Update

Ah, it's been a little while, I have been slacking on posts here.
Well, a lot has changed.  I suppose other posts will explain more, but for now, the bigger things.
Cathy was fired.
Her replacement?
Yours truly.
I am the official COUNTER GIRL.

Which isn't completely a bad thing because when I saw how busy it gets, I wanted to cry for them.  It's crazy stuff, especially for me, an inexperienced waitress.  What this means for me, however, is more hours/days, less stress, and a constant baseline salary plus (OMG DOLLARBILL) counter tips, which actually do add up to about an hour or more worth of working a day.

And unlike Cathy, I do try to help out as much as possible when I have nothing specifically to do.  Making up tea bags from loose tea leaves, helping with drinks, serving, busing, cleaning.  I'm trying to organize their crazy stock room and other such things.  If I help enough on busy days, the waitresses give me 10% of their tips.  It works out just fine for me.

I do act as a waitress if somebody needs to be covered, but not during any really busy time.  Things are okay with the job.  Thursday and Friday are my days off, but the days go by quickly.

Hopefully I will be posting with more frequency again shortly, probably with customer pet peeves.
Enjoy your meal,
-T.H.

This is exactly what I look like whilst serving people.  Spot on.

Small Things.

It's the little things that get me through the day.
A very young girl was in the cafe with her family, sporting a bright baseball cap and a Hello Kitty t-shirt.
I have a soft spot for little Asian babies/small children.  I don't know why.  Probably because they have the most pinch-able cheeks and look far more innocent than anything else in the world.

Anyways, I always try to engage with the children at least a bit, even though they're usually super shy or playing a video game right at the table.
I cautiously told the girl "Your shirt is so pretty!  I love Hello Kitty!"
She shot right back at me, "I love Hello Kitty more than you do!"
It was more of a fact than her being defensive.  It made my day.  I followed up with a large smile and "I bet you do!"

There were no interesting customers today except a woman who asked me for no particular reason if I just got married.  I wasn't wearing a ring of any sort, and hadn't said anything remotely marriage related.  I don't know that I should post a ranting post, which is the only thing banging around in my skull.  We'll see where the blog posting gods take me.
-T.H.

Father's Day

Sent home early today because it was so slow in the cafe.  What kind of society are we turning into, where fathers don't demand tea on holidays?  What blasphemy is this, I ask you?

I met the busboy (BB) today, he's 15 and related to all of them.  Nice kid.  I figured he would slum around in the kitchen all day with his cellphone, but he actually stayed in the front of the house with Cathy and I when he had no dishes to wash.  I think BB has a little crush on me; it's cute.  Every time he came back from the kitchen he would wave enthusiastically and say hello to me.
BB: I waved at you!
TH:  Yes, I noticed.
BB:  You didn't wave back!
TH:  I just saw you five minutes ago.  I'm sorry.  I'll wave back from now on.
A little strange, but I'll chalk it up to weird hormones.

A customer came in to get an iced coffee to go, and when he put a dollar in the tip jar, Cathy ACTUALLY exclaimed OUT LOUD, IN FRONT OF HIM:
"Finally!  A dollar!"
I wanted to apologize to him, I felt completely embarrassed.  I gave a wimpy smile and mumbled for him to have a good day instead.

I headed out at 2:30, with good intentions of doing some work at home, but promptly fell asleep from sheer exhaustion.  My next day off is Wednesday.  So sore, considering getting a massage.

-T.H.

Counter Girl

Chatty Cathy is a just-turned-18 redhead with an immature air about her who, you guessed it, loves to talk.

Cathy has a job position which is new for The Cafe, working the counter.  What she is supposed to do is seat people, keep track of the seating charts, ring up checks, and take care of retail orders.  Since there isn't a lot of that right now, she does a whole lot of nothing.  We ask her to do some things for us, like pour waters for a table or something of the sort, but she mostly just stands around talking or singing to herself.  

When I am working, no matter the job, I always like to stay busy.  If I'm on the clock, I only feel content if I'm doing SOMETHING.  So I'm always looking out over The Cafe to make sure that customers aren't looking for assistance and everything is running smoothly.  Cathy prefers to talk to me while I'm doing this.  While I'm typing in complicated orders on the register (which she should really be doing), she talks to me.  While I'm trying to make three different pots of loose leaf tea, each with their own sides of lemon, honey, milk, a timer, tea cups, saucers, and tea spoons, she talks to me.  I'm good at multitasking, but I CAN'T reply to you while I'm trying to keep track of orders in my head!  Cathy's nice enough, don't get me wrong.

There's a small tip jar on the front counter, and she frequently checks this while customers are around, which I personally find quite tacky.  She complains all the time about how there are no dollar bills in it, and makes a big ordeal out of counting out the change in her tips before she leaves.  CATHY, you are not considered a tipped employee!  You are paid minimum wage!  I will soon have to start relying on tips, and if she continues this, I will go crazy.  If you are unhappy with the tips you are getting, pay more attention to the customers who are walking in the door.  If I don't have anything that I need to do right away and a customer comes in, wandering to the front counter and not sure of whether they want to eat here, to go, or whatever, I always try to hook them in, offering a menu for them to look at, a to-go menu if they'd like to return, showing them the pastries in the display case, answering questions... she does none of this, and is quite abrupt with the customers.

Cathy, once you take orders, make sure the kitchen is on top of your food, type in your own checks, serve your food, check on customers, make complicated drinks, and bus tables, THEN you can complain to me about have no dollars in your tip jar.

I sound like a jaded waitress already.  Success.

Teenagers.

I did very well today!  I took some tables by myself, I only have a few more things to memorize before everything is down pat.

One man asked for half and half with his coffee, which yesterday manager A told me we would just make ourselves, pouring half milk and half cream into a small pitcher.  When he ordered it, A told me that we actually had some, and procured it from the kitchen.  A few moments after the drinks were served at the table, it looked as though something was wrong... I walked over, and the cream had curdled in his coffee.  I felt AWFUL, and apologized profusely.  He said it wasn't a problem and didn't look too upset.  Even though it technically wasn't my fault, and the date on the half and half was fine, I still felt really badly.

It was a bit of a slow day.  We had quite a few bigger parties, but nothing extraordinary.  The problem with the big party of tourists is that usually they come in, not sure if they want to sit or not, while other people in their 'group' are still shopping on the main street.  The original group sits, orders, and then all of a sudden their friends/family/herd of long lost cousins comes in and wants to join them, after the original food order is already sent in to the kitchen and the check is in the system.  It's not too much of a pain, though.

What WAS a pain was that at 4:45 (we close at 5), a group of ten teenagers came in.  They insisted that they didn't need tables put together-- we only have four tops and two tops.  They sat at three tables, only ordered one slice of cake and a bit of tea, and asked for separate checks for everybody.  THAT was annoying.  After painstakingly entering each of their check amounts alone, they ended up leaving a total collective tip of one cent.   Even though I'm not making tips right now.... THANKS, GUYS.

We generally get an older crowd, so hopefully this won't be a common occurrence.

A also told me that British folks either tip close to nothing or ask for change-- apparently they don't do tipping over there.  Fancy pants.

Day One: Training

Today I shadowed one of the owners of the cafe as she acted as a waitress.  I bused tables, made tea, served, and tried to pitch in any other way I could.

I found out that I'll be paid minimum wage with no tips instead of as a tipped employee until the first week of July.   The owners said because it's slow right now, I wouldn't make too much on waitressing.

It was a pretty good day, mostly locals in the beginning, but then it picked up.  I'm hoping that I'll get accustomed to the small details soon.

Only one bizarre thing really happened.  There are homemade cupcakes and other pastries on the front counter, with signs and prices.  An elderly person came in and asked about our dessert selection... while we were listing them, she started just... eating the cupcakes. She left frosting all over the front counter, and when she saw that, she wiped it up with her finger and spread it under the front counter, like an 8th grader hiding gum under a desk.  She finally ordered a slice of cake and sat down at a table.  She opened some packets of Splenda and spilled them over her table.  We charged her for her cupcakes and cake, and when she turned to leave, she suddenly turned back and ordered a crabmeat salad.  I don't think that her mind was all there.

I'm exhausted, and going in early tomorrow for a staff meeting.
Hopefully all goes well.
Enjoy your meal,
T.H.

About this blog

Today is my first day of training at a restaurant working as a waitress in a tourist town.  I do want to record my experiences, but I usually give up on handwritten journals in just a few days.  I'm hoping to write about my life daily on this blog, we'll see how that works out.

All names will be changed, etc. etc.

And yes, the blog title is shamelessly ripped off of an old British comedy.  The title will probably be changed at some point, if you have any somewhat creative ideas for the title, feel free to contribute.

I'm sarcastic and genuine, but I can certainly charm people.  Let's hope this is going to work in my favor.  I've had some serving experience at a family camp (which also included scrubbing toilets--- but that's a story for another day.

Heretofore, I will lovingly reference myself as "T.H.", or "The Help".  A moniker for my bosses, co-workers, and restaurant will soon be established.

Today is my first day of training.  after listening to a few energizing Queen songs and putting on make up to make myself look halfway decent, I think I'm ready to do my shadowing work for the day.

Enjoy your meal!
T.H.