Waiting

Since I am currently too busy with school and preparing for everything I need to do before I'm done with that and all, I have no idea what to write about. Again, if you want to know something, ask and I will tell.

But in the meantime, let's discuss the movie Waiting, shall we? (Since my sister got it for me for Christmas.)

This movie is a pretty accurate look at what it is like to work at a restaurant for the most part. Here's some scattered thoughts I have about it.
- Naomi. She cracks me up. Sure her anger is exaggerated, but we've all had our Naomi moments. We've all gone on a tirade about our boss scheduling so many people when it's so dead (or, conversely, having too few people on and having a night so freaking busy it's terrible. You just can't win in a restaurant.), mocked customers, then plastered on that fake smile and pretended to be happy to make nice to the customers.
- Foreigners. Kind of offensive, I guess, but sadly there's a bit of truth here. When you look at it from their point of view though, it's more understandable. In most countries that aren't the US, servers make minimum wage. Tips are extra for good service. Maybe they're not aware of how it is in the US (again, may I remind you all that servers make generally less than $3 an hour?), or maybe they don't realize how much is an acceptable amount to tip here. However, Asian business men tend to be an exception. They pretty much always tip the correct amount or tip generously.
- Sizing up the table. You know that scene where the hostess comes out and tells the servers they have tables? It's pretty true. We take stock of you before heading over, or after going over to go through our routine of introducing ourselves and getting your drinks. I don't mean that in a mean way. It's more like we study you, to know what our night is going to be like. We notice if you're very nice and in a good mood, if you're going to be needy and flag us down all night, if you're going to need a refill every two minutes, that kind of thing. We have to do it to do our job.
- Jerky guys who order for their date. I'm always surprised how many men do this. I always feel so awkward when I look at an address the woman at the table, only for the man to speak up over her and place her order for her. I don’t get it. Is it some kind of marking your territory thing? Look, she's sitting there at the table with you, so yeah we all know she's with you. No need to be a douche. She's her own person, let her order for herself.
- Fighting with each other. The part where Anna Farris's character shoves another server out of the way to put her order in the computer first always cracks me up. Everybody is in a rush to take care of their own tables, and sometimes it results in mad scrambles to get whatever it is you need before anyone else can. Sometimes the stress of a busy night can get to us, and we yell at each other. But really, it's all in good fun (at least where I work).
- Partying with each other after the shift is over. This is another thing that's very accurate. Servers do tend to do a lot of drinking after they get out of work. I guess we have to try to have as much as much as everybody else does in the weekend, but since we have to work the whole weekend while normal people are off, we have less time to cram it into.
- Older managers hitting on/hooking up with way too young for them employees. Maybe it's just a regional thing where I'm from, but more than one of my friends who work at restaurants have found their boyfriend this way. And several more bosses have asked out their employees.
- Pranks. We love to pull pranks on each other. Where I work, it's not a game involving flashing other people. We prefer to throw food at each other or down your shirt or put the most disgusting things you can think of in each other's drinks. We've also been known to saran things (purses, the contents of purses/wallets, somebody's supply of pills, cars) or move people's cars. You can pretty much be assured that something odd is probably going on in the back of the house during a slow night.
- Messing with food. We don't do this where I work. I would never work anywhere so disgusting and unprofessional, personally. But you know Monte's first rule? "Don’t fuck with people who bring your food." Yeah, that's not a bad rule to follow. There are too many sick people out there who get messed up ideas about what they should do to people they don't like. No reason they don't work in kitchens too.
- Discussing the biatches. Yes, we do this. If you piss us off, everyone else will hear about it. It's part venting, part sharing war stories, part warning, part just having fun making each other laugh by insulting that bitch who's treating you like dirt from table 12.
- That annoying table that comes in with 10 minutes until close. When you are told "we close [in a very short period of time]" the proper response is not "oh good, we just made it" it is "crap" as you walk out to go somewhere that is still open. To you, it't not a big deal. But to us, it certainly is. By this time, we likely have just about all of our side work done. We are ready to leave for the night. But instead, we now have to stand around doing jack shit for another hour (or way more, if you're an asshole who orders appetizers, soups, salads, entrees or talks forever after) as you enjoy your food. It's not like a store where you make your purchases and get out. It takes time. And we cannot do some of our clean up with you around. We cannot sweep under the tables and vacuum the floor with customers there. So this has to wait until you finally decide to leave. So that means we have to stay even longer when we should have been gone well over an hour, an hour and a half (or more) ago. And the thing that really pisses us off, these last minute customers never tip well and they sit around and talk for a long time after their meal is done in 90% of cases. Should you ever be one of these most annoying customers, tip your server well for their trouble and get the hell out of dodge when you're finished. (Now, I'm not saying bolt down your food in 5 minuntes and rush out. I'm just saying, when you are finished, pay, and leave; don't hang around.) Or if you want to sit and chat with friends for hours on end, why not get the food to go and eat it in the comfort of your house? Just don't make us stay for 2 hours so you can talk when you can do that at your house, the bar down the street, on the phone, or anywhere but where you make us waste our time and stand around doing nothing for no reason. Please.