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.

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!

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!

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!

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 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.

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!

An Undesired Milestone

I did it! My first mischarge! I made over 21 dollars in tips today and 15.20 of that went back to the restaurant for a meal I forgot to charge someone for a few days ago. I freaked out at first because they brought three checks out to me! I thought I had messed up three times! But no, just that once. So there's yet another thing I'll be extra careful about from now on.

I was called over to the table by a woman who has been coming in a lot lately to tell the guy she was with how often she's been here the past week. She's becoming a regular, haha! Her son wasn't with her today, but he's absolutely adorable. He's afraid of the fire, so when the chefs light up the table he sits against the wall until it dies down.

Aside from being faced with my biggest screw up yet first thing, today went pretty well. It was slow, but steadily so, so I always had something to do. I had the last table, but still managed to get everything ready for dinner in a timely manner. Speaking of which, I'm covering someone tonight, so I'll be working a double today. They seemed so relieved that I could.

That's all for now! I've got a few things to take care of before I head back out, so I'll update later! Take a look at today's JapanesePod lesson--I think you'll find it appropriate for inclusion.

No Double Today

So I guess I really am just completely incapable of posting on the same calendar day as my last shift. The schedule changed, resulting in my not working tonight this past night, so I've been off since the afternoon! Why am I just now posting? Oh, that's right--because I'm lame.

So today was pretty steady--as a Friday lunch is expected to be. Things weren't really exceptionally busy it's just that tables were assigned awkwardly, so there was lots of running around going on with the two of us! And the server that I was working with--the one that trained me and stuff--I served her family today! Her husband left me an awesome tip.

And I made like...twenty-one to twenty-three dollars or something. Better than the rest of this week's lunches...and last night's dinner...

I really felt like I pulled my weight today, too! I was able to identify and complete tasks that needed to be tended to without being told and I think that it helped the shift run smoother so I was happy about that. I felt like I contributed. I don't feel like typing anymore. Good night, all!

Another Slow Shift

Worked with two of the guys today and it was /slow/. I only made sixteen dollars. It was very relaxed. All of my parties were nice, though. There's really not anything that happened that's worth talking about. They ordered food of the menu, so makanai was only for me and it contained chicken again!

I'm considering going back in a little early later to help the server that comes in to prepare for dinner, but we'll see. I suppose that's all for now!

Is It Betrayal?!

My mom went to eat at the restaurant with her friend without me and during a shift that I'm not working! Is that right?!

Barely Better Than Monday Night

So as I'm sure has been hard /not/ to notice for anyone who actually reads this regularly...I've gotten into a bad habit of not posting about a shift until the next calendar day--usually this means just not getting around to it until after midnight, but as you can see...I'm just now getting around to writing about yesterday's lunch! Bad me.

Anyhow, yesterday started out /really/ slow, but it steadied out a little. It was still on the slow side but I did end up making more than I had the night before, which was good--made nineteen dollars and some change.

It was a fairly relaxed shift--nothing big really happened. Makanai was good--leftover dinner and lunch veggies for me. I'm glad everyone realizes that I don't eat beef and shrimp, haha. I've eaten a lot of Japanese food this week...ate at my restaurant twice and at another last night after seeing Battle Royale at UNF. I work dinner tonight so...I'll probably update at some point during tomorrow technically. And I keep saying I'm going to Utter while I'm out and never do!

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!

MY HAND!!!

I cut it on saran wrap yesterday. This morning was CRAZY! I went through like ten checks! It was just me and one other server and there were points when I had multiple teppan, dining, and sushi parties all at one time...all in different parts of the restaurant. Everyone was nice, relaxed, and understanding fortunately, so I didn't really have any problems. We also had one table come in minutes before close, so we ended up not getting out until about 1500.

I ended up making 21.10 in tips after payout, so that was good. That's all my hand can take for right now. I'll update tonight!

Interesting Conversation

I was supposed to blog after my first shift. I didn't. I almost forgot to do this one, too. I worked with one other server this morning. Things were fairly steady. I waited on some awesome people and met more regulars. Someone told me I looked sporty and asked me if I played basketball, which I did used to. Not so much anymore. I found that interesting, because I actually make an effort to look and seem less "sporty" when I'm at work. Make about twenty or twenty-one dollars at lunch.

During dinner there were four of us working. The busboy was late, but things were pretty dead. I had four tables, I think...two sushi and two teppan. I met more regulars and made another twenty-four dollars or so.

Took the Rubik's cube to work during dinner and managed to solve it a few times. I need to get faster. Things were slow, so there was a good deal of conversation at work. I got to know people a little bit better and shared a few laughs. I like my co-workers. Everyone worked together well tonight and we got out of the restaurant at ten!

Tomorrow's another double, so it's time for some sleep!

A Shocking Rush

So today started out fairly slow...as expected. Schools are back in session, it's a Tuesday--things are just not expected to speed up. Well did we ever get a shock. At some point we both just kept getting party after party--we'd have three tables at a time and then as soon as one was getting ready to leave another would come to take it's place. In the end we only ended up using eight checks each but it ended up seeming like a lot considering that we were only open for a couple of hours and had a slow start.

I had my first time helping a regular for the second time and he happens to be one that makes a special order. I'm working hard to remember it. I met another regular and had some interesting custom meal requests today, so I was kept on my toes.

Needless to say I didn't really get to touch the cube today, haha. Well after getting off work I went to see the second showing of the Japanese film showings with one of my best friends at one of the nearby universities. It was amusing, but I'm really looking forward to next week--Battle Royale on the big screen!

All in all I made about twenty-three dollars in tips today after payout. I asked some questions regarding taxes and paychecks, but it slipped both of our minds and we never got around to it. I think I'm done now. Until tomorrow!

Frequent Eff Ups

So today is Sunday. Well...it's technically Monday now, but let's pretend it's still Sunday. That means it was my day off. And it also means it's time to list my Frequent Eff Ups--the things I've screwed up on several times during the past week.

• Checks: I've crossed and whited things out on at least one or two checks every single day. Fortunately--knock on wood--I haven't delivered any checks with mistakes on them.
• Forgetting to pick up menus: You'd think this one would be a no-brainer, but I can't tell you how many times I've left the menus with the customers.
• Chopsticks and straws: I have straws and chopsticks on my person at all times, yet constantly forget to offer them. I even consciously think about it as I'm getting drinks and /still/ forget once I get back to the table.
• Clearing/Closing tables: Once salads are delivered I'm supposed to close the table by clearing plates so that another party isn't sat there (because the chef ticket will already be out of my hands by this point). I'm getting better at remembering this but still forget sometimes.
• Delivering steamed rice: When someone orders steamed rice instead of fried, I bring it from the rice cooker in back. This is another thing I'm getting better at remembering. At the beginning of the week the chefs had to tell me every time. Then again, nobody had told me I was supposed to do it in the first place.

• Providing pens with the check: Self-explanatory. What the heck do I expect them to sign with, shrimp sauce? Then again, as much as some of them love that stuff they probably wouldn't mind.

I'm sure there are more, but that's all I can think of at the moment. I'm always so concerned with making sure their drinks are full and they're not looking for me because they need something that these other things that have yet to become second nature slip my mind. I'm sure it will all come more naturally with time, though.

On the topic of income, I've made probably around $150 in tips alone this week. I work dinner tomorrow--er...today, rather--and with it still technically being part of the holiday weekend there's no telling how it will go--things have been slow for the entire past week, though. But that's all I'm going to say for now so good night!