hmmm
friday night was difficult, saturday night was easy. but it was saturday night that brought the complaint of bad service… the table wasn’t told that we don’t split checks for 8 or more, that we add 18% gratuity… it should be on the menu. correct, it should. but we just had new menus printed months ago and the cost to reprint them is high. none of us thought to put that on the menu.
and so we cannot please all the people all the time. and so again we display our humanity. it’s still a bummer to hear about people having a bad time… because of bad service… but i know we sent out some excellent food. the cashier was in a mood tonight too… “why do i bus a table and leave the dishes for someone else to clear? ”
it’s a fair question. i understand that as the leader i should be the best example. the other day i wanted to take some of this dressing to the kitchen and so i scooped it from the walk-in and walked it to the kitchen dripping the whole way… it is a ridiculous way to transport a liquid. i could have had two containers, one to scoop into the other instead of traveling with the scoop… so i briefly wipe up my drips, leaving oily drops smeared here and there… it was a stupid thing to do. i actually meant to come back and mop behind myself because i was so careless…
and the truth is i am in a hurry. too big of a hurry. i have a million other things to do, and so i do not close down the kitchen, i do not clear the dishes i have bussed, i do not wash the dishes i bring back. i have a different job to do. it’s a job that has parts of all the jobs. i do too much and i don’t do enough.
being the boss is the hardest position which seems like the easiest to anyone watching. if you work at satchel’s and you see me run in and run out and then don’t see me again that day, you think my life is easy. if you work at night and you see me a few times a week, and i am leaving dishes for you to clear and separate, you figure i must be lazy. if i am trying to spin 15 plates on 4 wooden dowels using each of my 4 limbs, and considering how to get a dowel and some extra plates spinning from my nose… you might see me and think i a must be a bum for learning such an easy trick. or you might have on trick glasses which only see me on a hammock without any plates at all near me, relaxing and reading a book. i think my favorite quote that helps enlighten the situation was from one of my managers recently… “it’s like a family here… but then at the same time, it’s not…” that’s a tricky sort of quote which releases me of my guilt and puts me smack dab in the middle of guilt at the same time. it is like a family. at work, we all love each other and care for each other and want to be accepted and liked… but it is also a business with bosses and problems and work to do and egos to navigate… i would love nothing more than to be the pizza guy who comes in and makes the pies faster than anyone. but what about the guy who comes in and sees problems to be solved and gets mad and points the finger and loses his cool? that guys job must suck.
i cannot physically come in and make the dough and the pizzas and serve the tables and bus them and ring people up and wash the dishes and clean the bathrooms and work the gift shop and work the back bar and make the salads and tend the garden and lock up at night. so i choose the jobs that i can handle. i have pretty much stopped taking the orders at the table. i have not done that in a long time. i have not made salads in a while nor have i spent a night washing dishes or ringing people up or answering the phones. but i did do all of those things before there were other people needed to do them. i still do some of those jobs and a lot of other jobs not mentioned.
it’s not easy being me
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