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Out of the Frying Pan...
Hi, I'm fairly new here and have one or two tales about some of the places I've worked.
First a bit about my former Jobs
1. Restaurant - I used to work a variety of roles in a Restaurant which had (much to the joy of the people working there) a small staff and lots of customers.
I regularly ended up working 16-18 hours a day and more often ending up rotating between all of the jobs I had there in any one day, which were;
Chef - I was a Chef de Partie and thanks to the low staff often ended up having to manage several stations (not that I minded) Given the fact that we could be serving up to 90 people at any one time, it could end up confusing (though thankfully I managed to never screw anything up, well except for the mercifully small amount of complaints of customers who in most instances, didn't have a clue)
Kitchen Porter - Your basic pot washer and gopher guy, Though I always used to give a hand to the rest of the kitchen staff if they needed it (Which they invariably did, many a time I sacrificed well earned breaks to help the rest of the guys)
Waiter - Nothing too special just a regular waiter who also sometimes got punted to the Bar if need be. And also thanks to this job, I'm often sent out
Tale #1 - Oh God.
It was a busy night for me, not only was it busy, it was also a themed night, this one being a 70's theme, so of course, I was wearing an Afro wig. I go to serve one table, which happens to have on it, the Priest of the Church where my grandmother goes to. As I'm bringing the starters (in the Priests case, soup) my afro must have gotten loosened (thanks to me being somewhat tall and a door frame) as I was serving the Priest his soup, disaster! My wig fell off and landed right in his soup. In his most stern tone, he said to me "I think you'd better take that away" and after pausing for a few seconds he then said, much more jovially "Otherwise everyone else might want one with theirs" (He'd obviously heard the "Waiter there's a fly in my soup" gag.
Now before I continue, I should let you know about Amber. Amber is a waitress in the same restraunt as I was working at and Amber and I are very close, not dating close but close nonetheless, I view her, treat her and consider her (and for all intents and purposes she is) my little sister, much to her annoyance since she's a few days older than me. We also have a trump card, if she's ever having trouble with a customer and I'm sent out to sort it (which happened rather a lot) I generally inform the troublesome customer that she's my sister (which she isn't but playing that card can be helpful in some situations) She's also very insecure and doesn't react well to obvious, horrible and persistant flirting. Having a friendly chat with her? That's fine, but being flirted with really upsets her, thanks in no small way due to the numerous bad relationships she's ended up in.
Tale #2 - Barking Mad (I'd like to point out that I love animals of ALL kinds, well, except spiders)
So it was a normal, busy day for me, all went well until the evening. I saw Amber and the Manager walk into the kitchen, Amber had the expression of a deer caught in the headlights of a car mixed with one that seemed like someone just killed her favourite pet(The reason for this look will be explained later). She mouths one word to me "Dog" I glance at the Manager and she nods to me, obviously a cusotmer has brought a dog in and guess who gets to deal with it? That's right.
Me = The Talented, overworked marvel that is, well, me.
GWD = Guy with Dog
So I head over to the customer, who seems to be in his late 40's, after observing him so that I can be sure it isn't either a seeing eye dog or a disability helper dog.
Me: "Sir, I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to either tie your dog up outside"
GWD: "Why?"
Me: "For one, it's against the rules for animals to be allowed in here unless they are for the disabled or blind" (I didn't check but logic dictates said rule, If it was a seeing eye dog or disability helper dog that's fair enough but it just seemed like it was just the guys pet, yes, it was a Lab but there was no indication of it being used for either of the two previous tasks) "And two, your dog is terrifying one of the staff"
GWD: "That's her problem, not mine" (this really annoyed me and you'll see why)
Me: "The member of staff in question, who just happens to be my sister, was mauled by a dog as a small child and it nearly killed her, she's been scared of them ever since" (Which I did play the "She's my sister" card, her being mauled was completely true
GWD: "Oh..."
Me: "So I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to either leave or tie the dog up outside, but if you're worried about the welfare of your dog while he's outside, I'll speak with one of the managers and see if I can stay outside with him and look after him"
The guy nodded, so I went over to the manager and asked her, though she'd been listening to what I was saying and agreed, after asking the kitchen staff if they could manage without me for a while. So I spent Two hours outside with the dog, making sure it was fed and watered and excersized, which was important for both of us because it was in the middle of December and Absoloutely Freezing.
Tale #3 Bring in Bessie.
So it was a normal day (Yet again not to be so for long) and one particular customer was often sending his steak back saying that it wasn't rare enough, by the time I got sent out to deal with it, it was as rare as I could safely, legally and morally make it. Amber also happened to be serving this guy. I quickly hatched a devilish scheme.
Me = Me
Amber = Amber
FMG = Fresh Meat Guy
Me: "Is there a problem Sir?"
FMG: "Yes, this steak isn't rare enough" (Practically dripping)
Me "Well I'm sorry sir, it's as rare as I can legally, morally and safely make it" I take great pride in my work.
FMG: "I want it rarer"
Me: *Great big sigh and then looked sideways at amber* "Alright, Amber, could you please bring in Bessie"
Amber: (Not really sure of what was going on but managed to go along with it "Alright"
FMG: "Who's Bessie?"
Me: "Well sir, Bessie is our resident Cow, for when people like yourself who find the food that we cook them not rare enough"
FMG: "Oh, You know what, I'll think I'll have my steak just the way it is thanks"
I head back into the Kitchen, after watching Amber rush in the direction of the bathroom, presumably to laugh till her sides hurt.
Yes, I tended to get odd customers when I worked there. There was once a guy who sent his gammon steak back because it was salty. We tried to explain how pork produce always has something of a salty taste, but he was having none of it, so we finally gave up and scoffed it ourselfs.
Final Tale - The Idiot. (Not a customer but still a sucky guy)
Another job that I had was as a receptionist (decievingly simple title for what I did) at a mobility centre, that hired out (for free, after a joining fee) electric powered mobility scooters to people that need them. One of our regular customers has a grand daughter who is a similar age to me and who also happens to be completely blind (Not hard to tell that with the White Cane and sunglasses that she has), She'll often come with her grandmother and either wait for her at the centre, conversing with the staff or if it's my lunch hour, I'll often take her round the town, spend time with her and have a chat, generally making sure she has a good time. So one day we were walking through a shopping centre when a guy cuts across intous, nearly knocking us both over. The guy gave us her a glare and said "Watch where you're going!" That stung her and annoyed me but he was soon walking off before we could react. I was thinking in my head "Yeah mate, I'd have watched were we were going if I saw you coming, but you cutting across gave me no reaction time and she can't because she is blind. "
I'll bring you more tales just as soon as I get around to remembering them
First a bit about my former Jobs
1. Restaurant - I used to work a variety of roles in a Restaurant which had (much to the joy of the people working there) a small staff and lots of customers.
I regularly ended up working 16-18 hours a day and more often ending up rotating between all of the jobs I had there in any one day, which were;
Chef - I was a Chef de Partie and thanks to the low staff often ended up having to manage several stations (not that I minded) Given the fact that we could be serving up to 90 people at any one time, it could end up confusing (though thankfully I managed to never screw anything up, well except for the mercifully small amount of complaints of customers who in most instances, didn't have a clue)
Kitchen Porter - Your basic pot washer and gopher guy, Though I always used to give a hand to the rest of the kitchen staff if they needed it (Which they invariably did, many a time I sacrificed well earned breaks to help the rest of the guys)
Waiter - Nothing too special just a regular waiter who also sometimes got punted to the Bar if need be. And also thanks to this job, I'm often sent out
Tale #1 - Oh God.
It was a busy night for me, not only was it busy, it was also a themed night, this one being a 70's theme, so of course, I was wearing an Afro wig. I go to serve one table, which happens to have on it, the Priest of the Church where my grandmother goes to. As I'm bringing the starters (in the Priests case, soup) my afro must have gotten loosened (thanks to me being somewhat tall and a door frame) as I was serving the Priest his soup, disaster! My wig fell off and landed right in his soup. In his most stern tone, he said to me "I think you'd better take that away" and after pausing for a few seconds he then said, much more jovially "Otherwise everyone else might want one with theirs" (He'd obviously heard the "Waiter there's a fly in my soup" gag.
Now before I continue, I should let you know about Amber. Amber is a waitress in the same restraunt as I was working at and Amber and I are very close, not dating close but close nonetheless, I view her, treat her and consider her (and for all intents and purposes she is) my little sister, much to her annoyance since she's a few days older than me. We also have a trump card, if she's ever having trouble with a customer and I'm sent out to sort it (which happened rather a lot) I generally inform the troublesome customer that she's my sister (which she isn't but playing that card can be helpful in some situations) She's also very insecure and doesn't react well to obvious, horrible and persistant flirting. Having a friendly chat with her? That's fine, but being flirted with really upsets her, thanks in no small way due to the numerous bad relationships she's ended up in.
Tale #2 - Barking Mad (I'd like to point out that I love animals of ALL kinds, well, except spiders)
So it was a normal, busy day for me, all went well until the evening. I saw Amber and the Manager walk into the kitchen, Amber had the expression of a deer caught in the headlights of a car mixed with one that seemed like someone just killed her favourite pet(The reason for this look will be explained later). She mouths one word to me "Dog" I glance at the Manager and she nods to me, obviously a cusotmer has brought a dog in and guess who gets to deal with it? That's right.
Me = The Talented, overworked marvel that is, well, me.
GWD = Guy with Dog
So I head over to the customer, who seems to be in his late 40's, after observing him so that I can be sure it isn't either a seeing eye dog or a disability helper dog.
Me: "Sir, I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to either tie your dog up outside"
GWD: "Why?"
Me: "For one, it's against the rules for animals to be allowed in here unless they are for the disabled or blind" (I didn't check but logic dictates said rule, If it was a seeing eye dog or disability helper dog that's fair enough but it just seemed like it was just the guys pet, yes, it was a Lab but there was no indication of it being used for either of the two previous tasks) "And two, your dog is terrifying one of the staff"
GWD: "That's her problem, not mine" (this really annoyed me and you'll see why)
Me: "The member of staff in question, who just happens to be my sister, was mauled by a dog as a small child and it nearly killed her, she's been scared of them ever since" (Which I did play the "She's my sister" card, her being mauled was completely true
GWD: "Oh..."
Me: "So I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to either leave or tie the dog up outside, but if you're worried about the welfare of your dog while he's outside, I'll speak with one of the managers and see if I can stay outside with him and look after him"
The guy nodded, so I went over to the manager and asked her, though she'd been listening to what I was saying and agreed, after asking the kitchen staff if they could manage without me for a while. So I spent Two hours outside with the dog, making sure it was fed and watered and excersized, which was important for both of us because it was in the middle of December and Absoloutely Freezing.
Tale #3 Bring in Bessie.
So it was a normal day (Yet again not to be so for long) and one particular customer was often sending his steak back saying that it wasn't rare enough, by the time I got sent out to deal with it, it was as rare as I could safely, legally and morally make it. Amber also happened to be serving this guy. I quickly hatched a devilish scheme.
Me = Me
Amber = Amber
FMG = Fresh Meat Guy
Me: "Is there a problem Sir?"
FMG: "Yes, this steak isn't rare enough" (Practically dripping)
Me "Well I'm sorry sir, it's as rare as I can legally, morally and safely make it" I take great pride in my work.
FMG: "I want it rarer"
Me: *Great big sigh and then looked sideways at amber* "Alright, Amber, could you please bring in Bessie"
Amber: (Not really sure of what was going on but managed to go along with it "Alright"
FMG: "Who's Bessie?"
Me: "Well sir, Bessie is our resident Cow, for when people like yourself who find the food that we cook them not rare enough"
FMG: "Oh, You know what, I'll think I'll have my steak just the way it is thanks"
I head back into the Kitchen, after watching Amber rush in the direction of the bathroom, presumably to laugh till her sides hurt.
Yes, I tended to get odd customers when I worked there. There was once a guy who sent his gammon steak back because it was salty. We tried to explain how pork produce always has something of a salty taste, but he was having none of it, so we finally gave up and scoffed it ourselfs.
Final Tale - The Idiot. (Not a customer but still a sucky guy)
Another job that I had was as a receptionist (decievingly simple title for what I did) at a mobility centre, that hired out (for free, after a joining fee) electric powered mobility scooters to people that need them. One of our regular customers has a grand daughter who is a similar age to me and who also happens to be completely blind (Not hard to tell that with the White Cane and sunglasses that she has), She'll often come with her grandmother and either wait for her at the centre, conversing with the staff or if it's my lunch hour, I'll often take her round the town, spend time with her and have a chat, generally making sure she has a good time. So one day we were walking through a shopping centre when a guy cuts across intous, nearly knocking us both over. The guy gave us her a glare and said "Watch where you're going!" That stung her and annoyed me but he was soon walking off before we could react. I was thinking in my head "Yeah mate, I'd have watched were we were going if I saw you coming, but you cutting across gave me no reaction time and she can't because she is blind. "
I'll bring you more tales just as soon as I get around to remembering them
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