First Day of Serving

Well, I served my first fine dining table today. I was supposed to be a "back server" which just means busser, but we got slammed at lunch. What do they expect when they only serve lunch for an hour and a half? So I ended up waiting on one table myself and bussing for three.

Three total grumps sat at my table. There I was trying to show my friendly, happy, great server side, and all they would do was grunt their orders to me. It wasn't horrible, but everyone else had nice people at their tables who kept telling them how good everything was and what a good job they were doing. Since we don't get to keep tips, praise is all we can get from these people, and I didn't even get that.

Otherwise, the day went fine. I was nervous for no good reason; I learned the computer system, didn't mess up any orders, didn't spill or break anything. Now the only thing I'm really dreading is having someone order a whole bottle of wine, since we have to do the fancy opening at the table, the whole fine dining blah.

I never thought I would miss working at a diner. When I was 21 I worked at a probably now defunct place called the Fireside Grill, and I was the only front of house person. I got to wear whatever I wanted and serve however I wanted. We had an old school register, donuts and coffee in the morning, and a fridge full of beer. My customers were a bunch of working men- guys from places like Interstate Batteries, because the diner was in an industrial part of town. I didn't have to put anything on a tray (today I had to deliver a salt shaker on a tray!) or serve the women first, or put the plate down a certain way. My boss there was a jerk, but that was the only bad thing about that job.

At least my boss at Cafe Bleu isn't a jerk.