It's only natural that you'll meet some interesting characters and have interesting experiences when you work directly with people.
On Monday night, one of our customers made her way to our bathrooms. (Her baby is due in September). At some point her water broke in the restroom, so one of my managers called 911. The family apparently wasn't even from here because the grandma and woman's three kids had to attempt to follow the ambulance to get to the hospital.
An interesting person that I met was on Saturday night (I think). He came in maybe a couple of hours before close, so we were fairly slow at this point. After explaining our take out system, he informed me that some other restaurant does it better. (At dinner time, take out equals one normal sized take out box to stuff as much as you can along with a separate box that we put two rolls in for you for $9). I apologized and told him that that was what we had.
He proceeded to circle our buffet, which always makes me nervous. So I stood leaning against my counter making sure that all he was doing was looking. I forgot to mention that my stomach was also rebelling the amount of delicious greasy new items I had decided to try that evening. He finally comes back to me and informs me that we only have four varieties of shrimp when we claim to have it five way. This lead to him following me around the hot bars as I showed him the FIVE varieties of shrimp.
Customer finally decides that he's going to eat in instead of getting carry out. Latter, he finds me and tells me that all of the steak is well done and that it's been sitting there for a while. I inform the man taking care of the hot bar and he tells me to tell Customer that he needs to let his server know how he wants his steak cooked and he or she will get it made that way for him. At Customer's table, I explain this to him. He replies that the steak needs to be completely replaced and if I sat there and watched with him, I'd see how people picked over it and how long it'd been sitting there. Then he tells me that it's OK because I "did the best that I could."
I finally gave up and told my manager that I didn't feel good, so she let me sit for a little while before telling me to try to get customers and sit down in between. During one of the moments while I'm sitting (and folding crayon pockets at this point because I don't like being unproductive) he flags me over after talking to one of my managers. She left so that I could talk to Customer.
He proceeds to tell me that he was write about the steak; he told my manager and she apparently yelled at the hot bar people about it. I apologized and nodded my head in reply to his blahblahblah. Then he put a dollar on the counter to tip me with and told me that it was OK since I was "still learning." I thanked him for his kindness and refrained from informing him that I'd been there for nearly a year and felt crappy at that point in time so didn't particularly care.
I returned to my crayon folding and soda water and crackers (which one of the servers had made me because it was a trick he'd learned when he started).
This post is taking longer then normal, as you can probably tell by the number of songs I've listened to, because talking to one of my best friends, Maciena, and trying to clean as well. I understand the need for some organization, but I believe in that organization being full of masterful chaos! But, no, that would make the world and life even more difficult. It's important to be actually able to find things.
I took Grandma out for lunch and some bumming around at the mall today after somehow managing to sleep till 9:30. That rarely happens. Dinner of leftovers with Momma and Cafe Life playing on facebook with her. Got a week and a half till Kevin comes home.
Currently Reading: "The Body Artist" by Don DeLillo
Listening to: "Wait for You" by Elliot Yamin, "The Edge of Glory" by Lady Gaga, "Someday" by Nickleback, "Ain't no Mountain High Enough" by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, "Crash into Me" by Dave Matthews Band, "Hungery Eyes" by Eric Carmen, "Heaven" by DJ Sammy, "My Last" by Big Sean, "If Everyone Cared" by Nickleback, "SexyBack" by Justin Timberlake, "What was I Thinkin'" by Dierks Bentley, "More Than Words" by Extreme
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Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
Class and Other Things
I haven't posted in a while, and it's more due to laziness then business.
We're over a month into summer vacation, and it doesn't feel like it's been that long for some reason. Kevin's been gone to South Carolina with his dad and that side of the his family for four weeks now and will be back in another two. I've also been in a summer class for those past four weeks. I discovered one of my fish at the bottom of my little aquarium one day when I came home.
And I'm writing again. It's such a glorious feeling to play with words.
The class that ended, literally today, was a summer fiction writing workshop that resulted in three new short stories, new friendships, and a renewed drive to write. Robert Olmstead (http://www.robertolmsteadbooks.com/) was our guest author and we had an intimate class of ten students. He introduced us to seven novellas (though we only touched on 6 of them) by Ernest Hemingway, Jim Harrison, Elise Blackwell, Margarite Duras, Lorri Moore, Don DeLillo, and Berry Hannah.
I wrote "Train Banshee," "Fish," and "A Tale of Love" while being blown away by the talent and advice of the other writers. We were restricted to 2,000 +/- 100 words per story, which is a lot harder then I thought it would be. I never knew how many "likes" and "hads" I used until he told us to ctrl find them. I'm so glad I took it; it's one of those once in a life time opportunities. Thank you Dr. McCaffrey (www.iwillnotdiet.com) for suggesting it!
Currently Pleasure Reading: "Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?" by Lorrie Moore
Currently Listening to: "Promiscuous" by Nelly Furtado, and "You Got it Bad" by Usher. Pandora mix
We're over a month into summer vacation, and it doesn't feel like it's been that long for some reason. Kevin's been gone to South Carolina with his dad and that side of the his family for four weeks now and will be back in another two. I've also been in a summer class for those past four weeks. I discovered one of my fish at the bottom of my little aquarium one day when I came home.
And I'm writing again. It's such a glorious feeling to play with words.
The class that ended, literally today, was a summer fiction writing workshop that resulted in three new short stories, new friendships, and a renewed drive to write. Robert Olmstead (http://www.robertolmsteadbooks.com/) was our guest author and we had an intimate class of ten students. He introduced us to seven novellas (though we only touched on 6 of them) by Ernest Hemingway, Jim Harrison, Elise Blackwell, Margarite Duras, Lorri Moore, Don DeLillo, and Berry Hannah.
I wrote "Train Banshee," "Fish," and "A Tale of Love" while being blown away by the talent and advice of the other writers. We were restricted to 2,000 +/- 100 words per story, which is a lot harder then I thought it would be. I never knew how many "likes" and "hads" I used until he told us to ctrl find them. I'm so glad I took it; it's one of those once in a life time opportunities. Thank you Dr. McCaffrey (www.iwillnotdiet.com) for suggesting it!
Currently Pleasure Reading: "Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?" by Lorrie Moore
Currently Listening to: "Promiscuous" by Nelly Furtado, and "You Got it Bad" by Usher. Pandora mix
Saturday, April 9, 2011
"Muse"
First of all, I lost .8lbs this week for a total of 5.6lbs. This means that I recieved my very first 5lb sticker and am uber excited! A family friend told me that he could tell I had lost some weight at church last week. My boyfriend loves me no matter what size I am (my goodness he's wonderful!) and I've had some friends ask me why I'm doing WW. I'm doing this for me. I want to be healthier.
In the writing world, we often talk about our "Muse" and how she or he or they inspire us in our writing. Personally, I have more then one supposed "Muse." My God, my family, my boyfriend, my friends, and the beautiful world around me.
I have had a bit of a writer's block for quite some time now. Just last week, I started writing poetry again and I am phyched! One of my problems has been that I don't have that much time, and I still don't. But now I'm making time. Whenever and wherever I have an idea, I write it down; don't tell my professors....
One way that I really know that my creative "Muse" has seeped its way back into my veins is when I start writing love poetry. I started a love poem last night. These are, naturally, for K; although, he hasn't seen all of them. There are some poems that will never be seen by anyone else's eyes but my own because they are way too sappy.
A poem that I wrote the day before the day before is one that I actually like (I rarely like my own work) but am very unsure of at the same time. This is the first time that I have used profanity in one of my works; it isn't something that I use in my life. "Savage Beast," this poem I created, simply felt as if it called for foul language. And I gave it what it desired.
Never stop writing...
In the writing world, we often talk about our "Muse" and how she or he or they inspire us in our writing. Personally, I have more then one supposed "Muse." My God, my family, my boyfriend, my friends, and the beautiful world around me.
I have had a bit of a writer's block for quite some time now. Just last week, I started writing poetry again and I am phyched! One of my problems has been that I don't have that much time, and I still don't. But now I'm making time. Whenever and wherever I have an idea, I write it down; don't tell my professors....
One way that I really know that my creative "Muse" has seeped its way back into my veins is when I start writing love poetry. I started a love poem last night. These are, naturally, for K; although, he hasn't seen all of them. There are some poems that will never be seen by anyone else's eyes but my own because they are way too sappy.
A poem that I wrote the day before the day before is one that I actually like (I rarely like my own work) but am very unsure of at the same time. This is the first time that I have used profanity in one of my works; it isn't something that I use in my life. "Savage Beast," this poem I created, simply felt as if it called for foul language. And I gave it what it desired.
Never stop writing...
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Pie
I lost 1 pd at WW this week, which is really odd considering how stressed I've been. When I'm stressed, I eat more. I also didn't track as well as I normally do, so am going to work on it this week. In the meeting this morning we talked about how there's always a rainbow. It's not just about loosing weight; for some people it's about feeling healthier, being able to put on an item of clothing/jewelry that they haven't worn in years. For others it was being able to look down and see their feet again, or painting their toe nails without getting out of breath. Personaly, my rainbow is feeling healthier and being able to excercise for longer and harder than I have been in the past. But I also have rainbows outside of WW. My family, my boyfriend, my friends, my church family, the ability to write, and my job. What's your rainbow?
My job is pretty amazing. I work with a group of wonderful people who are sometimes as crazy as I am. My managers, coworkers, and I create a large dysfunctional family. Naturally, there's drama. Sometimes the ideal team work scenario doesn't work out and people tempers run high. Someone tells me she thinks that a certain group of people at work are lazy, and then another person from that group walks by after person A asked me to help her with something. Person B informs me that A is lazy.
Don't you love being in the middle of things?
I also love my customers, especially my regulars. The ones that have actually learned how to pronounce my name and get happy when they see me. Who make a point of having an actual conversation with me. There's one couple that used to come in all of the time, and I'm starting to get worried because I haven't seen them in months. Another couple that comes in, the wife delivers papers every day, and the husband did the driving for her after she had surgery. One couple I saw last night brought their son and his new girlfriend with them. The son informed me that he was excited at how well his parents were getting along with his new girlfriend; I talked to the wife about her spoiled dogs; the husband teasingly flirted with me as always; and on their way out they told me about his upcoming heart surgery. There's an older man that comes in with his friends all of the time, who has informed me about a book that I must read; he keeps forgetting to bring me the promised copy. One of our server's relatives comes in and calls me "Trouble" all of the time. A couple of ladies that are always there--and I think that they're related to one of the managers--often bring in pies for the managers. They gave me a pie last night. And the kids that come in all of the time, they're wonderful. I've been hugged my a couple of the little ones, and bought girl scout cookies from one of them. I helped sing our Happy Birthday song to a little girl who had just turned one last night.
Sometimes I feel as if I'm bursting with stories, but they aren't all mine to tell. I'm not that talkative most of the time, but I love listening. I carry the stories of many different customers and coworkers with me, and they will stay with me out of love.
I do love my job. No, it isn't my dream job, and I honestly never intended to work in food. But it's amazing, and I'm so blessed to be able to have this experience.
My job is pretty amazing. I work with a group of wonderful people who are sometimes as crazy as I am. My managers, coworkers, and I create a large dysfunctional family. Naturally, there's drama. Sometimes the ideal team work scenario doesn't work out and people tempers run high. Someone tells me she thinks that a certain group of people at work are lazy, and then another person from that group walks by after person A asked me to help her with something. Person B informs me that A is lazy.
Don't you love being in the middle of things?
I also love my customers, especially my regulars. The ones that have actually learned how to pronounce my name and get happy when they see me. Who make a point of having an actual conversation with me. There's one couple that used to come in all of the time, and I'm starting to get worried because I haven't seen them in months. Another couple that comes in, the wife delivers papers every day, and the husband did the driving for her after she had surgery. One couple I saw last night brought their son and his new girlfriend with them. The son informed me that he was excited at how well his parents were getting along with his new girlfriend; I talked to the wife about her spoiled dogs; the husband teasingly flirted with me as always; and on their way out they told me about his upcoming heart surgery. There's an older man that comes in with his friends all of the time, who has informed me about a book that I must read; he keeps forgetting to bring me the promised copy. One of our server's relatives comes in and calls me "Trouble" all of the time. A couple of ladies that are always there--and I think that they're related to one of the managers--often bring in pies for the managers. They gave me a pie last night. And the kids that come in all of the time, they're wonderful. I've been hugged my a couple of the little ones, and bought girl scout cookies from one of them. I helped sing our Happy Birthday song to a little girl who had just turned one last night.
Sometimes I feel as if I'm bursting with stories, but they aren't all mine to tell. I'm not that talkative most of the time, but I love listening. I carry the stories of many different customers and coworkers with me, and they will stay with me out of love.
I do love my job. No, it isn't my dream job, and I honestly never intended to work in food. But it's amazing, and I'm so blessed to be able to have this experience.
Monday, March 28, 2011
At work they call me....
Baby (i'm called this by my managers, coworkers, and customers. apparently, they (my wonderful work family) have adopted me)
Honey
Sweetie (i get this one a lot from the customers)
Hun (this is meant to be the shortened version of "honey," but i'm not really quite sure how to spell it. what i have here looks more like Attila the hun to me.)
Darlin'
Love (by one of the servers)
The Cashier
SeannaBanana (brought on by one of my managers. is sometimes shortened as Banana. this shortened version is brought on by not just my manager, but by me as well. as in <insertname> called somebody else ___banana and i go "but i'm the banana!")
Various other cashier's names (when somebody has a brain fizzle and forgets my name)
Serena (<insertname>, one of our servers, has been forgetting my name and calling me this)
Cielo (this means ceiling in Spanish. <insertname> said Que Paso? [What's up?] so i said ceiling. thus insued a long winded back and forth about what i was saying until one of the servers, who has been taught "dish-boy Spanish" helped out. Que Paso guy now calls me Cielo.)
Girlie
Sister
Sis' (these two come from one of our managers referring to one of the girls on frontline as my sister. we've been calling each other this ever since.)
Seanna (yes, some people do actually use my name. but there are also those who miss-pronounce it as in "Sea-anna." this does at least provide for some conversation while i'm ringing people up.)
To be continued....maybe...if i can think of/encouter some more....
Ma'am
Sweetness
Gorgeous (one of my regulars came in last night with his wife and son and informed me that he couldn't come in without flirting with me while his wife rolled her eyes at him, and that old guys needed to flirt with young people.)
SugerPieHoneyBunch (by one of the female servers, song was stuck in my head for the rest of the evening)
Smiles
Sweetheart
Mamacita
Gangster in Spanish (i can't remember how to say it, and can't find it either)
Maddy (another one of the servers can't remember my name, but for some reason, we agreed that she would call me this.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
BusFriend
This morning at WW lost 1.2 pds despite the fact that I started my period (sorry if is TMI) and ate out a couple of times this week. I started this blog earlier in the week and haven't had the time to finish it until now. I hope that it isn't too much of a rant.
There is a woman who I have been talking to this semester while waiting for the bus. I know that I could walk to places, but there is an alternative lot, which is some distance away from campus and I'm not walking all the way down the hill to get there. Anyways, we had a rather interesting conversation today that I wanted to share.
There is a woman who I have been talking to this semester while waiting for the bus. I know that I could walk to places, but there is an alternative lot, which is some distance away from campus and I'm not walking all the way down the hill to get there. Anyways, we had a rather interesting conversation today that I wanted to share.
She is very sweet and we enjoy talking about school, especially one of the teachers we share (who I recently discovered has Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde syndrome). My bus friend's personality is one that very much enjoys talking and if you know me you'll understand why it overpowers mine. I spend the majority of our conversations nodding my head with random little insertions into the conversation, but I don't mind. Today, I had a bit more to say while she was talking about her son and his girlfriend, who she doesn't like, and her nephew's girlfriend, who she also doesn't like.
I could understand at first why BusFriend didn't like his girlfriend because she was mean to her son and giving him the cold shoulder for a while--they're fine now. But then she started talking about how her son would take forever to meet up with her so that the two of them could go home after their classes. BusFriend told me that he would come out of Cherry, and then five minutes later she would. And she's not stupid, she knows what they're carrying on and doing that's causing delays.
Likewise she doesn't like it when the two go out on a date for hours and hours. Because, again, she knows what they're doing.
"Not necessarily...."
"Well, you know how--"
"My boyfriend and I haven't; we're saving that for marriage."
"Well, you're unique you know."
"..."
"You are, you're very unique. Is he very religious?"
"...we're both Christians." religious? and why did you use it so incredulously? I don't think I like this word; it has too many dark connotations. Christianity is believing that everyone has sinned and are doomed to go to Hell. That the only way out of that end is Christ's love, is the belief that He came in human form and died for our sins.
"Now you're the type of girl I'd want my son looking at. You'd make a good couple!"
"I'm not single."
"Well, I meant if you were. How long have you been together?"
"Three years next month."
"What?! That's way too long! You need to dump him and date new people! You need to get out there, one person isn't enough."
"I love my boyfriend, and we're planning on getting married after college." I'm blessed to have already found the man I want to spend the rest of my life with. Why on earth would I want to date other people?!
"Well, just wait until after college. If you don't, use protection. Start taking the pill or something. Then again that doesn't always work; our protection broke! That's how I wound up forty-one and in college."
"Mmmm...."
Let's just say I was extra happy when the bus came that day... But at least it makes me think. I mean, does everybody think that, if you have a significant other, you immediately and constantly hop into bed with them? That I can't spend the day with my boyfriend and not have sex? That you shouldn't keep your significant other for a long period of time, instead getting rid of them as soon as you can so that you can find new people and get in bed with them instead?
Current Pleasure Reading: still Umberto Eco's book
Current School Reading: Dante's "Inferno"
Currently listening to: "Lookin' for a Good Time" by Lady-A, "Closer" by Ne-Yo, "Colors of the Wind" by Marilyn Brynes, "Your Love" by Emma Burgess
To-Do Listy: Still scary, will hopefully be better after Tuesday
"Not necessarily...."
"Well, you know how--"
"My boyfriend and I haven't; we're saving that for marriage."
"Well, you're unique you know."
"..."
"You are, you're very unique. Is he very religious?"
"...we're both Christians." religious? and why did you use it so incredulously? I don't think I like this word; it has too many dark connotations. Christianity is believing that everyone has sinned and are doomed to go to Hell. That the only way out of that end is Christ's love, is the belief that He came in human form and died for our sins.
"Now you're the type of girl I'd want my son looking at. You'd make a good couple!"
"I'm not single."
"Well, I meant if you were. How long have you been together?"
"Three years next month."
"What?! That's way too long! You need to dump him and date new people! You need to get out there, one person isn't enough."
"I love my boyfriend, and we're planning on getting married after college." I'm blessed to have already found the man I want to spend the rest of my life with. Why on earth would I want to date other people?!
"Well, just wait until after college. If you don't, use protection. Start taking the pill or something. Then again that doesn't always work; our protection broke! That's how I wound up forty-one and in college."
"Mmmm...."
Let's just say I was extra happy when the bus came that day... But at least it makes me think. I mean, does everybody think that, if you have a significant other, you immediately and constantly hop into bed with them? That I can't spend the day with my boyfriend and not have sex? That you shouldn't keep your significant other for a long period of time, instead getting rid of them as soon as you can so that you can find new people and get in bed with them instead?
Current Pleasure Reading: still Umberto Eco's book
Current School Reading: Dante's "Inferno"
Currently listening to: "Lookin' for a Good Time" by Lady-A, "Closer" by Ne-Yo, "Colors of the Wind" by Marilyn Brynes, "Your Love" by Emma Burgess
To-Do Listy: Still scary, will hopefully be better after Tuesday
Saturday, March 19, 2011
My Journey
This past semester has been the most stressful one so far, and it, along with life, has made it very difficult for me to find time to write. I think that this blog will be a way to help me get some writing in at least once a week. I'm going to try to post every saturday when I get home from my Weight Watchers meeting and breakfast at Subway-both with my momma.
I joined WW two weeks ago and Mom joined the week before. Duirng my first week, I lost 3 lbs, but this week I gained .4 lbs. My struggles with this are eating out, soft drinks at work, trying to find healthy choices on campus, and the fact that I work at a buffet and therefore eat there three days a week.
At work last night, I fell on my butt... It was more embarrassing and amusing then painful. I only had ten minutes to get the garbage together, so I was running around like a spaz and didn't see the rice that had spilled in the kitchen.
On Wednesday night, I had to shut down frontline on top of cleaning the bathrooms, which is the cashier's responsibility. Frontline is where our customers get their drinks when they first come in, so there's a lot of cleaning involved. Besides that, when you work on frontline you have to run back to the dishroom to get plates and trays-both have to be checked by you-and more cups and coffee mugs. It took me an hour and a half to do all of this because I had to keep running back to the register to take care of my customers. I also pulled something in my back because I was stupid and picked up a tea urn when I didn't realize that it was quite that heavy.
Am missing my K. Normally, I don't get to seem him until Sunday after we have lunch together on campus on Friday, and it's the same this week. But he left on an Ecology field trip on yesterday and won't be back until sometime tomorrow. I know that it's the same amount of time, it's just a bigger distance and feels different somehow.
Current Pleasure Reading: "The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana" by Umberto Eco
Current School Reading: "The Arthurian Romances" by Chretian (for Medieval Literature)
Currently listening to: "Love Don't Live Here" by Lady A and "On the Floor" by JLo and "Adorn" by Thad Fiscella (on Pandora Radio; I have a random mix going)
To Do Listy: Scary
I joined WW two weeks ago and Mom joined the week before. Duirng my first week, I lost 3 lbs, but this week I gained .4 lbs. My struggles with this are eating out, soft drinks at work, trying to find healthy choices on campus, and the fact that I work at a buffet and therefore eat there three days a week.
At work last night, I fell on my butt... It was more embarrassing and amusing then painful. I only had ten minutes to get the garbage together, so I was running around like a spaz and didn't see the rice that had spilled in the kitchen.
On Wednesday night, I had to shut down frontline on top of cleaning the bathrooms, which is the cashier's responsibility. Frontline is where our customers get their drinks when they first come in, so there's a lot of cleaning involved. Besides that, when you work on frontline you have to run back to the dishroom to get plates and trays-both have to be checked by you-and more cups and coffee mugs. It took me an hour and a half to do all of this because I had to keep running back to the register to take care of my customers. I also pulled something in my back because I was stupid and picked up a tea urn when I didn't realize that it was quite that heavy.
Am missing my K. Normally, I don't get to seem him until Sunday after we have lunch together on campus on Friday, and it's the same this week. But he left on an Ecology field trip on yesterday and won't be back until sometime tomorrow. I know that it's the same amount of time, it's just a bigger distance and feels different somehow.
Current Pleasure Reading: "The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana" by Umberto Eco
Current School Reading: "The Arthurian Romances" by Chretian (for Medieval Literature)
Currently listening to: "Love Don't Live Here" by Lady A and "On the Floor" by JLo and "Adorn" by Thad Fiscella (on Pandora Radio; I have a random mix going)
To Do Listy: Scary
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