Besides being Hans and my 45th anniversary (months, but I wish it was years) last night was my first night back at my waitressing job. The place I work at is seasonal so I get January through the middle of April off.
In 1999 after 21 years of employment, the company that I worked for eliminated my department. I was lucky in that one of my co-workers, who was an incredible nebby-nose, sniffed out the upcoming job elimination and the company was forced to admit that yes our jobs were headed south.
Literally.
This gave us about 5 months to figure out what to do. It also gave us 5 months for many cat fights, snotty remarks, and back stabbing, as those who were losing their jobs wanted those who were keeping their jobs to suffer with horrible guilt.
They didn't.
I myself decided to get ahead of the game and pay off all my unneccesary debt which wasn't too much because I'm so cheap. So even though I had absolutely no experience I ended up with a waitressing job which proves that restaurants will hire anyone! Since I still had my full time job I waitressed in the evenings and on the weekends.
What a wake up call.
They stuck me in the bar on my first night and we got slammed! After a full day at my office job and then finally getting home around 3:30 AM from the restaurant, I really wondered how I was going to manage.
But I did.
But the bartending job was in high demand and I was new so they bumped me into the dining room. It was awful and I was awful. Out of desparation they put me in the dinner theater which was where I stayed until they closed for the season.
I was the only one who didn't get invited back the following season. I was that bad! I kid you not.
I was able to get another office job but it did not pay as well as my last (where I had made more than a lot of men which was a big deal in this red neck town). And back to waitressing I went.
This time it was at a very nice country club and it was without a doubt the best job I've ever had and they actually liked me enough to send me the following year to its sister club as a banquet manager. That was without a doubt the worst job I ever had and I walked out one night and never went back. Needless to say I couldn't go back to my favorite job after pulling a stunt like that so I crawled back to the place (where I am now) who didn't want me back and begged them for a job.
Of course they hired me because like I said before, restaurants will hire anybody. Luckily no one dreads working with me anymore and I've been there ever since.
What I was happy about; seeing my co-workers after three months off because they are all so great to work with.
What I wasn't happy about; my uniform is no looser this year than last!!!!!
So now, in addition to a little bit of sewing and my travels with Hans, you're now going to get waitressing stories that involve dropped wedding cakes, drunken golfers, getting screamed at nightly for my hair, and back stage sexcapades amongst the employees.
Stay tuned.
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2 comments:
I've been a waitress too. Waitressing is one of the more underrated jobs I can imagine, especially when you are working in a busy restaurant. I was a waitress at arguably the busiest Japanese restaurant in Manhattan, and I have never in my life done anything harder -- except for raising teenagers, that is. Very similar, but worse paid.
Kudos to you for working at a menial job instead of just sitting around unemployed. I've been there too, and it takes real guts and character.
I'm up for some waitressing stories!
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