When they placed their orders, the old man asked for french toast. The dick ordered his scrambled eggs "soft." Maybe this is more of a southern term, but I certainly don't know what that means, so I asked someone if that just meant the eggs looked "goopy." They said yes. So, when I delivered the food, there was a huge brouhaha. First of all, the old man looked chagrined when I set his french toast down in front of him. He blinked. "I don't want french toast," he said. "I wanted a waffle." I quickly checked my ticket and saw that he had, indeed, ordered french toast. The dick immediately snapped, "No, you ordered french toast. I heard you. You have to deal with that." At this point, he then turned to me and said, "Do these eggs look soft to you?"

"Uh, I'm not really sure. I don't eat eggs, sir," I replied.

"Well, if you can't tell the difference between dark and light, then I can't help you," he snapped rudely, and began moving them around the plate with his fork, furiously. I eyeballed them. They were a nice bright yellow, soft and squishy looking. "Sir, if you'd like, I can have them recooked,"I offered.

"No, I don't have time," he said, and began shoveling food in his mouth.

The wife, in the meantime, was debating with her father, who was a very nice old man, over the french toast. The dick, with his mouth full, said, "He ordered french toast. French toast is what he gets."

At this point, my blood began to boil. I turned to the old man and said, "Sir, would you like for me to have the cooks make you a waffle? It will only take a minute." The wife immediately jumped on that. "Oh yes, that would be nice." I was beginning to think that this lady lived her life on the edge, the way she was so jumpy and quick to make excuses.

The old man smiled and said he would like that, and then I went back to my manager, who was helping the cooks, and told her about the incident. She immediately began to make a waffle platter and had it ready in five minutes, before the dick even finished his "overcooked" eggs. I delivered the food, the old man was grateful, the wife was overly appreciative, and the dick just continued to run me even though I had other tables to attend to. My other tables suffered because of them, and it sucked because my tips did too. They stayed for over an hour and just ran me nonstop for coffee refills (literally one cup every five minutes, complete with the obnoxious coffee cup waving gesture to demonstrate to me, the idiot, that they need more coffee even though they were just refilled five minutes ago), napkins, extra syrup, lemons, extra sugar,
new salt and pepper shakers because the ones on their table were dirty (they weren't) and extra butter. I finally went in the break room for a few minutes to get away from them. They were grueling, but left a 20% tip. Still, I would not want to wait on them again.

Interestingly, we have a couple of regulars who are in wheelchairs that come in fairly often. One of them is a man and is very nice, although he always tries to get something for free. The first time I saw him they pawned him off on me and then proceeded to tell me what a jerk he was. Actually, he wasn't a jerk to me at all but he didn't leave a tip. I found out later that he never does, especially if he doesn't get free food. The day I waited on him he had a coupon for a free entree with the purchase of a drink, so he ordered coffee. His entree was FREE, and even if it wasn't, his bill would have been less than $10 anyway. As it was...NO TIP. I was irritated. But when he came in again, shortly thereafter, I was still very nice to him, even though I didn't jump to help him.

Most of my customers are great, though. I forgot how much I enjoyed forming that relationship with customers. Every customer is different. You have your easygoing ones, who don't care if you accidentally forget their pancakes or if you don't refill their drinks immediately. Then you have the ones who don't want to be bothered at all...just deliver food, serve drinks, and keep the table clean; minimal interaction. Then there are the fussy ones, who modify every order, who have seven kids who are trashing the table and the floor around it, who run you nonstop with endless requests and don't care if your section is suffering. Then there are the ones who enjoy letting you make their dining experience clean and comfortable, who interact with you, laugh with you, and compliment you. Those are the ones I LOVE. I have more of these than any other kind and they make my job so enjoyable. I am lucky that I don't have to do tip outs, so I don't have to resent a really great table for only leaving 15%. I can live with that, so long as you leave me something and you're pleasant and reasonable.

So, I am enjoying my job very much. I have been working four days for the last month, but now I have been bumped up to five days which is awesome. And three of those days are moneymakers...Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning. Right now, I feel accomplished, grateful, and satisfied. Even though I am an old, fat waitress. :)