Late customers and an a-hole

The festivities started early last night. As soon as I walked in the door I was confronted by The Bar Manager. "You know your at 32 hours?" My reply was "yeah". Let me explain. Our work week at The Seafood Restaurant starts on Sunday. I was scheduled for a ten hour management shift on Sunday. A thirteen hour open manage close bartending shift on Monday and a ten hour open manage shift on Tuesday. Now, this would not be a big deal if we scheduled three managers every day, but we don't because we only have three front of house managers plus me twice a week and Brenda, working as a key hourly, two to three times a week. She only does short key shifts, i.e., five to nine, six to close (eleven), nine am to noon because she is also our bookkeeper and our AM host. So I was scheduled for thirty-two to thirty-four hours in three days. OF COURSE I'M GOING TO HAVE THIRTY-TWO PLUS HOURS YOU NINCOMPOOP! I took Wednesday off and worked a bar close shift for Jana because she was double-scheduled at The Chinese Grill and The Seafood Restaurant (remember she is one of the many who has slept with The Bar Manager). Getting back to the hours thing, my management shifts would be much shorter if we had more managers. I would only work from nine to six or so, but instead I work from nine to nine or so. I'm getting really tired of working this much and then getting grief for working so much when I'm only working what I am scheduled and picking up shifts when there is no one else who can do it!

Anyway, last night's shift was very slow. A couple of highlights though. I got to work with Dawn. She is awesome! A great bartender and a great worker. We work very well together because we are both focused, neat and organized. She left around seven with her friend Emily, who had come in for happy hour. Some guys waiting for their large party to sit down kept on crowding Emily. It was kind of funny because she was to stubborn to move and they were to dumb to realize she was sitting right next to them!

The couple who own a wine shop came in towards the end of the shift last night. They are way cool, tip real well and are generally fun to talk with and be around. They don't mind me closing around them and leave at a reasonable time. The kitchen closes at ten and the bar closes by eleven if there is anyone drinking. The cool couple left at ten after ten, but these two older gentlemen sat there nursing their drinks until almost eleven. They only sat down to have an afterdinner drink because The Bar Manager bought it for them. As soon as the cool couple got up to leave, the men ordered another round and then lingered over them for forty minutes!

I will gladly stay open if some people want to drink. I love making more money, but I had been empty in the bar since eight so I started closing down. The cool couple walked in at eight thirty and they are real easy to take care of so I kept closing down. The older gents were ushered in at nine forty five by The Bar Manager. The only thing I have to add to this is, if you keep your bartender waiting for you to finish so he/she can leave for the night, take care of them! I got a great tip from the cool couple, and three bucks from the older gents. It ended up being somewhere around ten percent. That's not good. You see me closing, you don't see anymore customers, you have to ask if we are closed. Even if you don't know that we are closed, leave a good tip to make it worth my time. Throw down five or ten bucks. Especially since the first round was on the house!

I went over to The Tavern to wait for my ride. Miss Lauren was bartending. She is way nice. Her boyfriend is the regional manager for Bar X. Rocky, another bartender at The Tavern, had just gotten off work and was having a beer and one of our old servers, David, was there having a beer after choir practice. I had a good thirty minute wind down and caught my ride home.

I have decided that I need to do more with my life. I don't know where to start, but I will keep you posted.