Bet He Made Lots of Sympathy Tips

Last night, I had my final training shift (Thank God). I was supposed to take all of the tables in Jack's section while he trailed me. First hitch: slowest. night. ever. Seriously. I started at 5, and we didn't get a single table until 8. At the beginning of the shift, the manager on duty held a servers' meeting, at which the first item on the agenda was "No socializing with the kitchen." Ostensibly, this is not because they don't want us to be nice to the cooks, but because the kitchen guys were complaining that they were having trouble getting their work done because we servers were talking their ears off. Maybe. I don't know. Either way, the first thing that the manager did after the meeting disbanded was walk over to the window and start chatting with the line cook.

Incidentally, item number two on the agenda was "There are no side orders of the rice and lentil plate", and item three was "Don't forget that the front bulletin board is for suggestions from the staff, please feel free to use it." I tried to talk one of the other servers into suggesting "Add a side order of the rice and lentil plate to the menu".

When we finally got tables, everyone was very nice. People seem to be charmed by the whole "Hi, I'm Katze, I'll be your server tonight, but I'm in training, so this is Jack"-- gesture behind me--" and he's keeping an eye on me tonight" spiel, and every single table went out of their way to tell me that I was doing a great job, just wonderful. My favorite customer of the night was an older gentleman who looked just like My Favorite Martian and his lady friend. He kept winking and smiling at me whenever I passed, though not in a creepy or flirty way, but more like little bits of encouragement. When I finally brought their check, he told me "You'll be headwaitress in no time at all!" I wanted to pinch his little cheeks, he was just so sweet.

I took and passed my serving test this morning, and tomorrow I start my first shift. One of the managers commented that she was sure glad I passed my test because I'm on the schedule 6 days next week, including two doubles. *gulp* I guess I really will be raking in the cash, and also I will be forgoing my social life, so I'll be saving money at the same time!