I am not sure why, but this job may be the most exhausting one I have ever had. It's not like I am using my mind, but I am on my feet through the shifts and supposed to be "keeping an eye on everything." Do you know how hard that is to do? As soon as I have bussed one table, someone else has left, there is a bell going off for me to get a pizza and bring it to another table, and someone has walked in the door for me to seat. It appears that as I have gotten older, my ability to multi-task has decreased significantly.
I didn't fall asleep until 3:30 last night and had to be at work at 11. I was chugging Red Bull and trying to pull myself together when I finally ran across the street. My manager asked me how I would feel about training someone tonight. I said, "If you feel comfortable with that, that is fine with me!" Then she informed me that I would be training on the floor, because I seem to be more at ease on the floor than at the door. When you are at the door, all you have to do is welcome people and seat them. Apparently I am not as sociable as I thought and much better at manual labor.
I think the problem I have with the door is that I cannot handle stupid people. Listen to some of the questions and issues I dealt with Sunday night. "Umm, can we order our pizza now so that it will be ready for us when we sit down?" No. Where can you do that?? Also, our restaurant has a rule that if you have a party of 6 or more and the restaurant is busy, half your party must be there before their name can be written down. We don't take reservations (it's a pizza place - come on) we just quote times. So this lady comes in and tells us she is going to have a party of 14. Great. She was with her daughter, but no one else was there. I explained the rule to her, and she immediately started arguing. "I got here early so that I could save a table." I continued to repeat the rule, but let's be honest, you can only repeat yourself so many times. Finally, she says, "I can look really pitiful..." My response: "Yes ma'am, and so can I."
Finally, another lady decided to come during peak dinner hours (around 6:30) with 5 or 6 kids in tow. She also had several other adults with her. I gave her a quote time of about 15-25 minutes. Well, that didn't happen. People were sitting and enjoying each other's company rather than leaving. After 25 minutes, the lady came up to me and started yelling that it was ridiculous to quote a time that wasn't correct. How in the world am I supposed to know exactly how long a table is going to take to eat? She had no argument, which made me even more mad, so I just turned around. Then she started yelling that her kids were going to have a melt down. The kids looked perfectly fine playing - I think that mom was about to have a meltdown. We even brought them out grapes, strawberries and cheese to munch on. No one else got that kind of service! The manager offered her a beer on the house, but she denied it. I kind of wanted to force it down her throat. She needed to relax.
Oh yeah - good thing I have two shirts (which will be deducted from my first paycheck, as well as my apron.) As I was dumping trash from a plate today, a cup of salad dressing somehow flipped up in the air and landed all over me. As soon as I thought I had gotten all of it off, I spotted a new stain. I am staring at one right now that I didn't discover in time. Ok, I am going to take a nap before I head back across the street at 5 to "train." Hope you are having a great day!
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