Thursday, January 29, 2009

Snow Day!

We got about ten inches of snow last night and today. It made it very hard to get to work, but it didn't stop me. I caught the bus this morning (it was a half-hour late) and made it to work on time. Weird, I know! We didn't open until Noon, so I had plenty of time to open. I opened wearing a white t-shirt, jeans and construction boots (because of the massive amount of snow). My manager wanted me to take the first table that walked in at eleven-forty which is well after we normally open but not today. I looked at him and didn't know what to say. I just said I would take it and proceeded to get dressed. While I was dressing, a server walked in (thank God!). So, I didn't have to take a table outside the bar, which I absolutely hate doing! It was a good day. Some of my regulars came in so I made some decent money. Happy hour was good. I worked with Dawn and stayed till close with her so she could give me a ride home. (We closed way early at seven-thirty. We still didn't get done in the bar till nine-thirty even though we had every thing broken down at eight!) It was a good day. A snow day! (Get it? Ha-ha!)

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Another day in paradise

Another weekend down the tubes. Manged on Thursday and Saturday mornings. Closed the bar Friday night and worked it with Christi and Dawn on Saturday night. The best story of the weeks; The Bar Manager came back on Wednesday night with his girlfriend and proceeded to get drunk(er) at the bar. Dawn was closing. At one point he asks Dawn across the bar in full ear-shot of his stupid girlfriend, "What do I have to do to be the cool manager?" Dawn's initial response was to laugh hysterically, but she kept that down and instead told him, "Stop being a dick." He just doesn't get it.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

I try and then get shot down...again

So it is the post-holiday season. In restaurant life this means fewer people out spending money, because they have to save it all to pay off their credit card bills from Christmas and such. (In the Midwest they also need the money to pay their heating bills. Its 20degrees right now. The low tonight is -5degrees! I love Ohio!) Because of the downturn in sales all restaurants come up with some ideas to save money by cutting back on labor hours, cutting food cost, and utilizing promotions to increase foot traffic. As a bartender that means that there are fewer shifts to go around. It helped that Jana quit two weeks ago by no-call, no-showing two days in a row. That leaves four and one-half bartenders. (The one-half is Ashlie, who the management would not let us train and refuses to listen to any of us when we try to explain anything to her. Don't you just love people!) So, I decided to try to make everyone's life easier and try to put together a kind of permanent schedule for this quarter so we would always know when we would be working and to make sure that we all were making good money. I let Dawn, Lauren, and Christi see it and got their approval. I wanted to present it to The GM and The Bar Manager at the same time so I would not have to explain myself twice, but that was not to be. The Bar Manager saw it and shot me down because he is irrational. He will not accept any idea that is not his or The GM's. I have been in his situation before and the only way to get him to act like a real human being is for him to be fired. That is what it took for me. There is no way to tell him this. We just have to wait for it.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

The long weekend becomes dull

We had a good weekend at The Seafood Restaurant. I closed the bar on Saturday night and The GM did the bar inventory so I didn't have to put up with The Bar Manager in such close proximity to me all night. I opened as a manager on Sunday morning and left at four because we were so slow. The Service Manager said that we had a good night on Sunday Night. We did more that our usual sales and the servers made money. My roommate dropped me off at work early yesterday on his way to school. I had the bar setup and stocked by the time we opened at eleven. That was good because I ended up getting a lot of tables. Everyone wanted to sit in the bar yesterday! The servers didn't get half the tables I did! I setup in anticipation of a busy happy hour, but to no avail. I left as soon as happy hour was over at six and was informed by the closer, Lauren, that the two people who sat at the bar for happy hour were the only two people who sat at the bar all night. We had our worst night for tips that I have ever seen! Five dollars an hour was our average! I have the day off today, but I might stop by work to pick up my meager tips from last night. I know, I know, I need to stay away from that place at least once a week, but Dawn and Christi work tonight and I haven't seen them in a few days. I need to get a life!