Wednesday, Sept. 07, 2005
Successful First Day
My first day waitressing went well last night. They only assigned me one table to serve for the whole night as opposed to four which is the maximum we will have to wait on. During the entire five hours that I was there, the hostess seated two separate families at my table. After I had gotten their drinks and put their orders in I didn't really have anything to do so I did a lot of walking around, pretending to look as though I were on a mission to do something important. There weren't even any tables to bus because they have so many people staffed at that restaurant it's ridiculous. I filled up the ice cooler a few times, and walked around some more as I waited for my food order to be filled. Again, once the order was out and the customers were eating, I was left with nothing to do. Sure, I'd check on my tables to make sure they didn't need anything, but other than that ..... Both tables tipped me over $10.00 so I made around $25.00 in tips total. That isn't too bad for only waiting on two tables the whole night. This evening when I go in I hope I am assigned more than one table though.
The cleanup process at the end of the night is a pain in the ass. All employees get assigned cleanup duties at the end of the night, then two people get have to check over your work to make sure you did your job properly. Last night, my job was to refill dressings, clean the bar where they put grated cheese, chopped onion, peppers, etc. Also at the end of the night you have to make sure that the table(s) you waited on for the night are cleaned up by vacuuming underneath, salt and pepper shakers are completly full, sugar packets are refilled, and the crayons that sit on the table all have points. Aside from the bartenders, managers and coworkers who checked over the nightly cleanup ritual, I was the last one out of there at the end of the night. That's probably because it was the first time I had ever checked out, cleaned up, etc. so I didn't really know what I was doing. At least now I know. It will get easier as I spend more time there, I'm sure.
At the end of the night I was pretty tired. However, I decided to go to the bar to have a drink and see Adam in spite of that. When I walked into the bar I was surprised, but not too surprised to see Adam sitting down, drinking a beer. I sort of figured he would get someone to cover for him seeing as how he had worked two shifts practically right in a row. I knew he wouldn't be up to working a third. We each had a few drinks, then were asked if we'd like to play Texas Hold'em in the back room for a five dollar buy in. At first I was hesitant because I had worked all day and had to get up early again this morning, but then I just told myself I wasn't going to think about work after my shift had just ended so both Adam and I played. I almost won. There were only six of us who played, but the final people came down to me and another guy, John. He won with pocket nines and all I had was ace high. It sucked, but I only lost five dollars. Not a big deal.
When the game was over Adam and I followed John to his house and he gave us a few bowl packs of weed. We have been doing really good lately with cutting back on our smoking hobby. The last time we bought anything was about three weeks ago. The last time we smoked was about one week ago. I'm trying to limit myself to smoking only once or twice a week. Taking a break is a good idea because I think I was starting to ge burnt out. I mean, don't get me wrong, I am motivated, it doesn't affect my job or my ability to socialize with people or anything like that.....but it was getting to the point where I could smoke a few bowls and the weed would not physically affect my body. It's like I was immune to it or something. So last night when we got home, we smoked and I got high off of only a few hits. Adam and I talked about stupid things, such as living in the rainforest and buying an English Bulldog puppy. I thought about the English bulldog a little more today and I realize that I do love those dogs. Maybe I'll ask for one for Christmas this year.
Tonight, Adam is off work and is playing in a big Texas Hold'em tournament about thirty minutes away from where we live. I hope he does well. I waitress again tonight. Again, I hope everything goes well at my new job.