A Real Switcheroonie If There Ever Was One!

We all have at one time or another did something to improve our life situation so in this case I did , but it was sort odd on how I accomplished it.

Let me explain , I was working for the second time at this resort in Hockley Valley , near where I live , as a Food and Beverage Supervisor in the Dining Room. When I say the second time , I was first time as a waiter there then I left to become a Dining Room Manager at another local restaurant. Then that closed and I returned back to this same resort I had left to become a supervisor this time.

The main reason I returned was not so much for the supervisor position but it was the fact I needed work more than anything else. When you are looking and you need something , sometimes you gotta do what you can and this meant going back to the place I left.

The reason why I had left before was a lack of income for the waiters. You see the gratuity was built into the dining room package upon checking in. Guess how much the gratuity was for the service staff in this prepaid package? It was $3 per person the gratuity! This and any corporate business in the dining room was all taxed as well so what we made on our two week cheque was paltry. The cash tips were minimal on most nights as most guests thought the tip was all taken care of. Little did most know that is was only $3 per person.

So now after a few months again I am finding out even as a F and B Supervisor that I am still making lousy money and am hungering for some cash gratuities again.

Then I hear word that we are hiring a server that has oodles of experience and has worked at this one fine dining restaurant about 25 minutes from where I live in a place called Tottenham.

I ask my buddy Mike the restaurant manager why this guy is leaving what seems like a fine restaurant and he answers back he wants to try something new and get into a hotel and move up the ladder. I then ask what would he be making there and Mike turns around and says he is making about $800 clear a week at this restaurant he is at now and wants to leave.

When he said that to me we just looked at one another. We both knew what each other was thinking and it was what was this guy thinking!!

Anyway I get the name of the restaurant where he is at. After a few weeks I ask Mike if this new guy is coming and he tells me he gave a month notice but that this week coming up he has two weeks left where he is at. In other words he is coming soon.

So what do I do is go and call this restaurant where he is and ask if they are hiring any waiters and the owner turns around and says as a matter of fact we are looking for one right now. I knew that!

I go for the interview and get the job. I come back to work and give my two week's notice and my last week is this new waiter's first week at the Resort. So I am the supervisor and he is the new guy and I have to show him around and all that stuff this week.

By the middle of the week I think he knows what is shaking and that I am the guy who is replacing him at his old job. We are just fooling around playing dumb. He ask me how it is at the resort and I tell him he is going to like it a lot here and I am just moving on. He smiles and he at the end of the week ask where I am heading and we both smile and I say his old place and I ask him how that is.

The next week I started at his place. It was fine. More money and it was real easy. While I worked there I even put in a few hours a day studying for my sommelier course as the afternoons and week nights were dead. You see I was the only waiter there except for a Friday or Saturday night when it might get busy and I would have to get a helper in. I ate well there and my duty was to make sure I ordered and picked up the liquor and wines we needed each week. Serve the guests and that was it. Most nights I would be out by 10PM. It was an out of the way place but I could see why the other waiter had been there for 5 years. Good food , wine , nice ambience. The owner was never there. No bother really.

As for the waiter who left there and went to the resort he was so disgusted by his first cheque he handed in his notice and proceeded to work in a few jobs after that.

Near completion of my sommelier course I was looking for a bigger challenge so I moved onto a busier place where there was more money floating around.

Who replaced me? You guessed it , the same guy! He went back and has been there since which has been just about 4 years.

We see each other every now and then and get along real well. We joke about what happened and go on to talk about things in the business. I think at the time we helped each other out. He found out he liked it better where he was and I got out of a pickle at the Resort.

Wow , talk about a switcheroonie!