Full Moon

Remind me to request full moon shifts off from here on out.

Saturday, January 29, 2011 will be remembered as one of my worst shifts yet. And I don't even know how I lost control of it. Oh wait. I never HAD control. I blame the full moon.

Incident #1: Table 31 translating the menu to each other WHILE I'm standing there waiting for them to order. If you're not ready, I can come back! They were pretty low maintenance otherwise until their Family Style Linguini & Clams dropped all over the kitchen floor (not by me) causing them to wait way too long for their food. I was lucky they didn't complain, but I wasn't getting more than 10-15% even if the service had been perfect.

Incident #2: Table 1 (Old Lady) drops her purse under her booth and asks for a flashlight to find its contents. Ugh. We don't have flashlights, so I run around for 5 minutes asking everyone, and end up with a mini on some server's key chain. She's shocked at how long it took me, and then asks me if she can get Veal Parmesan as her "Tomorrow" pasta for our buy one, get one free deal. NO. It's a free pasta, lady! You take what I give you....and you like it!


Incident #3: Happening simultaneously to Incident #2, I run to the back room looking for a flashlight and stumble into what looks like a murder scene. A woman has tripped on the messed up floor panel and cut her leg open. And is bleeding all over the floor. While the back room is full of guests trying to eat. And our manager is piling cloths napkins over the pool of blood. Kudos to him for not puking or passing out. Good luck to Brinker on that lawsuit.

Incident #4: I get an order for salmon, parmesan-crusted like our tilapia. I put "See Server" into the computer, and go write it on the ticket because it's crazy back there. Eight minutes later it's still not out, so I check with Hottie Chef #2, who he hasn't even made it because I wrote it in without talking to him first. UGH. Cut to the end of the meal when the woman who ordered it asked to see my manager to, "say something nice about me" and ended up with a free meal and dessert.

Incident #5: Table 41, party of 6, orders three of our buy one, get one pastas to share. Awesome. But to make it even better, one of the couples will be sharing Gluten-free pasta. Ok, I can do that. When it comes out, they complain about the portion size being smaller than usual. I explain that we changed our portion sizes some time ago, and maybe they haven't been since. I also note that I'd be happy to put in a second order, that could be ready in just a couple minutes. The man insists I'm "wrong," because obviously I have every reason to lie (nope) and I immediately get a manager involved. Even after getting them a second dish, and two take home Gluten-free pastas for free specially made for them, you can guess the kind of tip I received.

Thank goodness for Table 3, a mid-thirties couple who calmly sipped on glasses of wine and shared an entrée. When I asked if they'd like one more glass and dessert, they skipped the dessert but opted for another glass because they were heading to meet with old college friends they hadn't seen since. Because they were the easiest/most pleasant table I had all night, I rang in some free lemon cookies and gave it to them with the wine. I told them the cookies were on me, because I knew they were in for an interesting night. She left me $25 on $60.

If only that $25 had helped me sleep better that night.