Wearing Thin

Waiting tables is bringing me down, so I haven't worked very much since my last post--at least I haven't worked enough to find something to blog about.


Today was good and bad. I worked a double, and lunch started off steady. I was 2nd in rotation, and I had a table before shift meeting was over. That started the day off quickly and happily--I was ready to make money. For the first hour and a half, we were steady--then DEAD. By 1, everyone had cleared out, and cuts were up by 1:30. I was done by 2, and had a 2 hour break--nice. I didn't make a whole lot of money, but my tables were pleasant, as were my co-workers, so the day went smoothly and happily.


I was in the same section for dinner (which, by the way, is NOT my favorite section), and the shift was very similar to lunch (cuts were up before 9).


Now, my section is right next to the host-stand, and there is a computer station right there as well. At one point, during our "steady" time, I noticed the moron hostesses (see, that's some trash, right???) were in some kind of frenzy because they realized that two of my tables were about to get up, and they just sat a six-top (with only two members at the table). They were looking at my section, and looking at the wait-list, back and forth. Those little bitches are going to triple-seat me! I could feel it in my bones. And they are usually such idiots about it because they try to stagger, but they don't know how to wait tables so they don't understand how to stagger--does that make sense?? So, I say, "If you're going to do it, do it all at once, and do it now." They looked at me wide-eyed, "Really?!" "Don't stagger--seat them at the exact same time." I already had a four and that six, and they sat another four and a two. It actually worked out pretty well (for the most part...there are always exceptions).

Later, after all the patrons suddenly vanished, the one hostess says, "Wow, you rocked it tonight." (Teehee, it was hard not to laugh at her little comment--I do think I giggled--it was a really nice compliment.) Then, I explained to her how I feel about that scenario: I would rather the tables go down at the exact same time because I just treat it like a big-top. Not every server likes big-tops, and I don't necessarily dig them, but I can handle them. Also, once I have greets and drink orders, I end up "staggering" the tables myself--I just have to bust butt for a minute getting started. Well, it works for me...it worked tonight. :)

Tips tonight were weird though. Three times I had checks that were $17/$18 and they would leave a twenty--that hurts. But then, there were some surprises, like $12 on $40--nice!
It was a fun night! Everyone was in a good mood. There was a quick pop-in from corporate-guy...duhn-duhn-duhn...He's going to be in the restaurant for the next two or three days--he's leaving Saturday (don't know when). But this guy is sooooo much better than stupid refill-crazy corporate lady (see earlier post). So, we'll have fun, and everyone will do their job because the "suit" has arrived. Yippee.

Right now we have a lot of newer people, and they are either lazy and don't do ANY running sidework, OR they haven't waited tables before and they suck so they can't do running sidework. However, some of the not-so-new-newer-people and the older staff don't do anything either. Some shifts are rough. No one was doing ANYTHING. Whatever. The next few days we'll be pretty spotless, and we'll get to see corporate guy run around trying to help all night...great...sometimes it's funny...

Dinner tomorrow.