It's a Mystery

Friday had the potential to be another painful 16+ day. Class at nine, bar by four. The impending-ness of St. Pat's also made me suspect that it'd be pretty busy. In light of this, I shuffled my SCWP hours slightly so I could get off campus by one. Even one hour is helpful, I've gotta say.

I got to the bar at four. There was one guy at the bar and nobody else besides staff. I got my first table almost an hour later. A couple more in quick succession, and I started to suspect that the rush I'd been expecting had arrived. Not so. I topped out at four tables, lost one and added two between then and when Laura arrived at six. It stayed slow for the next four hours, except now there were two of us.

In the course of this I sold a dozen or so appetizers, etc. Nothing incredible, but more than the others, so when I stepped back in the kitchen around eight-ish, Debbie handed me a "prize" for being the one with the most food orders. I got a Carino's mystery card. $5-$5oo, it promised. I'm always down for free stuff, and anything, even a $5 gift card, is nice to have by way of positive reinforcement, right? Since I was off Saturday, I decided right then and there that Saturday would be my day for solving the mystery of how much free stuff I'd been awarded.

Meanwhile, a couple of people I knew wandered in so I had someone to chat with for a bit. Then I wandered downstairs and set up the sinks for Skunk. Then back upstairs, a look at the clock, a sigh, and a "It's only nine o'clock?"

Guy: Lemme buy that table a round.
(2 hours later, after asking for the check)
Guy: Hey, I didn't order this shiraz.
Me: That's right, you didn't. The table you bought a round for did.
Guy: Oh yeah.

A couple walks in and looks around, trying to decide where to sit.
Brandi: Who are these losers? Are they my losers, or your losers?
Me: Yours.
They sit at the bar.
Brandi: I hate you.

Guy talking about his son-in-law: I'm the one who introduced them. I figured that if I introduced them there'd be no way she'd have anything to do with him, right? (He sighs)

Guy: I didn't know you were getting your masters or anything... You look way too young.
Me: Thanks for the, um, compliment?

By nine thirty I was pulling my hair out. Our end-of-the-bar regulars gave me somebody to talk with a bit, but even with them, it was painfully boring. By a quarter 'til ten, I asked Julia how long she thought I should stick around.
Julia: Doesn't matter to me, check with Laura.

Me: Hey Laura, you mind if I get out of here before the owner gets here and makes me stay two more hours with nothing to do?
Laura: See ya.
Me: I love you.

So, on the Friday night directly before one of our biggest drinking holidays, a Friday night which had seemed to promise loads of people and lots of running our collective butts off, I'm cleared out and on my way home by ten o'clock. I can offer little explanation.

On Saturday I did some shopping and went to Carino's to redeem my mystery card (a whopping $5). That place is downright quiet at five on a Saturday, I've gotta say. I brought a magazine to read while I waited and didn't even finish one story before my order was out. I felt a bit bad for my waitress, as far as I could tell she only had two tables: me and a couple at the booth next to mine. Later I overheard her and the hostess mention another server who was late for her shift, followed by my waitress saying "Just give that table to me since she's late" in a way that hinted she was as bored as I'd been the night before.

As I was finishing my fantastic blackberry cream soda I recognized one of the waiters in another section as a regular at the bar. It's always bizarre to recognize bar patrons in the real world - the whole seeing them outside of their normal context thing. He's one of the easy low maintenance types, and seeing him yesterday explains why. It makes me think of Tony's post from a while back. Having been a server for a while now, dining out tends to be stranger than it was before. Getting that behind the scenes look rubs off.

On a side note: Best wishes to all in the service (and especially alcohol-related) industry tomorrow. I'll be nowhere near the bar, and I am infinitely excited about that fact. If you got stuck working, I hope you have far more cool people than drunk amateurs and whatever you do, don't forget to wear your green.