You've Got Some Nerve!

So these two guys walk in and take their table of two.

They ask me for two big 9oz glasses of wine so I go get it. I come back with them and they say would it be possible to get a bottle. Well yes Mr. Arshole sure you can.

I get them a bottle. Then one of them orders a salad and the other a hot appetizer. That will be all for now they add.

Meanwhile they order a second bottle and finally finish their appetizers. Then the guy who orders a salad is having his friend speak for him. Do you have any vegetarian dishes? No Mr.Arshole we are a freakin's steakhouse I politely say.

His vegan friend orders a side and he orders a sirloin and shrimp. Meanwhile they order another bottle of wine. This is their third now. The same people who were just going to have a glass at the beginning.

Then while having them taste the third bottle they say , we should get free appetizers for this.

I don't say anything. What a nerve these people have! Why do you think you are entitled to free appetizers for drinking some wine you cheap F###***s. Then they kept ordering free bread.

Then I give them the bill and then his vegan friend says can we maybe get a glass only each of more wine? WTF! Then they want more bread but sorry the kitchen is closed and we are out.

Final bill $186 - Tip $10.00

Cheapskates! Go eat somewhere else next time!

Preferably where you came from.

Holiday Scheduling

My employer usually does the schedule for us two weeks in advance so that we can request certain days off if we need them and give us a chance to plan something ahead of time. My wife's employer on the other hand puts out the schedule on a Saturday for the following week beginning on Monday. This week I am off when my wife works and vice verse. It is too bad that some places don't have the staff or foresight to be able to schedule ahead.

Where employers fail I believe in properly motivating staff comes down a lot of the time to their lack of attention paid to scheduling. Service personnel too many times work long hours on their feet for too many days without a day off. Then they get a schedule the last minute and find they are working four shifts before their next day off. Meanwhile laundry is piling up at home , single people need some social time , family people are missing their family and the list goes on.

Service staff come in and are getting bitchier with each passing day making it not easy to serve demanding guests. Co- workers become ornery with each other causing tensions to rise.

I have to say that at my place of employment that is not a problem at all as just last week they had schedules to fill out with request for days off between now and January 1. We were given a choice to work Christmas Eve or Boxing Day. If we closed on New Year's Eve we could get New Year's Day off. All in all pretty fair I would say.

Having the foresight and caring enough about what the employee and their personal obligations throughout the holidays were , I have to say my employer wins hands down compared to anyone else I could work for at anytime.

What about your employer? Have they got the holidays in mind and planning a schedule for the month of December now so you know when you work and any request you may have can be accommodated , or is it going to be left till last with a wait and see attitude?

Missing Teaspoons

At work last night and probably for the 1000th time in the past 30 years there is a certain point in the service when you are getting a dessert or coffee , of which we use the same spoon for each where I work , and someone blurts out , " where are the spoons??" " There is never enough spoons in this place!" To which I remarked back , " You have to wash your own."

It seems like either the bussers cannot keep up or there is a serious shortage of spoons. I even think it is the utensil of choice that people walk away with in their pocket. Methinks it is a combination of all three. I have gotten so use to the habit of checking for spoons in the dishpit and doing my own washing and polishing that I do not think twice about it.

I will explain why it is like that for me. During one of my contracts on the ship we had a real serious shortage of teaspoons and unlike when you are on dry land you just cannot run ashore and buy a teaspoon. The order has to be placed through Fort Lauderdale first , then they get it and send it to you at some distant port. It could take weeks.

For 114 passengers we probably only had about 35 teaspoons. We would manage somehow throughout the week to provide them with a teaspoon because they wouldn't be arriving all at once for breakfast. But on disembarkation day they would all come at once to get their last breakfast.

So every Saturday we would put the 35 teaspoons on the most popular seats and quickly as soon as they would leave which use to be pretty fast on this morning we would take that teaspoon and run it through and get it out to the next person who was about to have their coffee or tea. Now sometimes we had to use the dessert spoon when we couldn't do it. But the funny thing was even though we knew it was a pain in the butt we had to do it. Everyone got pretty used of it.

Well we finally did get more teaspoons on that ship. Also later last night I noticed more spoons being taken out of their packages so that trips to the dish pit should cease at least for now. A good thing indeed.

Does anyone agree that it appears the utensil that most restaurants run short of is the teaspoon or is it just my experience only? I have never worked in a restaurant that did not have enough of forks and knives yet....