Aug 6th, 2015

I woke up and made breakfast, and while I was eating breakfast, I was making lunch. I had it all planned to pick up my shirts from the embroider, get a coffee and spend two hours studying before my shift.

On the way to the embroider, I hit a wall of traffic. Once I finally picked up my shirts, I realized that I had left my hat at home so I had to fight traffic to go back. I ended up studying for 45 minutes at home before going to work.

I was scheduled to serve, but they needed a bartender so I volunteered. It was a busy night which kept me on my toes for the entire evening. We left around 11:45 and I took a shower and went to bed.

June 27th, 2015

I got to work by 10:30, and stretched out. In the pre shift meeting we were told that anyone who has not sold a rewards card within the last month would have to attend a mandatory classroom training session with the general manager. I can not remember the last time I sold a card. The rewards card is just like every restaurant or grocery store, the more you come in, the more bonuses you earn. The difference between our card and others, is the $25 activation fee. Customers pay $25 which automatically goes to the card as $25 off on their next visit. It is basically paying ahead for the next time you come in. The only real selling point is that if they have the card, they don’t have to wait in line on a busy night, they get sat right away. The classroom training session is to teach servers how to sell them, or punish those who don’t sell them. When I found out that the managers got bonuses when we sold the cards, I stopped mentioning them to my tables.

The classroom training session is scheduled for Thursday, July 2nd, at 3 pm. My niece flies in at noon, and I will not be attending any such “mandatory” meeting. At first I was annoyed, and then enraged. I will not tell my 11 year old niece to take a cab from the airport because I have to be scolded for 3 hours at work.

I got behind the bar and then when it was slow, I checked my email to see my schedule for the week. I am scheduled a shift on Sunday July 5th, and a training class on July 3rd. I had requested that time off because my niece would be here, and having me train new people in a classroom setting for 6 hours is a bad idea even if I don’t have family on the island. I spent the rest of the shift wanting to quit. After listening to all the other servers talk about how the general manager is nit-picking and focusing on the very small details, I thought about quitting on the spot. Almost everybody working today was talking about interviews they had lined up at other restaurants.

I finished my shift at 5:30 and picked up Thai food on the way home. I was still annoyed, but once I ate, I calmed down. Rebecca and I watched the latest Sherlock Holmes movie and then I ended up going to bed around 9.

June 20th, 2015

I was up at 6:30 and out the door by 7. I had to get gas for my moped and I got a Danish for breakfast. I stopped at Starbucks and they had my drink ready before I even reached the register. I started prepping the bar but was still too tired to be thinking clearly. After last week, where the general manager told me I needed to keep the second drink well stocked with ice, even though we never ever use it, I put a bucket of ice inside, even though it holds 6 buckets. When he showed up today at noon, he walked back, looked in the nearly empty drink well, patted me on the back, which I despise, (I don’t like being touched) and said “this is strike two.” I pointed out that the we don’t use that drink well, and the nozzle is missing so we can’t use it even if we needed to. “When I decide to change the spec’s on bar opening I’ll let you know. Until then, do what you are told” was his response. As he walked away my hands started shaking because I was so angry. How can someone who has never waited tables, or been a bartender know what actually needs to be done behind the bar.

Later during the shift, I was headed to the bathroom. When he is working I am not allowed to leave the bar to stock beers or fruit, other bartenders can, but he will always stop me and ask why I’m not where I am supposed to be. He saw me out of the bar, turned to ask why I was “out of my cage” and was just about to say something when I turned to go to the bathroom. For the rest of the shift, I had another bartender stocking supplies, to which he said nothing.

Both of the other bartenders were scheduled double shifts, so they both got to go home before me, even though I had started earlier. I was there for 10 1/2 hours without a break and I was mentally done by the time I got home. Rebecca made dinner and I watched Netflix until going to bed around 12.

May 28th, 2015

I woke up 10 minutes before my alarm was set to pull me out of my most glorious slumber. I got ready and headed to work. There was a BBQ for the employees today, there were promises of fun, food, and games. I have attended three company BBQs in my tenure with this particular restaurant. The first one promised hourly prizes that you had to be present to win. I arrived at 9, and stayed until 6. The prizes, which included a TV, BBQ, and surfboard, were given out days later. They had written down the names of those who showed up and pulled names raffle style to award the prizes. I had been in attendance for the entire BBQ and left with a $5 Starbucks card and a sized medium shirt given to the restaurant by the beer distributor. I chose not to go to today’s festivities because it mostly involves awkward interactions with the management who are forced to be there.

I was working in the bar today, but it was still too early to have attained cognitive awareness. I was supposed to be taking care of the tables and people who sat at the bar top, but I was deep into conversation with a fellow from Australia, and didn’t even notice the people who had been sat at the tables. The other bartender snapped me out of my haze by yelling at me for not doing my job and I quickly got to work taking orders. The rest of the afternoon went off without any problems.

My relief showed up at 5 and I started to head home, but after talking to Rebecca, I quickly learned that I was on my own for dinner as she had already eaten. I went to the store and thought about frozen pizza, but it was too expensive, so I wandered the store for 20 minutes looking for inspiration. I eventually found jalapeño mac-and-cheese, and chipotle mac-and-cheese. My hopes were high as I went through the checkout line, I also got two pieces of string cheese which I had eaten before I got to my moped. I cooked both boxes of Mac-N-Cheese and figured I would see which one was better. Neither of them were great, probably nothing I will buy again, but the jalapeño was the better of the two. I mixed the leftovers together and then Rebecca and I watched the first Jurassic Park movie. We recently bought the trilogy from the online for $7. With the 4th movie coming out in two weeks, I wanted to watch them again to catch up. When I was 11, I read the book Jurassic Park in 4 days, just in time to see the movie. I remember my parents letting me take the day off from school to watch the movie opening day. I think I watched it 5 times in theatres by the end of the summer.

Rebecca went to sleep and soon afterwards, the sound of an argument pierced the air. Neighbors fighting is nothing new for us, just last Sunday we were able to listen to two guys get into a fight while a woman screamed “stop” and “help him” over and over again. I dared not intercede, as it sounded like two roommates fighting about their living situation and the female was trying to get them to stop. I would have done something if it sounded like either one of them was hurting the lady, but she was mostly just screaming at the two gentlemen settling their differences. Tonight, I heard usual yelling, and a female screaming. I went outside to listen to the show and the police came much quicker that usual. The noise quieted down soon after that. I began to watch the Making Of disc that came with our Jurassic Park trilogy and then went 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 18th, 2015

I got a text at 1 something last night, right as I was drifting off to sleep. I woke up slightly irritated, but refused to read it. It turned out to be a coworker asking me to take her bar shift tonight, but I could not because it would be close to an 8 hour shift, and the 6 horn trainer meeting yesterday had put me close to overtime. I slept pretty well until around 9 when Rebecca sent me 17 texts saying that the car was in the shop because the check engine light came on last night on our way to the movie. They charged us $125 just to hook the car up to the computer to see why the light came on. It turned out to be a faulty gas cap or something, but I think I should buy a diagnostic machine and sit on the side of the road and charge people $10 to find out why their check engine light is on.

I was annoyed that I was up so early and I was making burritos for breakfast when I got another text from another coworker asking me to pick up her bar shift at noon. It would only be 5 1/2 hours maximum, which would keep me from being on overtime and getting a scolding from management. I rushed to get ready and made it to work with moments to spare. Right as I clocked on, the bar was busy. The other bartender was one of the people who had trained me when I began working in the bar, and her and I have not worked together since December. It took about an hour to get in the groove with her. Every bartender is different, and they have different expectations and things that they either like, or annoy them. It takes quite a few shifts working with someone in such a confined space to learn what to do to help them, and what gets you in their way. It was a rather slow shift, so there weren’t any problems.

I left work around 5:30 and went to the store for more cheese and a copy of Yesterday’s newspaper which had some of Rebecca’s students on the front page walking the va’a to the ocean. I went home and we re heated the stuff I made this morning and had burritos. I got a text from my friend Brandon saying his flight was delayed ad they had lost their rental car reservation and asking if I could pick he and Di up at the airport at midnight. I had nothing better to do, and I would be awake anyway so I agreed. I played Halo for a while and Rebecca caught up on her shows and then went to bed. I left the house around 11:30 and arrived at the airport at 11:40. Their plane landed just after midnight and I picked them up and drove them to their hotel in Waikiki. I had never been to the hotel in which they were staying, so it took a while for us to drive around and find it. I dropped them of and went home and watched Sons of Anarchy for a while and then went to bed.

May 2nd, 2015

I woke up at 6:30 and was at work chugging my coffee by 7:40. No matter how much fruit I cut and stocked, it never felt like enough. I was told later by one of the night time bartenders that I have been cutting way too many lemons and limes.

I had my first round of tables before the 11 o’clock bartender arrived and then we got busy. The restaurant was maybe 1/4 full, but everyone was ordering smoothies, piña coladas, and lava flows. Each one of those drinks require multiple steps to set up, as well as time to blend. We only had one working blender. By the time the noon bartender showed up, the wave of blended drinks slowed down and I was able to back her up and help out the customers who sat at the bar top.

I got home around 5 and took a shower to wash the stink of fruit, sweat, beer and liquor off of my arms and torso. I played Halo for a while to relax and then watched a few episodes of Sons of Anarchy before going to bed.

April 25th, 2015

I woke up at 6:30 and was at work, coffee in hand by 7:45. I had way more energy and I was much more coherent compared to the last two weeks while I was sick. The general manager came in around 9:30 and started working on the drains underneath the beer taps. If not cleaned properly and regularly, the yeast in the beer accumulates into a mass of slimy phlegm-like wad. They usually clean everything out at night, but he told them that he would get to it in the morning. Fast forward to 10, and he has poured two bottles of drain-o into the drain spilling it all over the ice. I had to “burn the ice” which means pouring hot water over it to melt it. It took 6 large buckets of ice to fill everything back up, and the drains didn’t clear for two hours until the noon bartender came in and did some kind of dark magical trick to unclog it, which is the same method they usually do at night.

It was a rather slow shift, especially with three bartenders. I was able to convince one of the other bartenders to close out the majority of the checks so I didn’t have to use my register. I ended up being accurate down to the penny with my drawer.

They have been short staffed in the host department so I volunteered to stay for a few hours and host. I didn’t feel like picking up a serving shift because I would have had to walk around a lot. They told me to take a break and come back at 5 and work for a few hours. After a 40 minute break we realized they couldn’t clock me in as a host so they sent me home.

I went home, showered and made dinner and then Rebecca and I had an epic imaginary water balloon fight in the apartment.

April 6th, 2015

I woke up around 10 and really wanted to start my day off right with a cold, refreshing soda pop. I could not because of the whole 30 diet. If I could find a way to drink soda and still be whole 30 compliant, I would be set. I made breakfast and started cooking my lunch and preparing a lunch for tomorrow.

I got to work early and drank way too much water and coffee. I started at 4 as a server, but within 10 minutes they had to send a bartender home because of a family emergency so they pulled me into the bar. I had been mentally preparing for an easy serving shift, so I had to quickly switch to bar mode. It was a fairly slow night with nothing out of the ordinary happening until I went into the back to have my cash register drawer counted. They have, within the last month, suspended three separate bartenders for their drawers being off $5 or more. Two incidences within 6 months is a suspension and three within a year is automatic termination. I had two incidences during my training, so I have been exceptionally careful, or so I thought. My drawer was $15 over. We looked through my credit card receipts and found one for the exact amount I was off. This means that when I entered the tip into the computer, I forgot to pull the money from my register and put it in the tip bucket. The manager said that because my first two offences had happened during my training, and they were not “official write-ups” this was my first actual write up. Not only do I loose the $15 (which goes somewhere, I can’t get an official answer on that), I get written up. They say it is to prevent stealing, but with how they do the registers, it is nearly impossible to intentionally steal and not be immediately caught. I am worried that when I go in tomorrow the general manager will say that since it is my third offence, I will be fired, or suspended. The manager working tonight said she would fight for me to have this as my first incident as the other two happened during training.

I went home and sulked on the couch for a while, now more than ever I want to drink an ice cold Dr. Pepper, or even a warm knock-off Dr. K soda.

March 7th, 2015

I woke up at 6:30 and headed to work. I had a very large coffee to help me get going. I cut limes and other various fruits to stock the bar and then had three tables right away. There were three bartenders on this morning, which was good because we were busy. I was on the bar rail taking care of people who sat at the bar and backed up the bartender as much as I could.

The person who came on at noon was doing a double so she went on break and I didn’t leave until almost 6. I went home and laid on the couch for about 30 minutes to unwinding then I picked up Thai food and a rental movie. After the movie we went to bed. I was exhausted.