The joys of being a waitress...

So, I'm just sitting here, watching Desperate Housewives. I love that show. Dave makes fun of me for watching trashy tv. I'm such a terrible blogger. I'm off track this semester so I thought I would catch up on my blog! (Not having school is so so nice cuz its always 100 below 0 in rexy and I would really hate to go to school in the cold). I have no idea what to do with my time. I feel like I need to be typing a paper or studying for a quiz! Its amazingly nice to have so much free time, but I'm starting to feel a little lazy. I've been job hunting, but its hard to find anything good in Rexburg.

So I'm stuck serving at Carinos. Its not bad, the money is dang amazing, but I would like a 9-5 job. Plus, I'm starting to turn into a bitter old woman cuz some customers are so ridiculous I just want to throw pasta on them! I'm a pro waitress. I've been one since high school and I could write a book about silly customers and experiences from workin in the restaurant biz. I am always really really nice to people no matter how grouchy they are. I'm very friendly and outgoing and even when they customer is wrong, I make them feel like they are right (well I really try anyway). I've always been really really nice and do a really good job. The funniest thing is most people treat servers like they are idiots, but in reality, the customers are the idiots. I have had to deal with rude people, but no one has ever gotten mad at me specifically or one thing I have done. They are either just grouchy people or mad about their food which I have no conrtrol over anyway. Most people are all really nice back to me. Last Saturday this wraunchy older woman that wore way too much makeup and wore wayyyy too low of a shirt for her age, came in. She ordered her food and was really nice, and I was really nice to her. Her and her daughters ate really really really slow but I kept checking on them. Finally she asked for boxes. So I brought her boxes. When I came back she got really mad at me and raised her voice saying I should have boxed up all her food (even tho she was still eating) and she didn't care how busy I was, I should have helped her cuz she had so much and couldn't do it all by herself (which I thought was silly cuz its not that hard). Normally at Carinos we do offer to box up food, but she was still eating away when she asked for boxes. She had 4 bowls of soup she hadn't even eaten and when I offered to put them in to go bowls she rolled her eyes and said ''bring them out to me''. When I did, she made me box them up AT her table. So i boxed her soup up, brought her extra bread to take with her, and even brought her an EXTRA bowl of soup. Then I bagged everything up. I told her to take her time because she was STILL eating her dinner. I set her check down and told her not to worry about it til she was ready. (I figured that since she had asked for boxes, it was ok to set the check on the table.) I apologized for not boxing up her food and explained that I thought she was still eating (cuz she was...). Two minutes later she hands me her check and tells me that once I set the check down she felt rushed. I was so mad at this point because I had specifically said it was there when she was ready for it and that she didn't need to rush. She handed me her check, and I think she felt a little silly cuz she left me a $12 tip. I think all my tables thought she was silly too, cuz one dad with 3 kids was like ''you can just bring our boxes out here...we can box it all up''. Another table was sitting there talking to me really nicely and asking about myself like they could tell they felt bad I had to wait on this woman. Anyways, its just so amazing how ridiculous some people can be. She could have asked me nicely to help her box things up and I guess I shouldn't have assumed she was still eating her dinner (even tho she was). I was so mad tho, this ruined my night, even tho all the rest of my tables were super sweet and nice and left me big bucks. The joys of being a server...

Other ''joyful'' things about serving:
-People asking for refills as soon as you set their drinks down cuz they chugged it down in two seconds.
-People completely ignoring you when you ask how everything is or if they need anything, then when you're walking by the table 30 seconds later, they grab your arm and ask for ten different things.
-While your greeting your table, before you even open your mouth to say hello, they say ''I want a diet coke with lime''.
-People that think its ok to act like spoiled stuck up rich people and make you feel like a servant.
-People that get mad when their food isn't out in ten minutes...on a busy friday night.
-Men that think even tho they are 45 years old, you'll think they are hot and will go out with them (seriously all you guys this applies to, I'll flirt to get a big tip, but I do not find you attractive and will not go out with someone my dads age...)
-Women that are rude and bad tippers. This especially applies to moms with little kids that make huge messes and only order a salad and a water with lemon. Or middle aged women meeting with a group of friends they haven't seen in years who end up talking at my table for 3 hours. (I just tell myself all these women are mad cuz they are jealous that their younger years of being my age are gone...)
-People that think just because we have refillable bread and salads they can just get the ''refills'' for the rest of their family and not have to pay.

I guess I sound like a debbie downer about serving and you're probably thinking if its that bad then why am I doing it? Really, its a great college job and I really do like it (95% of the time). Some of the really joyful things about serving:
-Walking away with $230 bucks after a long hard day.
-My butt and thighs burning after one shift (less time at the gym!)
-People telling me I was the best server they have ever had and that they are asking for me next time.
-20-30% tippers (even on small checks).
-People that sit and talk to you and act like people.
-People that are grateful for waiting on them.
-Funny 60-80 year old men that say '' you're a good little waitress... and you're not too bad lookin either!'' while their wives just laugh and ask where i got my jewelery.
-Cute little kids that say funny things.
-Working with fun people.
-Being busy the whole time I'm at work and not sitting there bored.
-Making at least $10-$12 an hour on even the ''slow'' days. And making at least $20 on the ''busy days''.
-Free food :) mmm. nuff said.
-Making up different stories about my life to each table. Its really entertaining to be 3 different people at once.
-The interesting people you meet and become friends for the hour with. I've met some way cool people I think I would really be freinds with. I've met some really crazy funny people too that make you think what they heck where did they come from.
-People acting rude right when they sit down, then watching them melt like butter when I'm sugary sweet nice and funny to them. This is the funniest.
-When I forget to add sauce on the side I blame it on the cooks and tell the customers ''thats what happen when men cook''...then they think i'm super funny and like me alot. hehehe small lies don't hurt in this line of work.


So even tho waitressing does get tiring, I love it and love the interesting people I meet. I'm glad to know its not going to be my permanent career, its a great job to put my way thru college. I think that everyone should be nice to their watresess (unless they purposely are really bad and you can tell they aren't even trying). Serving is fun, dang good money, but sometimes can be mentally and physically exhausting. Tip your waitresses and don't treat them like they are idiots. Most of the time they aren't.