Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Miffed

Today (Tuesday): Secretary / Server

Because of the cloud I am sitting on, tonight wasn't as bad as it probably could have been. It was a slow Tuesday night. We did get a "push" around 6:30 or 6:45, but nothing to write home about. I did not have a full section once...oh, wait, I did.
Here's the story:
Crazy Girl (I've mentioned her before) was in a closing section that consisted of a big-top (6 people max) and three small-tops (4 people max). One of her small-tops was sat with her new boyfriend, an obnoxious hostess, and some other dude. Crazy Girl and I had a heart to heart a few days ago, so she approached me at the start of the shift, and asked me to come meet her new man. I didn't really care, because, honestly, I don't really consider Crazy Girl my friend. However, I do have a soft spot for her because I think she's one of those people who just doesn't know. She doesn't know how to act in social situations, she's wildly inappropriate, she's too trusting, she has a big mouth, and she has more of an attitude than I do most days. She's crazy. Because of this, I've made it a point to not hang out with her outside of work. I can barely handle her in work. A few months ago, she finally got my number out of me, and she called me pretty incessantly about random shit that would end up taking 40 minutes out of my day. I put her back at arm's length; however, I've still maintained the role as a friendly adviser. I don't hate her--I just know I have to be cautious with her. I digress...
She had a table at her her big-top (probably around 7:30), and they had been there for a minute. I noticed the woman from the table talking to the MOD (Manager on Duty), and I heard her describing her "plan" as I walked by. Turns out, her plan was that more people were joining her, and she needed a larger table. She was expecting three more to her party of five, and her plan was to move to my big-top (8 people max). Crazy Girl dropped some things off at my big-top (a beverage and a bar drink), and I turned to her and said, "You're keeping them, right?" She set the items on the table and said, "Nope," then walked away. I was taking care of my other tables, so I didn't follow after her. Once my tables were square, I walked up to Crazy Girl and she handed me a slip of paper with her chicken-scratch order. It is policy in our restaurant that if you start a table, you must finish that table. There are extenuating circumstances from time to time, but this time did not warrant an extenuation. For some reason MOD transferred them to me, which miffed me. If any other manager were working, that never would have happened. When I asked her why she was transferring them, she replied that it wasn't fair. What isn't fair? That she started the table, took their order, somehow managed to not ring it in; now, it's my table, cuts are about to go up, and she is closing? I'm not sure how fairness got brought into it. I approached MOD and explained to him more clearly what exactly happened. He said he forgot she was closing. Whatever.
It wasn't the fact that I had to take the party. It was actually pretty easy, since the order was already taken and the drinks had already been fetched. All I had to do was get drinks for the newcomers, take their orders, and deliver the food. They ended up boxing up most of their food, and they left pretty quickly. I had a $17 gratuity (plus $3 extra), so it worked out fine. My whole issue is that I felt it was a dirty move on Crazy Girl's part to get the party transferred when she was a closer. I was miffed because she ended up cleaning her section while I was waiting on her table. I just felt like she didn't want to deal with them, so she wanted to pawn them off. Because of my soft spot for her, I was going to try to approach her again before I left, but I decided against it. Some people just never learn.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) Secretary / Server (hopefully getting my shift covered)

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