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Working in a resturaunt right on the beach pretty much makes a few things very likely. you're going to have many tourists, sweeping is something you do every 15 minutes (SAAAANNNNDDD!) and there are many seaguls. I have a special hatred for these flying rats... well, most of them, there are some cute ones and some nice ones. but the big white/grey ones and tiny black headed mouthy ones are the evil doers of the beach.
Normally we handle them easily enough. about 20-30 tables are located on our deck that goes the length of the resturaunt, with one bar in the center. the deck has 2 stairs in the center for people to enter, and is surrounded by a waist high railing with glass below it (this part is important). Now when you mix in tourists who never have gulls or don't know how to treat animals when food is around you get messes, disaster, and table dancing birds. here are a few short stories of such events.
Dive bombing birds
it was a normal weekday on the shore when I spot a family of 4 sitting at one of the deck tables. the sun was on the other side of the building so the umbrellas were already taken down, which meant I had to keep an extra eye out for birds. I noticed far more motion going on in this families direction than I should have and went over to investigate
turns out, they were placing pieces of food on the railing and letting the birds come down and snatch it. some of them were not too good at it and would sometimes slam on the table or land on the railing and just take handouts. why they thought this was acceptable behavior I don't know. so I walk over to shut this down.
Me= me obviously
SC=mom, father never spoke
SCK1 and 2= her kids
Me: hey guys, I'm going to have to ask you to not feed the birds
SC: why not? no one else is around. (which was true, they were the only ones on the southern part of the deck)
Me: it's just policy and these birds are just not clean ma'am.
SCK1: but they're so cute!
SC: we'll be fine
Me: no ma'am, I don't think you understand. more are going to show up, and if you look up... (I point up)
sure enough, there were about a dozen seagulls flying overhead... over their table... and just incase you don't understand where I am going with this, birds usually don't care where their "business" lands.
SCK2: WOW! look at them all!
SC: oh... oh I see, ok we'll stop.
Me: thank you ma'am. (although I would have laughed if they "bombed" their table just a tiny bit)
they stopped, and because the beach was rather busy, the birds found better pickings quickly and left.
TRAPPED!
after one year of working at the resturaunt I have perfected picking up trapped seagulls. after a rush there is sometimes food left on the deck, so they swoop down and pick it up. some don't stop and just fly off... others though, land, pick it up, and attempt to fly off under the railing... *SLAM!*... shakes head.... *SLAM!*.. shakes head.... *SLAME!* over and over. so I walk over with my towel, corner the poor guy, and throw it over his head and wings to grab around his body and just kind of toss him in the air OVER the railing.
the customers usually get a kick out of seeing me pick one of these bastages up, and some ask me if they could pet them. I have to tell them that they will bite, they are very dirty, and probably don't take kindly to petting. I have been biten many times before, but they are rather weak when it comes to niping, so no bleedings or marks. just me cussing at the bird.
I warned you
Take the same scenario as the first story, but with the deck being completly packed, and these folks not listening to me.
me= me!
SC= mom
SC2= dad
(2 kids never spoke)
after going over and warning them to stop and saying it was effecting the other customers (some birds are landing on peoples tables or hitting their heads with their wings/feet) they continued once I was out of sight.... I wasn't, and saw them start up again.
me: heyyy... I kind of told you not to do that.
SC: oh, sorry, we just had some left overs.
me: I understand that, but you have a dozen birds over the railing, several customers have been hit, and it's only a matter of time before someone gets pooped on (the kids giggle at this)
SC: ok we're sorry, we'll stop.
short time passes and they did stop. mom gets up to go to the bathroom and the dad whispers something to the kids and starts all over again.
Me: ok, seriously, you need to stop, I can't stress this enough.
SC2: we're just having some fun
me: at other peoples expense, please don't feed the birds it will cause more trouble tha....
*suddenly a gull lands on the table in the frantic display of poor planning and ill concept of areodynamics. it flaps around like crazy, so the kids and father panic and get up, causing the table to jump to one side which causes the gull to fall between the table and railing... geting it trapped behind the glass, under a table, and freaking the F out. I then pull the table back and tell them to step back for a moment. I try my best to corner him, but it manages to cause several other tables to scatter and get up... and watch me... one person finally helped corner the guy with a plate so I could toss the towel on him and toss him over the railing.
after a few moments of putting tables back, hearing customers mumble their distaste at their thoughtless neighbors, I wipe off their table and look at the father. somewhere during the chaos the mom came back and was beat red*
me: NOW you see what happens when you feed the birds.
SC2: .... *he just kind of sat down quietly. he may have apologized, but hell if I could hear it over the commotion and his low speaking*
me: right... lets not do that again then.
the server for that section later told me she got a huge tip from them and rows upon rows of apologies from the mother. I was also happy to hear none of the other tables stiffed her on tips (too much) so it wasn't a complete loss.
now take that story, and repeat it about 4 times per-summer, and you'll get my overall bird events every year.
Normally we handle them easily enough. about 20-30 tables are located on our deck that goes the length of the resturaunt, with one bar in the center. the deck has 2 stairs in the center for people to enter, and is surrounded by a waist high railing with glass below it (this part is important). Now when you mix in tourists who never have gulls or don't know how to treat animals when food is around you get messes, disaster, and table dancing birds. here are a few short stories of such events.
Dive bombing birds
it was a normal weekday on the shore when I spot a family of 4 sitting at one of the deck tables. the sun was on the other side of the building so the umbrellas were already taken down, which meant I had to keep an extra eye out for birds. I noticed far more motion going on in this families direction than I should have and went over to investigate
turns out, they were placing pieces of food on the railing and letting the birds come down and snatch it. some of them were not too good at it and would sometimes slam on the table or land on the railing and just take handouts. why they thought this was acceptable behavior I don't know. so I walk over to shut this down.
Me= me obviously
SC=mom, father never spoke
SCK1 and 2= her kids
Me: hey guys, I'm going to have to ask you to not feed the birds
SC: why not? no one else is around. (which was true, they were the only ones on the southern part of the deck)
Me: it's just policy and these birds are just not clean ma'am.
SCK1: but they're so cute!
SC: we'll be fine
Me: no ma'am, I don't think you understand. more are going to show up, and if you look up... (I point up)
sure enough, there were about a dozen seagulls flying overhead... over their table... and just incase you don't understand where I am going with this, birds usually don't care where their "business" lands.
SCK2: WOW! look at them all!
SC: oh... oh I see, ok we'll stop.
Me: thank you ma'am. (although I would have laughed if they "bombed" their table just a tiny bit)
they stopped, and because the beach was rather busy, the birds found better pickings quickly and left.
TRAPPED!
after one year of working at the resturaunt I have perfected picking up trapped seagulls. after a rush there is sometimes food left on the deck, so they swoop down and pick it up. some don't stop and just fly off... others though, land, pick it up, and attempt to fly off under the railing... *SLAM!*... shakes head.... *SLAM!*.. shakes head.... *SLAME!* over and over. so I walk over with my towel, corner the poor guy, and throw it over his head and wings to grab around his body and just kind of toss him in the air OVER the railing.
the customers usually get a kick out of seeing me pick one of these bastages up, and some ask me if they could pet them. I have to tell them that they will bite, they are very dirty, and probably don't take kindly to petting. I have been biten many times before, but they are rather weak when it comes to niping, so no bleedings or marks. just me cussing at the bird.
I warned you
Take the same scenario as the first story, but with the deck being completly packed, and these folks not listening to me.
me= me!
SC= mom
SC2= dad
(2 kids never spoke)
after going over and warning them to stop and saying it was effecting the other customers (some birds are landing on peoples tables or hitting their heads with their wings/feet) they continued once I was out of sight.... I wasn't, and saw them start up again.
me: heyyy... I kind of told you not to do that.
SC: oh, sorry, we just had some left overs.
me: I understand that, but you have a dozen birds over the railing, several customers have been hit, and it's only a matter of time before someone gets pooped on (the kids giggle at this)
SC: ok we're sorry, we'll stop.
short time passes and they did stop. mom gets up to go to the bathroom and the dad whispers something to the kids and starts all over again.
Me: ok, seriously, you need to stop, I can't stress this enough.
SC2: we're just having some fun
me: at other peoples expense, please don't feed the birds it will cause more trouble tha....
*suddenly a gull lands on the table in the frantic display of poor planning and ill concept of areodynamics. it flaps around like crazy, so the kids and father panic and get up, causing the table to jump to one side which causes the gull to fall between the table and railing... geting it trapped behind the glass, under a table, and freaking the F out. I then pull the table back and tell them to step back for a moment. I try my best to corner him, but it manages to cause several other tables to scatter and get up... and watch me... one person finally helped corner the guy with a plate so I could toss the towel on him and toss him over the railing.
after a few moments of putting tables back, hearing customers mumble their distaste at their thoughtless neighbors, I wipe off their table and look at the father. somewhere during the chaos the mom came back and was beat red*
me: NOW you see what happens when you feed the birds.
SC2: .... *he just kind of sat down quietly. he may have apologized, but hell if I could hear it over the commotion and his low speaking*
me: right... lets not do that again then.
the server for that section later told me she got a huge tip from them and rows upon rows of apologies from the mother. I was also happy to hear none of the other tables stiffed her on tips (too much) so it wasn't a complete loss.
now take that story, and repeat it about 4 times per-summer, and you'll get my overall bird events every year.
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