No Longer Serving Sushi

So...it's been a really long time since I've actually updated this blog. Does that mean I wasn't serving sushi during that time? No. It just means that I stopped caring, which I'm pretty sure I alluded to at some point during a past [recent] post. I was spending so much time at work that I was just going through the motions. The amusing things that happened became part of every day, the agitating things that happened I decided I really didn't want to dwell on. And I got sick of having trouble falling asleep because I felt bad about not updating the blog. So I just stopped worrying about it all together.

And now, the saga /is/ over. My last day at work was Friday January the 8th. I worked a double. At the end of the day the owners barely acknowledged the fact that I wouldn't be coming back to work the next day as I usually would. It was payday so I got my check, tipped out, left and....all of a sudden I wasn't a server anymore. Yeah. It was that simple.

It was strange. I honestly felt somewhat sad, but I guess that just goes to show how one can grow attached to anything, even the unhappier routines in one's life. I feel the temptation to return at some point in the future, but I know that probably would not be the best choice.

I am currently traveling. Not for a long time, but perhaps that will change while I'm away. I've decided to move over to gNomadic Tendencies The Other Georgia, as I think focusing attention on something that I want to do so much--traveling--is very important. If you care to read updates on my life, go there!

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!

Back to the Routine

So I'm back to work today. It's weird. Definitely took me a few to really get back into the rhythm of things, so hopefully I'll get back to optimum performance over today and tomorrow. It's weird...I had sushi almost every day I was gone and now I'm back to serving it, haha.

Today is Boss's Day, so we were expecting it to be exceptionally busy. Well...it was exceptionally slow even for a /normal/ Friday lunch, so I don't know what happened there. It started pouring near the end of the shift and three parties decided to come in right at two, of course, so we didn't get out early.

I didn't serve anyone who was like...flat out mean or rude or anything, but I definitely served some frustrating people. People who cut me off, people who ignored me when I was talking to them...but overall everyone was still nice.

I was only supposed to work lunch today, which I was looking forward to, but they penciled me in for tonight, so I'm working a double. Less than an hour before I have to be back, so I guess I'll leave it at that! Oh--by the way--I'm coming down with something. My throat is sore, so let's see what happens with that.

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!

The List of Fate

So tonight I want to talk about the thing that dictates how and when one will be sent to wait on someone. The thing that sets the pattern for the entire night. The thing that's written on the board that we're all strictly forbidden to touch. That's right--the "Server List." This list contains the names of all the servers and is rearranged--the top is "first" and the bottom is "last." I tend to remain either fourth or fifth, but I get bumped a bit further down from time to time. The first "infamous two" have been working at the restaurant for years and are always in the top two places--the rest of us are moved around. The server that trained me is pretty much always in third place, and then the server that has worked the next longest is generally after her. He tends to be all over the board, though, so there are times when I'm ahead of him.

Now supposedly the list is based on cleaning, but there is definitely more to it. I'd say part of it may be how you clean, yes, but seniority, timeliness, attitude, and probably tips and customer interaction also play a big part.

Now, regarding my place. I guess I can't be upset about where I tend to hover, but I actually feel guilty about it a lot of the time. Sometimes I'm the first server in the rotation--I was told to help out and have the new server that was with us last week follow me one day. That was very strange considering someone who has worked there longer than me was on shift. But--again--I shouldn't and can't complain, so I won't. All I can do is continue to try to do a good job.

I really shouldn't be up this late, so I'm going to leave it at this. Hope everyone is sleeping well!

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.

Creative Failure

Here I go with the sucking at updating again! But if I'm going to be honest, yesterday was a pretty busy day for me! I'm glad to say I had quite the productive day off! But nobody really wants to hear about that. Being that this is supposed to be Sunday's post, it would be another issue of Frequent Eff Ups--if I were to stick to the original plan, that is. Truth of the matter is that I don't mess up one single thing too frequently now. Well...aside from offering straws and chopsticks, maybe. I'm messing up on lots of random things instead--I had my first breakages, though it was kind of a joint effort, and I don't even remember what else has gone wrong. I'm sure I've mentioned a lot of it.

But I don't want to focus on that today. Today I want to offer some sort of serving-inspired creative musings. Poetry? Prose? Who knows. I'm just going to type and see what my brain spews forth.

Brain failure. Never mind.

Yay, Money!

Alright, so usually there are six people working on Saturday nights. Well...tonight there were four! /And/ we were busy--apparently everyone in the area was born on October third, so most of us had a lot of fairly large tables. That includes me. I even had a table with /two/ birthdays, but only one party told me about theirs! Fortunately they make enough birthday bananas for the whole table, so I just fetched an extra candle and all was well. Nobody wanted to bananas anyway, haha.

We ended up closing really late tonight. Shortly before we closed two almost full tables came in--one of which included the Slowsky's. So we didn't get out of the place until almost eleven. But no worries, because I came out with over seventy dollars in tips /after/ payout! And I also got my paycheck, so yay! I didn't get to eat makanai tonight, though--there was beef in the fried rice, so I made mushrooms and pasta when I got home!

I'm off tomorrow, so now it's sleep time, yahoo!

Because I'm Lame

What is the reason I didn't update last night. No--this is not Jeopardy, but since it /is/ my blog, I can talk however I want to. Yesterday's lunch was fairly uneventful. I served a bunch of dining, a couple of teppan tables, and a couple at the sushi bar. I was kept pretty busy, so I think I actually came out doing the best tip wise. I got moved back up towards the upper part of the list, as well--I don't think I mentioned that I had been moved down a bit, but that just goes to show you how much I care. I served a table of Japanese ladies a special that isn't on the menu called the Shirachi Special, and it looked insanely good. I want to order it one of these days.

I want to put a more creative spin on this blog very soon because I'm all about the creative non-fiction. I would also like to attract more readers, because I'm really trying to keep up with and put effort into this blog. It's one of the few things I'm doing these days simply because I want to, and I want to get as much out of it as I can. I know that just reading about my daily shifts isn't going to be interesting to anyone, though, so I guess I've got to start musing on how to make things more interesting!

I made twenty-something dollars yesterday--I completely forgot how much it was exactly--and I pick up my paycheck today! Work in a couple of hours, so expect an update tonight! Whoa...I suddenly got a craving for clear soup. Oh--I'm also agitated that the number of labels I can use keeps getting limited. I like over-labeling my blog, dangit! Let me do it if I want to!

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.

Ready to Keep on Going!

My day got off to a great start with a really awesome table--one of the parties was a couple of girls I've served before and the other was a couple of very queer girls. They were all awesome and conversational and it made my day! Everyone after that was really pleasant as well--lots of families or moms with really little kids and then a couple of young friends to wrap things up. We managed to close quickly, too.

Makanai was an interesting dish--I think it's some part of a chicken...mixed with some various vegetables. Anyhow, it looks a little odd but tastes pretty good. I've got kind of a headache now and I go back to work soon so that's not cool. There will be four of us working tonight and while Thursdays tend to be dead...it's the first. For those of you who don't know the significance of that--Navy payday. So it's another coin toss. Made $23 at lunch today which is good for a Thursday lunch. I can't believe I've been working for over a month now...craziness. Well let me wrap things up early so I can take my time getting back to the restaurant! Good day!

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!

What an Odd Morning

Today's lunch was /weird/. It wasn't really slow, but it wasn't really busy either. It was like...kind of slow-steady, but more like slow and then suddenly steady. It caught us a bit off guard, but everything still went smoothly. The only thing that sucked was the fact that we kept ending up not having ample time to fill out checks until it was time for the parties they were for to go. So yeah, that sucked.

Speaking of checks--or rather--speaking of what checks are all about--money--I have a little something I want to talk about this afternoon. Today while paying a check a customer gave me money to give to the chef. I handed it to the owner, told her it was meant to go to the chef, and she went back and handed it to him. That's fine. What bothers me is the fact that on top of that, he got almost half of whatever they tipped me as well because we are required to share regardless of whether they've already been tipped or not. This happens all the time. Chefs get tipped before they leave the table, the sushi chef has his own tip jar for people to put money in, and they still get a huge cut of the tips customers generally think are meant for us.

Now I do not hold any negative feelings against the chefs because they work hard and they do not make the policy. I do think the policy needs changing, though. Tips are generally for staff that interact with customers. If something has been cooked in the kitchen, I've delivered everything, and I bus the table, why do I have to share my tip with anyone? As servers we already make the least and we still have to pay the other staff regardless of whether they do their job or we end up doing it.

That may not have sounded like much of a rant, but I guess that's what it was. And it is currently over. I work a double today, so I'm going to try to spend a few minutes not thinking about the serving of Japanese cuisine. Thanks for reading.

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.

First Sunday Brunch!

Wow. So as I mentioned last night I covered for someone this morning, giving me the opportunity to work Sunday brunch for the first time. It runs from 1100 to 1400 and is buffet style--we serve drinks and clear plates off of tables and after everyone is gone we get to help ourselves to the leftover food and clean up for dinner.

Let me say. It was really scary at first. I was a bit overwhelmed as it is completely different from the usual lunch and dinner shifts and it is extremely fast-paced, but I got into the rhythm of things and I can understand now why people like that shift. It was crazy though--we ran out of Pibb, sweet tea twice, and glasses a number of times.

I made about forty dollars and I am now exhausted! But I've got other things to do so...no rest for now. I'm trying to think of some more types of posts I can make here aside from just the general day to day updates. My thoughts on serving? tipping? employer/employee relations? work environment? More about the things I have a tendency to screw up? I'm curious to know what everyone would be the most interested in reading, but I don't expect anyone to actually comment. I would definitely appreciate it if anyone did, though!

As usual, thanks for reading!

Unusually Slow

Today was. We only used two tables! But we didn't really get to benefit by leaving earlier because a regular came in five minutes before we closed! Then I got dragged around with my mom to run errands for a bit, so I wasn't happy about that. I feel kinda blah and have to be back at work soon. Oh--speaking of my mom, a group of Japanese ladies asked me if my mother was Japanese! That's all for now. I'll try to update in a timely manner tonight!