Sunday, April 23, 2006

Washing Machine Olympics



What better way to spend Sunday afternoon doing mountains of laundry and the 50-yard basement dash to the washer to prevent the drain from overflowing? I sure as hell can't think of anything better to do. I put Drano down the pipe that was overflowing, but that didn't seem to work on whatever might be clogging it, so I'm guessing there might be a plumber in the future...it's nice to have gotten a job and immediately spend what you are going to make on home repairs. Geez.

Saturday at SS wasn't too bad, except we had people who walked in at 30 minutes before closing and wanted to make meals. We'll give them the benefit of the doubt that they didn't know what time we would close...however, the people that showed up with 3 children all under the age of 5...well, the kids were amazingly good for about 40 minutes. It takes approximately 45 minutes or more to make 6 meals, which they were making, so it was becoming a fine line on who was going to erupt into a tantrum first. Currently, there is no play area or anything for children to do while their parents make meals, and I really hope it stays that way. The whole idea behind this is on the "wham, bam, thankee ma'am" level--you get in, assemble what you need, and get out, thereby saving time and energy that you can devote to other things, like chasing your children around.

And, how do you tell a customer not to bring their children? Fortunately, this customer had brought her husband with her and they both made meals and wrangled the children, one of which was in a stroller, so she was somewhat contained. The customer mentioned that she would be back next time with girlfriends and not the children, which is music to our ears. I'm not even going to rant about people who bring their children EVERYWHERE, because I have to write a paper this afternoon for Dining Room class, and that paper involves dealing with children from a waitperson's point of view. Sometimes, I get the whacked idea that I need to challenge myself by doing things from an opposing point of view, if that makes sense. If I were a waiter in real life (and not just on TV), then when the party of 8 with 2 high chairs shows up, I would be doing whatever was in my power to make the hostess seat them in someone else's section. Preferably the section that is farthest away from mine. I don't hate children; truly I don't. What I hate is parents who let Little Pwecious run amok among other patrons of the dining establishment and either ignore them or watch them with amusement and bland admonishments to "not play with that nice lady's food" as the little imp puts his fingers in your plate.

So, I did a little poking around online and found some sites that had helpful hints about dining out with children and how wait staff can turn the table with child to their advantage. We'll see how it goes; luckily, the paper only has to be 3-4 pages long.

Well, back to the homework grind. Got a stock test, a soup test, and a test on serving alcohol (bring it to me faster!) tomorrow. And, I need to do that overrated sleep thing some time in the near future, too.

1 comment:

ninjapoodles said...

OOH-OOH! (waving hand wildly)

I blogged about this a few months ago! The dining out with very young child experience! It is SO do-able, if you are prepared, and if the staff of the restaurant is gracious. See here!