I started work at 11. I was training someone, and she did fairly well for her first day dealing with customers. I worked until 5:30, got some coffee and a burger and then worked a bar shift until 1:30. By he end of the night all the muscles in my legs were cramping up. I went home and went straight to bed.
I was up at 9:30 and at work by 11. I left my phone on top of the fridge charging, so I used my buddy’s phone to text Rebecca and ask her to bring it to me. I was in the bar, and the general manager was not there today, which mad for a relaxing shift. I was able to keep the shelves stocked with beer cutting down on the amount of time I had to spend at the end of the shift stocking.
I had a 10 minute break between shifts, in which I inhaled food and called my dad to wish him a happy Father’s Day. I was supposed to be training someone tonight, but she showed up late and they sent her home. I was in the very back of the restaurant but managed to be fairly busy.
It turned out to be a 12 1/2 hour day, and I was exhausted by the time I got home, but my brain was buzzing like a swarm of angry bees. I stayed up for a while watching one of the old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies and then I went to bed.
I woke up early and headed to the college to see if my EMT application went through because I had dropped it off during spring break. I headed to work for my 11 o’clock shift. I have already worked 30 hours this week, and I was scheduled for 12 today. The manager wasn’t about to let me hit overtime and reward me for working so hard all week. I had 3 tables and was sent home at 1:30. I was supposed to work again at 4, but I was told to not come back until 5. Instead of hanging out at work for 3 1/2 hours I went home, made lunch, did the dishes and dozed off on the couch.
I went back to work and because I was working a double I was not allowed to work on the patio. I was banished to a lesser section in the back of the restaurant. I didn’t get my first table until almost 6. It was a dreadfully slow night, and the person who was supposed to be helping me with side work had spent the afternoon before work drinking. I stayed behind for an extra 45 minutes to do the end of shift cleaning that he didn’t do because he left without doing anything. I got home around 10:30 upset that I didn’t make even half of what I was expecting from working a double. I stayed up for a while to take out my frustrations on super villains on the X box.
I woke up at 9 and scrambled to get ready for my double shift. Our water heater is broken again, so I skipped a morning shower. I picked up a morning shift hoping to earn some extra money to pay for the Surface tablet I just got and have yet to use.
I got to work early and stopped at Starbucks and got another 30 oz bladder buster. It was gone before I got up to the 4th floor.
The morning shift was busy, just not in my section. I had a table just sit there for almost an hour after they paid their bill. I really wanted to shoo them away, but there is little I could do and still remain employee.
I got a break for about 45 minutes and then I started my night shift. As I was introducing myself to my first table, the hostesses sat me a second large party. I had to scramble to appease both groups.
There was a Memorial Day lantern releasing festival at the beach park across the street from the mall today. We had a huge rush of people both before and after the ceremony. I was extremely busy the entire night which should have been a good thing.
I had a table of two teenagers out on a date. Everything went well, and I got them to laugh a few times. When I gave them the bill, which was $54.62, he gave me $55. I knew it wasn’t going to end well for me. I brought him back $0.32 in change secretly hoping he would want to look generous in front of his lady friend. He took the $0.32. While this was happening, a party of 7 people left $4 on a tab well over $200. After that ended, I had a table’s food take 53 minutes to come out of the kitchen. By the time it had arrived at the table, most of it was cold. Even though we took off almost all of their tab, I still got hosed.
By the end of the night I was ready to quit. If the cooks make a mistake, they still get their $10-16 an hour, the hosts get their hourly wage plus a guaranteed tip share based off my sales. But when they screw up, I am the only person the customer takes it out on. It’s just frustrating, I’m starting to lean towards a non tipped industry, but increasing the salary. Because I earn tips, the state allows my company to pay less than minimum wage. After the company stopped allowing the auto gratuity, or even a suggested gratuity, I have no incentive to take large parties. The only reason having a large party was good was the guaranteed gratuity at the end. Now there is no point. Sorry, I’m just angrily venting. I exhausted and starving.
I got home around 11 and went straight to bed.
I woke up at 9 feeling worse today than I have all week. It was 77 degrees outside and I was curled up under the blankets shivering like a singed koala looking for a 24 hour burn center.
I took a hot shower and just sat on the floor trying to get warm. Once the hot water was gone I got dressed for work and laid on the bed until it was time to go.
I got to work and my manager asked how I was. “I think I’m dying” was my reply. He asked if I was getting sick and I told him that I was getting sick last week, today I was full blown sick. He laughed and told me to stay away from him. It is the same plague that has swept through the restaurant. Most of us can’t afford to take a day off so we come in, suck it up like grown ups and try to earn a living.
I must say that going to a place where I serve food while having a temperature of 101.5, dry hacking cough, shortness of breath, and liquid naughtiness pouring out the back of me might not be ideal, it sure beats having to dive through dumpsters looking for scraps.
It was a busy day, and I was in a busy section. My entire body was moist with sweat, yet I was freezing the entire day. Because this is a holiday weekend, they did not allow anyone to work double shifts, except me and one other fellow. I had a 30 minute break before I started the night shift in a section kept at a frigid 78 degrees by the air conditioner. Everyone else kept complaining about being too warm, but I filled my free time by hiding in the kitchen next to the broiler to keep warm.
I got home just after 11. Rebecca was in her way to bed and I was physically exhausted after a 12 hour workday, but my brain was working on overdrive from over stimulation and the energy drinks I used to keep me going.
I was told my the managers that I needed to get either my Sunday night or Monday night shift covered because I was going to go into overtime if I didn’t. Many of the other servers are fighting for hours and I am having to give mine away after only working there one month.
I stayed up until 2 watching Netflix.
Here is a video I made a few years ago about how Easter eggs are made, I hope you enjoy.
I woke up suddenly at 7 and I couldn’t fall back to sleep. My throat was sore and I have a weird high pitched cough that produces milky white phlegm. I entertained myself by staring at the ceiling and trying to fall back to sleep. I made a breakfast burrito and got ready for work.
I got to work early and didn’t feel any better. I’m not one to call out sick for work no matter how bad I feel. I used to have a boss that would say “don’t call in, (as in call in sick) crawl in.” I can remember one time I showed up to work, parked, and then threw up next to my truck before going in to work.
I had a party of 9 Australians. They were pretty cool. I managed to sell them $250 worth of alcohol at noon. One guy was a firefighter in Queensland. We got to talking and I told him that I used to be a volunteer fire fighter. He was wearing his department shirt and offered to trade shirts with me. I told him that I was working a double so I would need my shirt, but if he went to the market (where we sell shirts) he could pick one out and I’d pay for it. I am probably the only person outside of Australia who has a Queensland fire department shirt.
My first shift ended and I had 20 minutes to eat before my night shift.
I started out the night shift with a party of 87 high school kids who were here for a matching band trip. I was supposed to to the initial greeting but my voice is gone from the sickness so I traded with someone else.
After the party I had a few more tables and then a hostess asked me if I’d like to take a party of 16 people. I asked if they seemed cool, and she said yes. I agreed to take the party, but the only condition was that if the party wasn’t good to me I could towel snap all of the hostesses.
The party was a nightmare. It was all Filipino people who were “FOB’s” as someone put it. Everyone was asking for things and interrupting each other when I was trying to take their order. It was a Charlie Foxtrot of a situation. (Charlie is the radio code for the letter “C”, and foxtrot is code for the letter “F”. CF is code for “Cluster F#%k”, or total chaos)
I got out of there and made it home by 11. Rebecca was fast asleep. My voice was completely shot from yelling at the parties and taking orders all day long.
As I went to bed last night, I saw a cockroach in the bathroom. I attended to it and when I came back a few minutes later I saw a scorpion on the bathroom floor. I knew there were scorpions here but I hear people rarely see them. It wasn’t like a desert scorpion, and it most certainly had no intention of rocking me like a hurricane. The scorpion I saw was about 3 inches long and it was very thin, smaller than a pencil. After a brief and warranted mini panic attack, I captured the beast within the suction cup of the plunger, the only weapon near me. I suppose I could have used the brush, but that would have made a mess of things.
With my foe trapped, I pushed down on the plunger. The creature lived. With a mighty swoop, I crushed my opponent’s head with the edge of my weapon as I screamed “I’ll see you in hell demon!!!”
After I saved Rebecca from the savage scorpion attack, I went to sleep with the light on. I woke up around 9 and I made eggs and Portuguese sausage for breakfast.
I got to work half hour early and they asked me to start right away. I did my pre-shift stretches and chugged my energy drink while waiting for my first table.
Around 4, I was getting ready to turn in my money and go home when a coworker asked me to pick up his night shift. He had already started so a break was out of the question. I was starving and exhausted, but I figure that helping out coworkers is a great way to make friends.
They put me in a section across the aisle from the lavatory, which meant I couldn’t deposit the furious mud slide that was brewing inside of me without my tables seeing me go in the bathroom and then come back out 10 minutes later with beads of sweat on upon my brow and my clothes fitting a little less snug across my tummy.
I ended up working for 10 hours straight. My feet were a little sore, but the shoes I got last week have helped a lot.
I got home around 11 and debated about having something to eat or not. I gave up after a few minutes and sat down to finish watching Braveheart.
I woke up and had eggs and then went to work. The morning was slow, and I had an energy drink pumping through my veins like a locomotive. I asked if I could stay for a night shift and someone came in who was trying to get his night shift covered. I didn’t get a break, but I was glad to be able to take more tables.
I ended up working for 10 hours straight. I realized tonight that when u work, I am like a shark. I have to keep moving constantly. If I slow down or stop I flake like I’m dying.
Around 7 the restaurant emptied out and I was busy like a bee trying to find stuff to do.
I got home around 10:30, but Rebecca was already asleep so I caught up on my blog and watched a movie on Netflix.
I had to work a double today, and Rebecca is sick so we didn’t go to church. I slept in and then went to work.
I had 13 minutes between shifts so I ordered a kids size fish and chips. It was all fried and made my stomach feel like something was trying to crawl its way out if me for the rest of the night.
I had a table of ladies who informed me they had coupons. That is already 2 strikes for the good tip department. I feel like if I get money off for food, or get something for free, the nice thing to do is tip off the original total, not the discounted total. These ladies did not share my feelings.
I got home after Rebecca went to bed so I entertained myself with netflix.
moving to Hawaii 