Waitresses aren't the only ones you should feel sympathy for - the hostess has a pretty miserable job too. A waitress gets to make everything better by bringing food and liquor...while the hostess is the one who tells you there is a 90-minute wait. On that note, I bring you the first of a reoccurring series: Things That Make Me Hostile At Work, by an anonymous hostess. Enjoy!!!
1. Soggy paper coasters (I have an aversion to touching wet paper).
2. 40+ year-old hostess who thinks she is the boss of me because she's old, but really she's not.
3. Same hostess noted above who leaves me all of her work to do.
4. Rain.
5. People who think I give them a 30 minute wait quote just to be funny (seriously, people will ask if I am joking).
6. People who think I care about why they're late for their reservation.
7. Old ladies who travel in packs of 5 or more.
8. Roll-up shortages.
9. Picking up cloth napkins off tables, due to my fear of encountering snot, spit or swine flu.
10. Servers who think I don't seat them on purpose.
11. Sweeping noodles off the floor.
12. Children under 12.
13. When I am asked by people who were LITERALLY just outside if I think it's too hot (or cold) to eat outside. HELLO, I WORK INSIDE!!!
Note from Dani - #13 is my all time favorite. Seriously people, do you know how STUPID you sound when you ask that? You just walked to the restaurant from your car, which you parked OUTSIDE. It's in the same vein as telling me you are waiting for three more people when I ask you if you would like a drink. Ummm, duh? Isn't that what the THREE OTHER MENUS ARE FOR ON THE TABLE?? Sheesh.
Picture of the Day: Pre-flipcup at M's 30th birthday party
I realize that I work in the service industry, and we are there to serve people - no matter if they are rude, cheap or unappreciative they may be. However, sometimes it's VERY difficult to be nice to your next table when the last one has SCREWED you on the tip. Sigh.
Example: Last night my first table tipped me 15%, then the second table tipped 10%. Next, a nice family of four was sat in my section. Two women got the special, the father had fried shrimp and the overweight son had a blue cheese burger and creamed spinach...and then proceeded to put the creamed spinach on the burger, along with the mayo and mustard he had wanted. (This post is NOT about the gross eating quirks that some people display, but I could write an entire BOOK about that...) They seemed ... grumpy. They just weren't animated at all. And that is fine. What is NOT fine is the fact that they paid with a $100-dollar bill (asked for change since the bill was only $67), and the proceeded to leave me $3 in cash on the table.
THREE DOLLARS. That is less than a 5% tip!!!
I'm not going to get into the politics of race at restaurants. It's nasty and mean and horrible. I'm just going to say that everyone should at LEAST tip 15%. Servers make VERY little money per hour, and tips are our livelihood. I actually don't make enough of a paycheck to have FEDERAL TAXES taken out. Literally I'll get an $8 check for two weeks worth of work - the taxes and medicare and social security are too high to have any money left over.
So please, tip your server.
Ummm... don't tell my dad, but the FAFSA was reallllllly easy to fill out. This could be because I didn't have to enter any parent info - like I did when I was in college - but it seriously took only 15 minutes, max. I say don't tell my dad because I bitched and moaned back in college until he (or mom) filled it out for me - I was such a brat, and he TOTALLY called me out about it on the phone the other day. Love you dad!!!
Anyways, that is finally done. Now I all I need to do is actually pay tuition, get a community college transcript over to nursing school (for last semester's micro - which somehow I pulled out an A). And, of course, there is the studying for Tuesday's test - Happy Memorial Day to me!
Next week should be a killer - our first test on Tuesday, our vital signs skills evaluation (and first clinical ever) on Wednesday and our second quiz (complete with about 75 medical prefixes) on Thursday. No rest for the weary. Hopefully I can get some peeps to cover my shifts next weekend - so I can spend the whole weekend soaking up sun at the lake...and NOT serving food.
Oh well, I've procrastinated long enough - off to make some stellar note cards! Woot!
PS - if you don't know what the FAFSA is, believe me it's an evil governmental evaulation of what the MAN thinks you could pay for college. BOO.
...the letter C!
As in Cattle Prod!
As in, a restaurant is NOT the place to catch up with your two best friends that you haven't seen in 20 years! OR the place to do your travel research, iMac and books on Canada in hand! OR the place to hold a presentation on God-knows-what ... Conferences should be held in CONFERENCE rooms. I want said Cattle Prod for the special times that "crop dusting*" won't work. A not-so-subtle gesture to GET OUT OF MY SECTION when the table has been there ignoring their unpaid bill for longer than an hour. Sigh.
Ya know, I know I wait tables. And I am at the whims of all these random people. BUT, I just ask that if you are going to use my table for RANDOM crap that is NOT eating ...please at LEAST tip 20%.
Were these people raised in a barn? Sheesh.
*crop dusting...well...it means walking by a table and...ummm...passing gas. Not that I've EVER done that.
So. It’s Wednesday and I have about an hour and a half of work to do today. I know that seems like a lot to you peeps that get paid salary no questions asked – as it IS summer and it HAS been raining a lot and we DID just come back from a HOLIDAY WEEKEND – but for us peeps that have to bill our hours…BY THE QUARTER HOUR…its kinda torture.
Torture, because I can only browse the Web for so long without my eyes sticking to the tops of their sockets. Torture because I have to sit here with nothing to do while my anatomy chapter on body fluids and electrolyte balance is WAITING for me at home. Torture because I have had my space heater on for TWO hours now and my office is JUST getting warm-ish.
Sigh. This morning my coworker and I were making hot tea (I told you, I’m freezing – and slightly an anglophile), and she told me about her friend who was just laid off. With a two year old…and baby twins. So yes. I know it could be much worse…I am VERY grateful for my job…I just wish I had more to DO here.
LUCKILY I have a four-day week next week. NOT so I can laze at the pool, or even finish school work (my online class ends MONDAY thank God)…it’s so I can have my four impacted wisdom teeth CUT out of my mouth. I am not very happy about this…but it needs to happen. At least I get to spend a weekend drugged and slurping milkshakes on my parents’ couch – right?
Anyways. I am going to scrounge up some work to do…I have to put something on my timesheets, right? Ugh.
Last Friday I had my annual review – my SECOND annual review. I can’t believe that its been two years since I walked through that door and made myself at home in my widdle office (with a window!)… Two years is a long time, BTW. I’ve only had one other job longer than I’ve had this one, and that was waiting tables/bartending. AND, I had breaks from that (like small summer vacations and my semester abroad).
Anyway. I had my review. And it was positive for the most part! And I got a (small) raise!! Which is AMAZING, especially in this crazy economy. We’ve had three contacts get fired in the last month or so, and it makes me very nervous to not have a lot to do at work. I guess the only solution is just to keep plugging along…but I get really bored…and want to do something else.
That was something noted on my review – keep away from outside distractions. HA easier said than done…especially when there is NO way I have eight hours of work a day. NO WAY. My timesheets are lookin’ pretty slim lately. But…I can promise that I’ll do all my work…and then goof off.
So yeah. My review. I don’t have to stare THAT down for a while…and hopefully at that point I can say, “This has been fun, but I’m going back to school. Want to give me some part-time work?” Seriously…if we are still this slow (well, if we are still this slow a year from now, I probably wont have a job) I could do my job in only four hours. Whatever.
But yay! I can look forward to about an extra $100 every month! P-A-R-T-Y! No, in all seriousness…the raise is awesome. It means that I am worth something to my company and they believe in my work…even when I don’t. And, that made me feel really awful. I hate lying to my coworkers and my employer about my long-term prospects at my company…but in this economy, what else can you do?
I made myself feel better with a little shopping trip to Forever 21. I know their stuff ifs crap, but its tres cute, and in my budget of under $20. =) I bought a cute little dress (it seems that everyone is wearing dresses out…does anyone else notice that??) and a pair of earrings for about $21. Supersweet.On another note, I finished Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress...and Kabul Beauty School. Now I'm readingThe Glass Castle...and it's kinda depressing...alas. I have to work fast though - book club is next week and I haven't read the book yet!!
