My eyes are up here.

Just when I thought I wore the least sexy uniform possible, I served 26 members of a high school boys' basketball team.

Hellooooooo, hormones!

We set up two tables of 13 in the restaurant during our slowest time of the afternoon, and fed this army of teenagers:
SIX large plates of fried mozzarella
SIX large plates of fried calamari
EIGHT large bowls of salad
FIVE large bowls of spaghetti and meatballs
FIVE large bowls of Rigatoni D
....and who knows how many pitchers of water I poured!

Me: "Hey guys, how are you??"

13 boys staring at my chest: "Good."

Me: "Who are you playing tonight??"

13 AWKWARD boys staring at my chest: "Why don't you guys wear name tags?"

Me: "We don't need to! I'm Lindsay!"

13 AWKWARD boys with raging hormones: "Hiiiiiii Lindsay!"

Hehehe. That was fun.

Oh hi, Finn. I love you.

"It's like seeing a dog walk on its hind legs!"

Gotta love a good "Mean Girls" quote...

The oddest part about having work friends in a restaurant is that we wear uniforms 90% of the time we see each other. The idea of my co-workers seeing me with my hair down, and in real clothes reminds me of a Catholic schoolgirl bringing a change of clothes from home...

Last night I went to a benefit concert for one of Bloggiano's most beloved bartenders, Chris, who passed away on New Year's Eve. I never brought it up on the blog because I want to respect his family's privacy. Chris was one of my favorite co-workers, even though I only knew him three months. I found out two months into my time there, that he suffered from Crohn's Disease and was struggling to pay for his treatments. But you'd NEVER know Chris was sick. He had a smile for me every morning, and always asked how my day was going.

Of course, Chris wasn't only a bartender. He was an immensely talented musician and actor, as well. He could do an impersonation of ANYONE working at Bloggiano's. He really cracked me up! I know he touched so many lives, in the work place and his personal life, so of course I wanted to support his family and attend the benefit concert to help them pay for his funeral costs.

Anyway, on a lighter note (that Chris would absolutely demand) I got to see a lot of my co-workers outside their Catholic school uniforms at the concert. Ohhhh she's a lot thinner than I realized! He's a horrible dresser! She's a hipster?? He's not as hot in real life...

One of my girl friends noticed my first work crush staring at me every chance he got. She thought, "Wow! I think he's work crushing on you now!" 

I replied, "No. He's just realizing I have boobs."

Today, I'll put the uniform back on. 

Happy Work Weekend, Readers! 

Chris, you are LOVED.

That's just creepy.

I heard a rumor (Oh, how I LOVE work rumors) that one of the girls from my training class had a crush on one of the dinner servers. Apparently he told her she looks like Lucy Liu, and now she's smitten. I ALSO heard he'd flirt with a cardboard box.

I had a weird encounter with him during my dinner training. He came up to me to introduce himself and said, "You're the girl who sent a message out about Hanukkah."

Oh, yeah. I needed the day off to celebrate with my family.

End of conversation. 

I brushed it off until my most recent interaction with him on another dinner shift. I was eating on my break and after 10 minutes of not speaking to me (but sitting next to me) he asked,
"So do you speak Hebrew?"

Shortly after, he told me he loved me...in Hebrew.

Next awkward moment happened while sitting across the table from him on a different shift break. After another 10 minutes of not speaking he asked,
"Do you want to have kids?"

That's just creepy. This guy needs to learn to lead into his conversations. But now I definitely get what everyone was talking about. He must like to have a LOT of  "Work Flirts."

Digits

After another shift of banter, Work Flirt asked me for my phone number.

Noooo....

I just want to flirt...

...at work.

"Work Flirt"

So I've been inspired by the FX show, "The League" to get a new term going: The Work Flirt.
On an episode I was watching, one of the characters (who is a lawyer) tells his friends he uses his "work flirt" to get ahead in the courtroom (she's a judge) while also keeping his ability to flirt in tact, as he is married. Here's a little video clip:
The League's "Work Flirt"

I think it's common knowledge that co-workers in the restaurant world hook up. One of my managers just had his baby shower AT Bloggiano's....Thing is, he's having a baby with a girl who previously worked at the restaurant. Surprise! It's a Girl!!!

I, myself, have learned the hard way that you should NEVER sh*t where you eat....or um...serve. I "dated" a guy I worked with at Mama D's which resulted in us yelling at each other or ignoring each other for entire shifts. And as soon as I left, he started dating another girl who worked with us. They got engaged last weekend. Awkward.

But naturally in a social setting like a restaurant, where personalities are how we make our cash, flirtation happens. Today I shared a section with a guy we will simply name, "Work Flirt," from now on. It starts exactly the way any schoolyard romance flourishes....with name calling. I call him disgusting and lazy. He says he'd have to drink in order to even look at my face. By the end of the day, we're planning trips to Disneyland and Vegas. I guess I'll be keeping my flirt muscles strong at Bloggiano's, but there will be NO dating this time.
No way.