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.

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.

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!

Talk about getting your ass kicked!

So, last night ended up being a very bad and very good night for me. I usually open on Sundays as a manager and stay until sometime between five and seven. The closing manager shift usually rotates between the dreaded Bar Manager and The Service Manager. Because of the Christmas and New Year's holidays things were different this week. I had originally requested off a few days between Christmas and New Year's so I could go to Tennessee and see my parents and brothers and my newborn nephew. Because of my legal troubles in November and the fact that my license is suspended for a year, I was not able to make the trip. So, The GM worked yesterday with The Bar Manager. I closed the bar because Christi is on a ski trip right now with her friends. Boy did she miss out on a night! Sunday nights are usually pretty slow, but steady. We do about one hundred to one hundred fifty covers and about three to four thousand in sales. Not last night though. We did almost three hundred covers and almost seven thousand in sales! There is usually a cocktail server scheduled, but because we are starting to go into the slow season, this was the first week that they didn't schedule one. The cocktail will get one or two tables and just eat up time on the clock for four hours or so. We had six servers in the dining room, which is plenty. We went through about four hours of hell. The Bar Manager ran service well for most of the night. I helped some people on the wood, but mainly waited on cocktail tables. Some of my regulars came in and I felt bad because I know they did not get the best service, but they understood and still tipped well. Needless to say, we went on a wait so people came into the bar to wait for their tables and get a drink, which would have been fine if I didn't have the bar and the bar tables. So I had people waiting at the bar and at tables and people eating at the bar and at tables and the service printer going crazy. It sucked, but I made a ton of money. One of the managers of The Tavern, Cory, came over right when we were closing to have a drink in between doing inventory. When I got done I went over there to see her and all the bartenders there and have a drink while they were closing. I met up with some of my people from work at Bar X and had another drink then caught the bus home and watched some TV with my roommate. I have had a crazy few days and made so much money, which I need to pay all the bills that seem to accumulate even more quickly right now. Until tomorrow.

Been awhile

So Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone. I haven't posted for a couple of weeks. I don't know why. I worked straight through Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It was well worth it because I made a ton of money in which to pay bills with. I've been having more fun behind the bar lately so that is a good thing. I went to a concert on Friday night with my roommate. It was good to get out of the house and pretend to have a normal life for once.

Last night was good. Jana was a volume from the morning, but I didn't have to put up with her for long. Dawn stayed with me until almost close which was great because she is awesome! I sat down and split a meal with her when she was done because The Bar Manager, unlike most bar managers, starts his weekly inventory before we are even close to closing. I don't mean that he just counts the storeroom and the like, he was counting my speedrail while I was still pouring drinks! He is an idiot! Because he started so early he didn't get the chance to suck back five or six Captain n' Cokes like he usually does on Saturday night. He tried to suck up to me by discussing the schedule with me. When I was done I went over to The Tavern because I thought Brian and Abby were going to be there, but they went home early so I went over to Bar X and got a few drinks from Miss Brandy and stood by the door waiting for a cab and talked to the bouncers. When I got home my roommate and I watched most of "Bubba Hotep". Its a great movie! I get the pleasure of closing tonight. It should be a good shift. Yea, me!!

Life takes a downturn and (I hope) an upturn

So last weekend was good to me. I closed Friday night and only worked a few hours Saturday morning. I opened on Sunday and was only there until five or so. Monday was a little weird because instead of my usual open I ended up going in at four to close the bar.

Tuesday I had court to find out my fate from the DUI arrest. I pleaded down to a reckless op. and have to pay a small fine and have to go to a two day alcohol awareness class in February. Because I refused to take a breathalyzer, I automatically have my license suspended for one year, but I can apply to get work related driving privileges back. As a whole, not an experience that I enjoyed, but I made the mistake and I have to pay for it.

Getting back to better news. I opened the bar on Wednesday morning and as I left the mall I stopped at the bookstore. The place was packed! Miss Rachael Ray was going to be doing a book signing that evening. There were moms everywhere! I have never seen so many mom jeans in one place in my life!

I closed last night, Friday, and opened as a manager this morning. I was there until mid afternoon helping the opening bartender. Tonight I have been catching up on peeps on Twitter and catching up on episodes of "House". I open again in the morning, but I have the pleasure of working with the wonderful GM. Its gonna suck!

BTW, I'm not sure what the afore mentioned upturn is yet. I'm still waiting for it.

Wow!

Its been a weird couple of weeks. I haven't posted in awhile because things just seem to stay the same. Thanksgiving was long and boring, but I did get to hang out with one of my out of town friends. The management at The Seafood Restaurant just gets worse and worse. They are buying cheaper and cheaper food, but keeping the prices the same. Quality has gone out the window. I really want to quit, but because of the state of the economy there are no jobs available. My schedule keeps getting cut back farther and farther. I'm down to thirty two to thirty three hours a week from fifty. I've been trying to get a second job, but it has not been going well. I opened last Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I had Tuesday off and spent it hanging out with my roommate. I worked for a few hours on Wednesday. I stayed longer than I thought, because some corporate types were there checking up on things. I spent a couple hours at Bar X later that night reading the NY Times and drinking Arrogant Bastard. I enjoyed that very much. I hung out with my roommate all yesterday too. We spent time at the independent coffee shop just reading with one of our friends, went to Trader Joe's and had dinner at Brio. One of my friends from work met up with us when she got done. It was a good time. (Brio was nice enough to give me twenty-five percent off of the bill. I love what I do!) We met up with the same friend from earlier and saw "Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist" again. Its a great movie! Even though its about teenage hipsters, it really celebrates New York City and especially the Lower East Side (what some people now call the East Village). Plus its got a great soundtrack! I close the bar tonight and because of my driving mishap I will have to call a cab in order to get home. Yea, me! I hope tonight is good and I don't get to pissed off at the management. Only time will tell.