Half Days and Scalding Hot Tea

So, as you all can surely see, I haven't stayed on top of updating the blog this week. I've been working on a project in all my downtime, so I figured I'd just do a roundup of the week to cover all the interesting things. I might not remember what they all are, but I most certainly remember a handful!

I served a young couple with a baby earlier this week and at some point I realized that everyone was making a huge fuss over the baby....except me. The manager/cashier came over to look at him, other customers /got up/ from their tables to come coo too, but I just went about my duties as if the infantile human wasn't even there. I couldn't even consciously make myself acknowledge or be interested in this baby--I /tried/ and I couldn't. No worries--I don't plan on having children, though I actually manage to look after them pretty decently. But I can't help but wonder what's up with that. Why don't I see this magic in children that everyone else seems to be enchanted by? I guess I see it in the few that are actually a part of my life, but not every baby that's carried by.

There's been a lot of changes with staff going on this week--one busboy was fired, a new one was hired, and one server has just stopped showing up. Boy will the server that's away be surprised when she comes back on Monday.

Get this! Yesterday--meaning Thursday--I served a couple at the sushi bar who seemed to be having a rather stressful conversation. They stayed for quite a while--it took them like half an hour to sit down and after they stopped eating I stopped by every fifteen minutes or so for a while to see if they were finishing up...they weren't. So one of the other servers started eavesdropping, and the lady was insisting she wanted a divorce! Eventually she told me I better go take the check because the guy had stormed off! Fortunately, he only stormed off to the [alcohol] bar, and he came back after I delivered the check to the sushi bar. I think they decided they were going to try to work things out, but who knows...

Today ended up being really hectic because schools let out early. We do not have the kind of staff on hand at lunch to handle as many people as came in today--we even had to open a table that usually is only used during Sunday brunch! And a few things happened today that only made the shift all the more stressful--I nearly had an asthma attack or something. I was walking to my first table with a drink refill when, all of a sudden, I was overcome with the need to cough and I couldn't breath. I ran to the back of the restaurant--near the bathrooms, and coughed and wheezed and coughed and wheezed, eyes watering and face red. It sucked. I've still not been quite right all day after that. Scared the other server that was on shift, too. Shortly after that, I spilled scalding hot ocha (green tea) down my side while delivering it to my second table. Fortunately I had the kind of shirt that dries fairly quickly...unfortunately, it's also the kind of shirt that becomes quite transparent when wet. Fortunately--somehow--the tea seemed to bypass most of the fabric and hit my skin directly. It stung for quite a while, but I don't have a burn. Later on I delivered soup, sushi, and salad to a table before they told me that I hadn't even brought them their drinks yet! I felt awful. Aside from that, though, nothing really went terribly wrong--it was just a lot of rushing around and struggling to keep up with things, which all the customers could see and, thankfully, seemed to understand. They were all absolutely awesome and I really appreciated it! And I made almost $40! That's like brunch money right there, so I can't complain!

So yeah. I work tomorrow, obviously. Supposedly Halloween is always dead, but we'll see. I wish I could wear a costume...I'd go in my Shouta Shimon outfit (though I wouldn't want to get it dirty). It sucks. Halloween is the only holiday I actually like and I've done nothing for it the past couple of years. I guess it's becoming meaningless to me, too, now. But I'll leave it at that. I've got more work to do and I've killed my hands enough with all this typing. I might update tomorrow, I might not. Guess you'll have to wait and see! Thanks for reading!

Exhausted

So I've spent the past few days internally moaning and griping about not wanting to go to work, which is a completely new phenomenon for me--I've never felt that before. I don't think feeling it now is due to hating the job--I'm perfectly fine once I get there--but rather the result of not feeling it's getting me where I want to be. I'm not saving nearly enough money, especially considering how many hours I do spend at work a week. That's a problem because I'm not happy where I am in life right now and I have no intentions of staying here. But I've got that terrible, nagging feeling of being obligated to stay here right now, for whatever reason. And I definitely don't like that.

That aside, I'm sure I'll sleep well after work tonight because I've barely slept the last two nights...and I'll probably get very little sleep during this coming week. I used my day off to work on a project--two and a half hours away--and I have to finish it this week.

/That/ aside, comments are broken! A good friend and follower pointed this out to me and I've been too busy to fix it so far. Hopefully I can land some freelance gigs very soon and get back to doing what I actually like doing...writing, drawing, and animating. Well...time to eat some food before I head off to serve some in a couple of hours!

Sick Server

Alright...so I haven't really been updating the way I should these past couple of days, but both work and other things--mainly seeking other work--have been keeping me pretty busy. But I'm not going to dish out any boring recaps, describe makanai, or give tip reports on the missed shifts. I'm going to talk about something that's been bugging me during the past couple of days.

As I mentioned in a previous post--I am sick. Not debilitatingly so, but I've got a cough and I'm congested with germ-riddled mucous. And you can hear it in my voice. Now, common sense (and food health and safety training) warrant that a sick server shouldn't work at all! Obviously my body is full enough of some sort of bacteria or virus that I'm having a symptomatic immune response--no matter how many times I wash my hands, bringing people things that they're going to consume is putting them at risk.

This bothers me. I'm not looking for an excuse to miss work--I need the money, after all. I don't want to make anyone sick, /especially/ customers. And what bothers me more is that my bosses don't seem to care. If I were running a restaurant I would not allow anyone who was sick to work. Period. I don't care if that means having to cover to slack myself! I don't understand how they can freak out about staff eating leftover food because of the possibility of catching something and passing it on, but they allow (and, from what I've heard, force) staff that is obviously sick to keep working!

What makes it worse is that it's flu season and H1N1 has already spread rapidly in this area. I don't have it, but it seems having anyone with a compromised immune system on shift is a bad idea. Almost everyone knows someone who has H1N1 around here, so the virus is definitely making the rounds.

I'm keeping myself loaded up on vitamin C to try to get over this, and I really don't think it's doing anything but slowing the progression down. At work I'm drinking tea, keeping cough drops on me, and washing my hands even more often than usual. Perhaps I should be more selfish in how I'm looking at this--at least I'm still able to make money, right? Right?! :: sighs :: Time to go serve food and, hopefully, not make anyone sick.

Sick and Tired

Literally. I'm sick. Just barely. I've had a sore throat and sinus drainage since Friday. You would think that would mean that I've been off work, which would explain the lack of updates. Hahaha...no. I'm not off work. I've been working and they actually tried to call me in yesterday despite the fact that I told them I was sick. Considering the fact that they're so concerned with us picking up something from customers and passing it on to others, you'd think they'd be more concerned about servers actually /being/ sick. But from what everyone has told me they still make you work. Fortunately I haven't really been coughing or sneezing or anything, but that doesn't mean I haven't been contagious.

So let me try to catch up....I did work a double on Friday. Friday dinner was...um...I don't really remember. Saturday dinner was slow, but my pace got totally thrown off due to the fact that...um...I had a table with a lady who was waiting for the rest of her party and it took them like an hour to get there...by which time I had another table. So they all ended up ordering at almost the same time, and that is the /worst/ thing that can happen, because they're all needing the same things at just about the same time. And, of course, I had another table come in close to it being time for them to leave, so I ended up with three tables at once despite the fact that it was a slow night. I didn't screw up too terribly, but I /did/ make mistakes. It can be difficult to split one's attention between nineteen people spread across three tables. Oh, /that's/ right! On Friday night I had a party of fifteen!

I go back in for dinner tonight. Ngh...I'm getting a little bit sick of dinner shifts because they tend to creep by. And we all know what Monday means...I get almost no tables. So I expect a long, slow, boring night. Well, I've got some stuff to try to do before then, so I'm going to go now!

Sushi Betrayal, Haha

So I've not updated for the past couple of days--been pretty busy, but having a blast! Ate at two completely unrelated Wasabi restaurants in the past two days and both were great! I can't even remember everything we got...California Roll, of course, salmon Skin Roll, and Spicy Tuna Roll at the first one. At the second one we got Squid Salad, Edamame, Dynamite Roll, and Wasabi Roll. All fantastic stuff!

It's interesting seeing what a different experience it is eating at different places, especially considering the fact that these restaurants either didn't seem to have or simply just didn't reek of hibachi. The more you try different places the more you realize just how different menus, cooking style, presentation, and everything else really differ.
I've quite enjoyed it!

Late Update and I'm Not Working!

Wow--really sorry for just completely ignoring the past couple of days, but I've been really busy with both work and things outside of work. And now...I'm off. So I'm going to try to do that whole creative musing thing I've been talking about. Yeah...creative musings and intellectual analysis. Hopefully that will not only keep me in the habit of updating, but it will make things more interesting!

As far as yesterday went, I worked a double and ended up making out better at lunch than at dinner--so surprise there. It was a Tuesday after all. I feel like I say stuff like that a lot and it's kind of bugging me. Anyhow, work was fairly uneventful. Everything flowed pretty well. There were a couple of spurts of time when a lot of people showed up all at once, but it was never anything unmanageable, so that was cool. I bid one of the first families that I actually served and talked with farewell as it's time for them to move as they'd mentioned to me before. I'm sad I only got to see them twice, but at least I did get to see them twice!

Makanai was awesome /twice/ yesterday, too. The main sushi chef was off becuase the one that usually relieves him once a week was in Japan and just got back Monday night, so he came in Tuesday instead of Monday. Sushi for lunch and a tasty bowl of raw yumminess for dinner! /And/ I got some sushi rice to take home.

The last couple of days have been unbelievably slow, but I guess I'll be getting a break from the monotony...Oh! The newest server quit already, so I wonder if there will be another new person there when I get back. And forgive me--I know my min dis kind of all over the place, but I'm running off of very little sleep! Maybe eight hours total for the past three days? I guess I should be thankful for having had at least that much.

Well I've got some other things to do so I'm going to leave this as is. Good day all! Look for something intersting soon!

Another Pitiful Monday

So I've come to the conclusion that Mondays are the bane of my work existence. Why is this? Well for one I never make any money, not even when we have fewer people working than usual. I didn't even hit seventeen dollars. Nothing eventful happened at all. I was denied an adequate number of tables for absolutely no reason. I was told I did one thing wrong, though I was doing what the customer asked me to do (not taking her soups, which I asked if she was finished with multiple times).

It's late and I don't want to really talk about tonight, I just felt this overwhelming obligation to update so...yeah. Slow shifts suck. And when they fall on Mondays they suck twice.

My Tongue Hurts

I don't feel like blogging tonight. That's just how it is. It sucked anyhow--as far as making money goes, at least. Only made $25...two dollars more than lunch. And I kept getting the tiny tables. Lame. And I burned the crap out of my tongue on a tempura fried sushi roll. There goes half my sense of taste for the next few days.

What a Night

Here I am updating in an untimely fashion yet again. This Wednesday was kind of a coin toss. Wednesdays tend to be busy, but the end of the month tends to be slow. We had four servers, two chefs, and one busboy on tonight, and the only number we got right was for servers. We had a number of large parties come in, including one of eighteen that was celebrating the sixteenth birthday of a cancer surviving girl (awesome story in its own right there). I got a ten person table that was also celebrating a birthday. In addition to that there were at least one or two other birthdays tonight.

The night started off slow. We all were bored and thought it was going to stay slow. As soon as we got the call in for the party of eighteen the pace picked up and stayed up. That girl was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago and wanted to go to Koko's for her last birthday. Well as it turns out, she survived. And so she comes back on her birthday. The owners went a bought her a card and we all signed it and one of them even cried after we sang to her and whatnot. It was pretty awesome.

At the same time I had a birthday at my table and a few smaller tables coming and going. My table was completely awesome even though I burned some menus on the teppan table while taking their order! There were ten adults, five checks, five shares, and a number of alcoholic beverages. I managed to keep everything in order and when they left they all thanked me profusely and told me I'd done a wonderful job. I, of course, thanked them as well and told them how awesome they'd been. It was absolutely lovely.

There was a bit of time when the smaller tables had quite a wait due to the fact that there were larger tables being cooked for right before them, but the pace leveled back out after that and the one table I did have during that time period was totally cool. Closing proceeded smoothly after that and I ate makanai from lunch today that tasted absolutely amazing! It was a rice and chicken soup dish and I brought some home. It was /so/ good! And I ended up using all my checks and making close to twenty-nine dollars.

So I guess that's it. I work a double tomorrow, so I need to get some sleep already! Good night!

Shameful

So I made the worst mistake of them all today, and I suppose I'm going to immortalize my shame over the event by sharing it here. I threw away someone's food!

He ordered a lot of sushi (and I had been told beforehand what a great customer he was) and couldn't finish it, so he told me he was done and when I asked if he wanted me to take it he said yes. I asked him if he was sure and he said yes again. I took it into the back and set it down--which is a story in itself--and when I brought their checks him and his friends asked me where it was. I told him it had been thrown out. He thought I was taking it to box it up?! We don't do that! We bring boxes to customers! He didn't ask me to box it up, he said he was done, so I assumed he meant just that. Well I felt completely awful so I tried to pay him back for at least half of it and he wouldn't let me. As it turns out, he left me a better tip than his friends did (and they ordered more sushi). He was very easy-going and our sushi chef said he would hook him up next time.

So--regarding the other half of the story--when untouched sushi is to be thrown out...staff often set it aside to eat. Well one of the owners caught someone doing this today and she went off about how if the Health Department knew about that they would be shut down. Apparently something about customers possibly being sick and then passing it on to us through their food and then us passing it on to someone else and so on and so forth. But honestly...I think the thick, hot, greasy air, cockroaches running a muck, trash bags that have been emptied but not changed for months, dirty toilets, dishes, sticky floors, and a number of other things should be more cause for concern than staff eating leftover sushi. But what do I know?

Worked with the new server again tonight. Things were already slow as Tuesdays tend to be, so there being four of us on shift only meant less money for everyone. Yay. She doesn't think she's going to work there for long, though. Being a bartender, she's used to making in a couple of days what we make in a couple of weeks and she finds the tip sharing policy appalling.

I also met a chef who used to work there and I guess is just starting back for a couple of days each week. He's cool. He asked me if I play basketball. I get that a lot--comments about looking athletic and especially like a basketball player. I was raised playing, though, so I guess it makes sense.

In other news, I'm absolutely adoring the weather today. It wasn't humid, it was sunny but not too hot, and this and last night it has actually been cool! I just want to be outside constantly! And I don't work until tomorrow evening, so hopefully the weather will stay nice and I'll get to enjoy it a bit. That's all for now. Oh! And I made $22 even in tips. Lame. Good night, everyone!

New Server

I've been getting really bad about updating and I think the posts are getting way too boring (or maybe they always were boring). A new server started working last night. She's nice and seems very proactive. Of course she was being trained last night so she didn't get to do much herself, but I do believe she did more than I did on my first night (which was a crazy Saturday). She asks lots of questions and wants to get things done--good qualities!

Last night--being a Monday--was fairly slow, but it seems that the one older cashier who works once a week still doesn't think I know how to do anything. She doesn't like giving me tables and at the end of the night she asked me if I was okay...if it was too many people or not. It was a Monday night--of course I was okay! I know she is just looking out for me. She wants to make sure I'm doing everything properly and am capable of doing everything properly which is good, but she's doing so from the point of view of someone who has only seen me work like four times when I've worked almost every single day since I was hired. I was hoping that the attention would be off of me since there was someone new working, but that wasn't the case and I still felt very self-conscious and uneasy last night. I think that's the one thing I don't like about Mondays.

Despite the fact that it was slow and I barely got any tables I /did/ get the Shirley Temple family, and they tip awesome, so I made almost $30. I've got to work a double today so I'd better start getting ready. I think I'm actually glad I work a double. Keeps me busy and gives me less time to think, which is exactly what I need right now.

There Goes My Day Off!

Well it's been a few days since I've updated--things have been a little crazy. Apparently everyone forgot the rules--Wednesdays are fast, Thursdays are slow. Thursday was crazy. I ended up working an unscheduled double for which only half of us showed up for. And we didn't make nearly enough money for it to be worth the trouble. I committed yet another mischarge and, for some reason, I've been really distracted at work and easily forgetting about the tables I have. That's bad.

Friday morning was a drastic improvement over Thursday and to make up for the less than great tips I've been getting...I'm working my first brunch tomorrow! So no day off, but I'm looking forward to the shift! That being said I'm going to keep it short and try to get back on track tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

Ramp It Up!

This evening tried to trick us! It started off all slow and after a while we expected it might stay that way. Then everyone decided to flood in! Nah--it wasn't too busy, but it was on the upper steady end of things. Everyone I helped was really nice and there was a birthday amongst a family that I had served before! They were so awesome--they shared their cake with me! And I shared it with the other servers, haha. I came out of the night with $35 which I used to buy stuff for my mom's birthday--Happy Birthday, Mom!--and I made like...$15ish this afternoon I think.

I broke down and ate makanai again tonight...it was fried rice. I hope I don't regret it. And the soup has smelled weird the past few days...it tastes different, too. And I wonder why I'm almost always last to finish all my chores...

I might be dining at work tomorrow and I only work dinner, so there will be at least one update!

A Smooth Night

Well tonight was a steady, slowish continuation of lunch. Nothing really interesting happened. I work a double tomorrow so I don't really feel like blogging now...I made twenty-something dollars in tips. Went through all my checks. Good night!

Where'd the Weekend Go?

Oh, that's right--mine only consists of one day off. Oh wait...I used that day to move all my stuff from my school house back home... Hence the lack of update yesterday. I'm sure you all were just /dying/ to hear about all my screw-ups for the past week, but you'll just have to go without.

Today got off to a really awesome start. My first table was a mother and daughter who had never eaten before--they were both beautiful and incredibly sweet (names excluded to protect the identities of the awesome). The mother welcomed conversation--she told us about the guy who apparently decapitated that robber with a samurai sword, which prompted us finding out that one of our co-workers' old neighbors back when she was a kid overseas killed his neighbor over having an affair with his wife--and seemed very happy with the service and the experience and her daughter was an absolute cutie pie--she gave me a hug when they left! They promised to come see me again and said they're going to tell all their friends. That absolutely made my night and no matter what happened after that, nothing was going to kill my mood.

Fortunately, nothing bad happened. All my parties were at the very least polite and most of them were downright awesome. I'm pretty sure a couple were trying to slip me tips to pocket, but I was being watched like a hawk by tonight's cashier and...well...I don't want to break the rules, even if they had already tipped the chef.

And even though I said I'm going to try to stop, I ate makanai tonight! It was chicken with vegetables and it was so good! On top of that we were given raw fish! And on top of that my mom wanted me to buy sushi /and/ they gave me sushi rice with it! How I managed to not stuff myself is beyond me.

That being said, I made like...twenty-three dollars tonight, so I can't complain. Mondays are slow. I'm just happy I got to serve some awesome people and I didn't do anything to get yelled at for. I was the last server out the door tonight--since I had the last table it took me a lot longer to finish my chores. I think the exterminators came tonight, too. That was interesting--they put plastic all over everything and then sprayed everywhere. I didn't think they could do that sort of thing while people are there, but maybe that's why they came in while we were closing. They again, I just assume they were exterminators. I don't really know.

That's all for tonight! I work in the morning, so I'll update tomorrow...at some point...

Not Much to Say

So tonight was off to a slow start. Didn't have anyone come in until an hour after we opened. I went through seven checks distributed across three tables and a sushi bar couple. Today was pretty anti-climactic. Really not much to talk about--I got my check today. Worked over seventy hours and made a little more than $250 after taxes and lovely things were taken out. I'm going to keep tonight short because it was really quite eventless and I have to get up early tomorrow. My day off will be spent moving the rest of my belongings from my previous dwelling to my current one. So yeah. My head kind of hurts and my neck has been killing me, but I'm not going to blame work on that.

Ah--apparently it's a good thing I didn't work last night, though--people got yelled at. And, as it turns out, the free kid's meals are still causing problems.

And the Pace Slowed to a Crawl

Wow. I cannot believe how slow tonight was. We spent the first hour and a half sitting around eating candy until a party finally showed up. I only had two or three parties the entire night. One of the servers only had one and he made like two dollars and some change in tips!

Needless to say, nothing interesting happened. We closed early. We finished closing procedures quickly. Makanai was awesome! Fried rice! A special, beef-free bowl was made for me again. Oh--I remembered that I screwed something up with one party. They wanted miso soup for the little girl and I accidentally gave them all clear soup. I didn't realize it until well after they had left. Why is it that I always feel extreme guilt in situations like that? It sucks.

Anyhow, I made like ten dollars in tips--the most anyone made was thirteen. I work in the morning, so I'm going to keep this short. Good night, all!

Tonight Kinda Sucked

Something about the atmosphere was just no good tonight. Most of my parties weren't very pleasant, which I can deal with, but there was an incident with one of my tables that really agitated me.

The rules for the free kids' meals are all weird and kind of annoying everyone because it makes getting the checks right more complicated. When the promotion was first started we were told it couldn't be combined with a share. When it was changed we were told they also had to order sushi with each adult meal to qualify. Well today not only did they decide to let someone do an appetizer instead of sushi but they told me that I had the rule about the share completely wrong. So after taking a few minutes to explain it...I still don't understand it.

The family left really pissed, apparently (I'll bet anything it was just the mom--she was the only rude one all night, going on about nothing good happening on her apparent birthday and nothing being free), and were caught before leaving to be given a gift certificate for my supposed mistake. Keep in mind that I had my check looked over twice by one of the owners before delivering it. So they need to get their rules straight.

That aside, it was a steady to busy night. Wednesday's tend to be like that and then things slow back down on Thursday. I'm convinced it's the "hump day" effect. I had birthdays at my tables for the first time (only one of which was actually mentioned to me) and that table was actually really awesome. Though dinner wasn't insanely busy, lunch was, so we actually ran out of soup during dinner! They had to make more!

Shortly after we opened one of the cooks had made this sweet soup with corn and what look like tiny bobas in it. It was really hot--in temperature--and super sweet. I could only handle one bowl, but I brought some home. Makanai was leftover lunch vegetables and chicken! Chicken, finally! The silly cook tried to tell me it was "Japanese beef!" He's always lying to me. Closing went pretty smoothly. I used six checks I think, and I brought home $34.34 out of the $70+ I made in tips. Best I've done all week. I've used too much spending money this week, so I'm going to be more strict with what I make for the rest of the week!

That's all for now. I work doubles for the next two days, so I should get some sleep!

A Slow Monday

Tonight was so insanely slow and boring. Since I got bumped down to somewhere around the middle of the list and I was working with two servers who were above me I was, of course, last in line. That and the cashier that's working had only ever seen me before on my first day and thinks I'm sickly and can't do anything (thanks to the anemia incident and...um being new). So she didn't want to give me any tables. She thought I couldn't handle /anything/. But she didn't have to correct me once tonight.

Everyone was really focused on football at the restaurant and that might actually have been why it was so slow--everyone watching the game at home. That...and...well...it's a Monday. So I ended up only making like seventeen dollars and some change in tips. Whoop-dee-doo.

Makanai today was leftover tempura fried sushi from yesterday's brunch along with a little leftover raw fish from the sushi bar today. Since things were so slow we got around to closing procedures early and were able to get out just after ten.

After work the three of us servers that were on shift talked outside for a while, which was nice--it's the first time I've done that. I work tomorrow's lunch shift, though, so it's time that I got some rest since I have to get up in like...less than seven hours. Good night, all!

Frequent Eff Ups

Well it's Sunday! I was off, so that means it's time for me to list the things I constantly messed up on this week! I actually went to eat at the restaurant with my friends for the first time since I started working there, so that was cool. And I did get an employee discount, though I used the
money saved to give our server a good tip.

I noticed that this week I didn't so much mess up repeatedly on the same things over and over again, rather messed up on more of a range of things because I experienced more hectic situations. I had my first time waiting really large tables and dealing with parties coming in at different times. There were several times where I was unable to bid my party good evening because I was running around so much. I think I am using my trips more efficiently now, though. It just seems that there's always either dead time or a rush--rarely a happy medium. So here's for the list:

• Straws and chopsticks: I still forget to offer these a lot, though not as much as last week.
• Clearing tables: I really didn't forget to do this much this week--mainly just when I was really running in several directions.
• Giving pens with checks: Apparently I think the bill comes with a built-in pen to sign receipts with or something. And I've finally managed to lose most of my pens.
• Drinks: This is actually new from last week. No, this didn't even happen remotely frequently but a few times (when I had ten-eleven person tables with the party entering at various points) I'd think I had gotten all the drinks and I hadn't done so. I also ordered the wrong drink from the bar twice but caught myself before I actually took it...it had been opened though.
• Forgetting salads: This happened once.
• Forgetting steamed rice: Because I'm supposed to bring it when the chef comes out. Hard to remember when I don't have it written down (it's on the chef's ticket but not usually mine) and it's busy.

Seeing the theme here? Forgetting little things here and there. Some other things have gone wrong as well, but not everything that happens in the restaurant is under my control. So that's all for now. I go back in for work during tomorrow's dinner shift, so I'll update again then!