July 21st, 2015

I woke up at 9 and was at work by 10:30. I was training someone today, but in the classroom setting. I quickly grew bored of going over the ingredients of the drinks, and took her to the bar and let her watch the drinks being made. I then had her garnish the drinks and run them to the tables so she could learn table numbers.

Around 3, I left her to study for a few minutes and I walked through the kitchen. I heard someone yell “a guy at table 104 stopped breathing call 911!” I walked over to the table to find an elderly man slumped over in his chair. I turned to my manager and told him to grab me some gloves and got permission to treat the patient. Someone was on the phone with 911 and they instructed us to lay him on the ground. Someone came up and gave me gloves and directed people to assist me moving him to the ground. The man had a pulse, and was breathing normally, but was pale, cold to the touch and very diaphoretic (sweaty). We rolled him to his side as directed by the 911 dispatcher and someone went to cover him with a sweater because his body was cold. In a firm voice I told them to remove the covering as he was probably suffering from heat stroke. He remained unresponsive but I continued monitoring his vital signs and trying to wake him up until the fire department arrived. I gave one of the firefighters a short report on his vitals and the medical history we could obtain and then I casually walked away and went back to my trainee. The server who was helping the table was visibly upset, thinking it was somehow his fault for serving the man alcohol, but there was nothing he did wrong. I finished working with the trainee and went up to the front as the medics were placing an iv in the man’s arm and carrying him out on the gurney. My managers were coming up to me shaking my hand saying I was a hero, people were crying, some of the girls hugged me thanking me for what I did. I really didn’t do much to be honest. I have been in that situation probably a thousand times, it was just second nature for me.

It took about 15 minutes from the time the medics left until I started with the jokes. “We weren’t very busy today, you could say the restaurant was… dead”. “Don’t seat 104, that table is haunted.” The server who was helping the table was in the back still upset, I went back and sat in front of him, and in my best Good Will Hunting voice I said “it’s not your fault, it’s not your fault, it’s not your fault.” One person got the joke and had to walk away to keep from laughing out loud. I have developed a dark humor from being an EMT for so long, I have to be able to laugh at terrible things or they will eat me up inside.

I stared my night shift at 4 and quickly became tired. It was moderately busy, but nothing I couldn’t handle. It was still unbearably hot. One hour before closing I had a party of 10 sit down, they ended up leaving $10 on an almost $200 tab. I rushed to get out of there as I had been there for almost 13 hours. I left at 11:30 and went home to unwind and watch Netflix.

July 18th, 2015

I woke up at 9, tinkered with my new phone and then headed to work for my 11 o’clock bar shift. The very first table of the day didn’t arrive until after I had started, almost an hour after the restaurant opened.

I had a table sit down, then get up and move to another table. I went over to introduce myself and when I said I had some recommendations, a lady waved me away and said “no, no.” I threw the menus on the table and walked away. 30 seconds later they were waving me over saying “order now.” I walked over and forced a smile as they spent the next 2 minutes talking amongst themselves about what to order. Once they were finally done, I went through the menu and pointed at all the stuff they had ordered to confirm. Their food came out and they once again waved me over demanding to know where all their food was. “Bring menu” the lady demanded. When I returned with the menu, she pointed at a picture and shrugged her shoulders as if to ask “where is this entrée dummy.” I pointed at the entrée on the table, and then they pointed to a whole new entrée never before mentioned and demanded to know where it was. I explained to them that they did not order said entrée, but I would ring it in for them just as quickly as I could.

The rest of the shift went by quickly. I got home showered and then Rebecca and I went to Best Buy to get a screen cover for my phone. They did not carry the cover for my phone, so I will have to search again tomorrow. We went to Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner, and I noticed several signs advertising they were looking for servers. I asked out waitress and she said they don’t make a lot of money because they aren’t very busy. After dinner we drove to Walmart to look for hammocks and a screen cover, but found neither. We went home and watched a spy movie and went to bed.

June 25th, 2015

I woke up promptly at 10:30 and ate leftover pizza for breakfast. I got an electronic mail last night telling me which book I need to buy for the EMT class, as well as letting me know where to but the uniform I will need for school. I used to own 6 pair of EMT pants, but they have vanished over the years and now I need to spend a bunch of money to buy more.

I watched Gangland and slowly got ready for work. I left earlier than usual and got into an imaginary argument with the general manager in my head before I got to work, which really helped me be in a good mood for my shift.

I was in an ok section, but had really bad tipping tables. I had a few leave 5% or less. I spent a majority of the time helping the bartenders because most of my tables didn’t speak English, and there isn’t much I could do to improve their experience, or get to know them.

I left around 11:30 and went home and watched Man Vs. Wild before going to bed.

June 9th, 2015

Today is the 15th anniversary of my high school graduation. I remember falling asleep during the ceremony, which was fitting because I slept through most of my classes. There was one day in particular where I managed to take a nap during each of my 6 classes. In guitar class, I hugged the guitar and leaned back in my chair and fell asleep, in shop, I just laid my head down on a bench and fell asleep while other people were busy cutting stuff. In English I opened a book and laid my head on my bag to look like I was reading, same thing in history class. Home economics was an easy nap because the teacher was oblivious, and a little bit crazy. The biggest accomplishment for the day was taking all of the extra mats and falling asleep in the weight room during weight training.

I remember falling asleep in my first period geometry class junior year. I had my head on my back pack and I must have been snoring because the teacher, who was also my wrestling and football coach lifted my head up by my hair. There was a significant puddle of drool on the bag and the noise one of the girls yelling “Ewwww” woke me up, a mere second before the teacher relaxed his grasp of my hair sending my head back in to the puddle of drool.

I woke up at 10 and did my usual routine of breakfast, coughing and yelling about robots and then I found a show on Netflix that had me hooked. It is about 8 people from around the world who suddenly become connected mentally and they can share each other’s experiences. Before I knew it, I had to go to work. I was training someone today so I had to be on my best behavior.

The shift started out slow, and stayed that way. The trainee did a really impressive job and even improved during the shift. We left around midnight and I went home to watch another episode of Sense8 before going to bed. I have to be at work really early tomorrow at noon.

June 3rd, 2015

I woke up at 9 with a sore throat and a nostril morel clogged than a Tijuana sewer after taco Tuesday. I silently cursed Rebecca for bringing me another sickness from her students. I had a bag of chicharrones (pork rinds for all you gringos) and a Dr. Pepper for breakfast. I figured the Dr. part of Dr. Pepper meant it was medicine. I headed to work stopping at the drug store to buy throat spray.

I started at noon and had 4 tables before I was cut. One of my tables was a guy who was visiting the island by himself for his birthday. He was in the army and from Alabama and had never been here before so I was telling him about foodstuff he should check out. I brought him a birthday sundae and went in the back to drop off some dishes. Anther server told me that he had printed out, and dropped off the check at the table. I went back to the table and grabbed his credit card. On the check was written “thank you” with a heart next to it. I dropped off the credit card and asked the server if he had drawn the heart or the customer. His reply was: “oh I drew it, I always do that when I drop off a check for someone, Japanese people love it.” He couldn’t figure out why I was so upset. The customer had thought I was hitting on him. The customer did not tip, and I spent the rest of the afternoon making fun of the server for drawing hearts on checks.

I was done with my shift at 3:30, and ordered a sandwich and waited for my next shift at 5. I was one of 6 servers working a party of 94 high school band kids who were about as polite as you could expect high school kids to be while out of state away from their parents. The adults weren’t much better. I left at 8 and went straight home excited to see my wife who I have not seen in 4 days. She wasn’t home. It was the last day for students so she went to another teacher’s house to celebrate. She came home around 10 and went to bed. I stayed up and watched Battleship.

May 29th, 2015

I woke up and made another box of macaroni for breakfast. I have realized that when buying a new product that jumps out at me as a possible delicious treat, I buy two. I see a new candy bar that looks good, I get two of them. A new flavor of soda comes out, I get two. I think it’s because if I like it, I won’t have to go back and buy another. I have strong impulsive tendencies, but they are limited by laziness.

The sun was shining bright in the sky, so I took a beach chair and set it up to read outside the apartment. I lasted only 45 minutes before the heat sent me racing back inside like a jackrabbit running through a snake nest. I finished the book and then headed to work. I ordered a kids burger and sat in the hallway to eat because there was a table eating in the back section of the restaurant where we tend to congregate before and after our shifts. Right at 4, the person in whose section I was taking over told me that he was transferring table 113 to me because they had only ordered drinks so far. I went up and introduced myself: “hey guys, I’m Travis. They are sending so-and-so home, so I will be taking care of you guys tonight. Is there anything I can get for you?” I was met with unemotional stares and silence. “more limes” one of the guys finally said. “I’m sorry?” I asked, not quite hearing him because he spoke almost in a whisper. He positioned himself in his chair and said “I need more limes.”

I fetched his limes, and then he ordered two shots of Hennessy. For those of you who don’t know, Hennessey is a cognac, another word for expensive liquor. The shots at my restaurant cost $10. By the end of the meal, the table had ordered 10 shots of Hennessy, along with 5 other cocktails, 5 entrées, and 3 appetizers. Their bill was just over $300. I dropped it off and continued taking care of my other table and bring up plates, cups and ice as needed. When I walked by, they asked me to split the check. Mr. Whispers took the $100 worth of Hennessy and his food, another lady took her food and a drink and the other couple got the rest. I now had 3 bills, two for $139 and change, and another for $40. Mr. Whispers gave me $140 and when I said “I’ll be right back with your change” he said “Nah man, that’s all you” $0.85 is not a tip, it is an insult, especially on a $140 tab. The other couple left $1.74 on their $140 tab, and the last lady left $4 on $40. I was so mad. I had over $400 in sales, and after having to tip out the hosts I owed $7. They all left and hung out near the doorway. I really wanted to say something, but I didn’t want to get fired, or beat up so I let the anger consume me. For the rest of the night I was furious. Mad at them for not tipping, and mad at my company for not having a system in place to get my back in that situation. For the rest of the night, I had a scowl burned into my face until right before I got to one of my tables. I had to pretend to be friendly, even though my blood burned like lava inside my veins.

By the end of the night, I had sold over $800 worth of food and drinks. I walked home with $35. I got home and went straight to bed.

May 25th, 2015

I woke up around 8:30. Having Rebecca at home in the mornings has thrown off my sleep schedule. During the school year, she leaves the house by 6 or something, I really have no idea. I fear I may be waking up during the single digit morning hours for the remainder of the summer.

I had a nutritious breakfast consisting of left-over pizza and a soda. We milled around the hose for a while, I read a book and Rebecca watched Lost. Around one, the Boones came and picked up Rebecca, and I followed on my moped. We went into Waikiki and took them through Duke’s alley to look at trinkets, and then it was a quest to go in to every ABC store to find souvenirs to take home. Chris and I went to the beach while Maggie and Rebecca looked for aprons, or oven mitts, or whatever it is that girls shop for. We headed back to my moped and Chris laughed at the fact that I had chained it to a No Parking sign. I hadn’t noticed. I rode to work and they met up with the Taylors and Arments for dinner at Duke’s.

I haven’t shaved in over a week, something I thought might go unnoticed because the general manager is off on Mondays, and especially since it was a holiday. Not only was the general manager there today, but also the regional manager. I tried my best to hide out of sight, but about an hour in, another manager came up to me and said that the regional manager had mentioned my neck stubble.

I was working in the bar, normally a great thing, but within 10 minutes I wanted to rage quit on the spot. The majority of customers I had in the first hour were the perfect combination of rude and cheap. There was the to-go order of over $250 which left without paying. He was a part of the company rewards program so they were able to get payment for the food, just not the tip. There was a lantern lighting ceremony going on at the beach park across the street with an estimated 50,000 people in attendance. The restaurant was busy, then absolutely dead for 90 minutes and then ridiculously busy until we closed. The kitchen basically shut down and food was taking forever to come out, which meant the hosts were told not to seat anybody.

There were 3 bartenders tonight, so we had cleaned up and were out of there before midnight, before a handful of servers. I went home, showered and shaved and then went to bed.

May 8th, 2015

I slept until 9 and then I did a load of laundry while I made breakfast and lunch.

I got to work super early and found out that many other servers have gotten no tip from big parties this week. I put it all behind me and started my bar shift. There were 3 of us behind the bar tonight, and I was taking care of the tables and backing up the person who was taking the people who sat at the bar. It wasn’t too busy tonight, I was sent home around 10.

I stayed up for a little while to watch more of my documentary about World War 1 and then I went to bed around midnight.

May 7th, 2015

All the crap food I over-dosed on last night came back to bite me. I slept until almost noon, and had zero energy.

I got to work at 4 and found out that I was training someone. We were in a busy section which was great because I was constantly moving. Everything was going great, and my trainee was doing an excellent job for his first shift. Around 8, they sat us a party of 8. They were from a land that does not speak English. There was one guy who didn’t have an ID, so I refused to sell him alcohol, he seemed upset and kept staring at me the entire night. He looked like he could be under 21, so I didn’t care. I’m not about to loose my job so some Japanese tourist can have a beer. They were a needy bunch, they ended up racking up a bill of $360. Before I dropped the check, I mentioned to the trainee that it might end poorly. They left me nothing. They were at the front of the restaurant and because I had a trainee I couldn’t go up to them and tell them that the tip was not included. I am not allowed to anyway, but having the trainee means I have to do everything by the book. I was furious, but I held it in because of the trainee, I didn’t want him to see me go in to Hulk mode and start smashing things. I continued cleaning and finishing out my side work when one of the other servers gave me an envelope filled with cash. She had heard about what happened and went around collecting money for me. I felt awful. My sales were almost double everyone else, but they still chipped in and gave me a bunch of money to cover what I had lost from the Japanese table. I tried giving back the money, but no one would take it. The company did absolutely nothing, but my coworkers stepped up and took care of me. If I were capable of human emotions, I might have cried.

I made a photo copy of the credit card receipt which I will use when I turn in my two week notice. We are still able to do an automatic gratuity on parties of 6 or more, but it means more paperwork for the managers so they don’t let us do it because they don’t want the extra work. I played it off as a joke for my trainee, but I wanted to go find those people and ask why they didn’t tip. I did the math, I had to pay $15 plus taxes for them to eat at my restaurant. They take out almost 4% for tip share, which goes to the bartenders and hosts. I thought about finding them, but then realized that they might know kung-fu, and didn’t feel like having some Japanese tourists go all Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon on me in the parking lot of the mall.

I left around 11:30 and had to stop at the store to buy an adult beverage to try to forget about the awful night I had. My sales were over $1,500, but I only walked home with around 5% of that.

May 1st, 2015

I woke up much later than I had anticipated. I made breakfast and did a load of laundry and then started making a lunch to take to work. 

The shift started without a hitch. I was, however, scheduled different side work. For the last year my assigned side work has been to refill the ice, cups, and plates and then to clean up the soda station at the end of the night. The side work assignments are based on the section you are working in. They switched around the side work assignments just to see how it would work. 

I was taking an order from a table when a host said I was needed in the kitchen urgently. I rushed back and the kitchen manager was yelling at me for not taking spoons from the dish pit, polishing them and stocking the spoon container where the food comes up. I had to polish and stock all the clean spoons, about 40, before I could go put the order in the computer. In the year I have worked here, I have never been assigned that side work, ignorance was not an excuse. The next table I went to stuck their hand in my face and waved me away while I was introducing myself. It went downhill from there. 

For the rest of the night I was in a bad mood and it always seemed like someone was in my way. I had also asked the managers to let me go home early because I have to be there at 8 am tomorrow to open the bar. I ended up being there until we closed at 11. I went straight home and went to bed.