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Well, at the moment I can't remember anymore shore stories, but I assure you there will be more eventually. but on to my third job!
When it came time to say goodbye to Jenkinsons, I wasn't really sad. my super awesome manager left to start her own business and was replaced by a super bitchy server who favored her boyfriend (also a busser) over me, who had 2 years over him and was far better/quicker. knowing my hours were going to be shot down, and knowing that my college life depended on having those hours, I left and found a better place to work.
I moved inland, about 40 minutes inland, to a resturaunt called "the cabin". it was a mostly local joint that my then girlfriend was working at. the moment they heard I worked at jenkinsons they hired me on the spot and gave me the toughest hours. it was great! the crowds came when it rained (unlike my shore job) and everyone was nice... except a few people...
wing blu's
every tuesday they had half off wings. this would be a great deal... but we ended up losing money every tuesday, and tips were ALWAYS terrible... why? because large families of 6 and up would all come in... and just order the wings. thats it. every single person would eat a plate of wings. so their total would end up being 30 bucks, at most, for so many people, and they wouldn't give us a larger tip. normally, when I get a big deal, I tip more because I have more, and know they gave me just the same service if it was normal price. but they don't.
every week... the same thing and same families would show up. I had a theory that they had the deals for every resturaunt for every day. so every night they would eat only one special meal for half off somewhere in town... and tuesdays were cabin nights. ugh.
nothing says good morning like a tall glass of drunk
We opened fairly early for a local resturaunt in the middle of no where, around 9am. most of the places nearby only opened at 11 or later. but we would still have the people who come in and drink all day show up at 8... even though the bar doesn't open until 12... here's a fun back and forth I had with an old hick jerk.
Me: meee
SC: old jerk
the old guy walks in when we are closed, so they tell him he can have a seat and be waited on when we are ready. he doesn't argue and goes into the resturaunt... and sits at the bar. so I clean up a section next to him and set it up early just for him...
Me: hiya, I just cleaned this area so you can take a seat if you want.
SC: no I'm fine here, I just want a beer.
Me: (at a quarter to 9?....) uh, well you're going to be waiting there for a while then, the bar doesn't open until 12
SC: what!? then why did they have me sit down!?
Me: well I think they meant for you to sit at a table... I don't think they expect you to go to the bar.
SC: thats just stupid! why would they assume that?
Me: because it's not even 9am yet...
SC: so?
Me: and you want a beer?
SC: what are you assuming!? are you calling me a drunk?
Me: no, we just normally don't get people coming in this early for drinks. we can serve you soda and juice, but we can't serve anything alcoholic until 12
SC: this is bullshit! (and he storms out)
a co-worker came up to me and told me he comes in every week or so expecting to get drinks at 9am, but they all learned to just let him in, let him sit there, and he just leaves in a huff. and of course, I see him one week later and ignore him... and he leaves... in a huff.
if you can't stand the heat, clean up you're own tables!
I loved almost all of my co-workers... except one... she was the worst server in our resturaunt. she would get orders wrong, but blame the kitchen. she would be slow, and... blame the kitchen. she would leave her tables a mess... expecting me to do everything... as a busser, I am suppose to clear tables when people leave. My job is not to clear them when people are still there, the manager made sure that was clear to me. it was the servers job to do that, and I helped if I had the time. but since we were busy most nights, they want empty tables to have priority, and have servers just worry about their sections... this server thought otherwise.
this one night she asked me to clear some of her tables. I go over and asked who was done. only 2 people were done, out of 8, and I took the plates. I was very busy, but she asked nicely and I did it. after that I needed to take care of other tables that cleared out... 4 at the same time! ack! so when I was done with them I quickly went into the plate station and drank some water as I leaned on our counter for a couple seconds... in she comes, red in the face.
Me: meee
LW: lame worker
LW: what are you doing!? everytime I come in here you're just standing there!
Me: what? I just got here and this is the first time I was able to stop in the past 2 hours.
LW: don't lie to me! I have tables that need to be cleared and I asked you to clear them, and you didn't!
Me: yes I did! only two people were done.
LW: well their table is a mess! CLEAN IT UP!
I was pissed... and the people were still there and 2 tables just emptied. I knew my job, but I needed to make sure I was in the right, so I went to the floor manager and asked. she told me she was full of shit, and to ignore her, but if I wanted, I could tell her off. so... I went for the latter. I knew she would push me around if I didn't stand up right now. so I walked into the station area just before she walked out
Me: Listen! clearing EMPTY tables is my job, clearing OCCUPIED tables is your job! I do it when I have time! but empty tables is priority so YOU can make more money! I have been doing nothing but running around like crazy, clearing tables, filling the ice bucket and clearing the bus buckets, that I have to remind you are in the worst possible place to be cleared, every 15 minutes! if you can't handle your 5 tables then you shouldn't be working on a saturday! so don't go yelling at me all because you can't handle YOUR job!
She was shocked anyone would yell at her. the station is cut off enough that no customers heard over their own loud voices and she was red in the face. she was so mad she couldn't think of what to say, and I had 2 tables to clear so I went off to do my job.
She later tried to complain to the floor manager, but she just told her I was completly right, that she had nothing to stand on, and was getting a warning for not keeping up with her tables. a week later she yelled at the manager and got suspended for a week. I went to school for 2 semesters, came back for the summer, and found out she was fired for yelling and pushing one of the young bussers.... what a bee to the itch.
When it came time to say goodbye to Jenkinsons, I wasn't really sad. my super awesome manager left to start her own business and was replaced by a super bitchy server who favored her boyfriend (also a busser) over me, who had 2 years over him and was far better/quicker. knowing my hours were going to be shot down, and knowing that my college life depended on having those hours, I left and found a better place to work.
I moved inland, about 40 minutes inland, to a resturaunt called "the cabin". it was a mostly local joint that my then girlfriend was working at. the moment they heard I worked at jenkinsons they hired me on the spot and gave me the toughest hours. it was great! the crowds came when it rained (unlike my shore job) and everyone was nice... except a few people...
wing blu's
every tuesday they had half off wings. this would be a great deal... but we ended up losing money every tuesday, and tips were ALWAYS terrible... why? because large families of 6 and up would all come in... and just order the wings. thats it. every single person would eat a plate of wings. so their total would end up being 30 bucks, at most, for so many people, and they wouldn't give us a larger tip. normally, when I get a big deal, I tip more because I have more, and know they gave me just the same service if it was normal price. but they don't.
every week... the same thing and same families would show up. I had a theory that they had the deals for every resturaunt for every day. so every night they would eat only one special meal for half off somewhere in town... and tuesdays were cabin nights. ugh.
nothing says good morning like a tall glass of drunk
We opened fairly early for a local resturaunt in the middle of no where, around 9am. most of the places nearby only opened at 11 or later. but we would still have the people who come in and drink all day show up at 8... even though the bar doesn't open until 12... here's a fun back and forth I had with an old hick jerk.
Me: meee
SC: old jerk
the old guy walks in when we are closed, so they tell him he can have a seat and be waited on when we are ready. he doesn't argue and goes into the resturaunt... and sits at the bar. so I clean up a section next to him and set it up early just for him...
Me: hiya, I just cleaned this area so you can take a seat if you want.
SC: no I'm fine here, I just want a beer.
Me: (at a quarter to 9?....) uh, well you're going to be waiting there for a while then, the bar doesn't open until 12
SC: what!? then why did they have me sit down!?
Me: well I think they meant for you to sit at a table... I don't think they expect you to go to the bar.
SC: thats just stupid! why would they assume that?
Me: because it's not even 9am yet...
SC: so?
Me: and you want a beer?
SC: what are you assuming!? are you calling me a drunk?
Me: no, we just normally don't get people coming in this early for drinks. we can serve you soda and juice, but we can't serve anything alcoholic until 12
SC: this is bullshit! (and he storms out)
a co-worker came up to me and told me he comes in every week or so expecting to get drinks at 9am, but they all learned to just let him in, let him sit there, and he just leaves in a huff. and of course, I see him one week later and ignore him... and he leaves... in a huff.
if you can't stand the heat, clean up you're own tables!
I loved almost all of my co-workers... except one... she was the worst server in our resturaunt. she would get orders wrong, but blame the kitchen. she would be slow, and... blame the kitchen. she would leave her tables a mess... expecting me to do everything... as a busser, I am suppose to clear tables when people leave. My job is not to clear them when people are still there, the manager made sure that was clear to me. it was the servers job to do that, and I helped if I had the time. but since we were busy most nights, they want empty tables to have priority, and have servers just worry about their sections... this server thought otherwise.
this one night she asked me to clear some of her tables. I go over and asked who was done. only 2 people were done, out of 8, and I took the plates. I was very busy, but she asked nicely and I did it. after that I needed to take care of other tables that cleared out... 4 at the same time! ack! so when I was done with them I quickly went into the plate station and drank some water as I leaned on our counter for a couple seconds... in she comes, red in the face.
Me: meee
LW: lame worker
LW: what are you doing!? everytime I come in here you're just standing there!
Me: what? I just got here and this is the first time I was able to stop in the past 2 hours.
LW: don't lie to me! I have tables that need to be cleared and I asked you to clear them, and you didn't!
Me: yes I did! only two people were done.
LW: well their table is a mess! CLEAN IT UP!
I was pissed... and the people were still there and 2 tables just emptied. I knew my job, but I needed to make sure I was in the right, so I went to the floor manager and asked. she told me she was full of shit, and to ignore her, but if I wanted, I could tell her off. so... I went for the latter. I knew she would push me around if I didn't stand up right now. so I walked into the station area just before she walked out
Me: Listen! clearing EMPTY tables is my job, clearing OCCUPIED tables is your job! I do it when I have time! but empty tables is priority so YOU can make more money! I have been doing nothing but running around like crazy, clearing tables, filling the ice bucket and clearing the bus buckets, that I have to remind you are in the worst possible place to be cleared, every 15 minutes! if you can't handle your 5 tables then you shouldn't be working on a saturday! so don't go yelling at me all because you can't handle YOUR job!
She was shocked anyone would yell at her. the station is cut off enough that no customers heard over their own loud voices and she was red in the face. she was so mad she couldn't think of what to say, and I had 2 tables to clear so I went off to do my job.
She later tried to complain to the floor manager, but she just told her I was completly right, that she had nothing to stand on, and was getting a warning for not keeping up with her tables. a week later she yelled at the manager and got suspended for a week. I went to school for 2 semesters, came back for the summer, and found out she was fired for yelling and pushing one of the young bussers.... what a bee to the itch.