Recycled Story: Quitting the Radisson After One Day*

I know – one day. But…

Things I wish I had known before I applied:
- On average, breakfast servers only make $35 in tips for an 7-8 hour shift – and that’s the busiest time of day.
- A “busy” day consists of 35 tables in the entire shift.
- Most tips are only 10% on a $10-20 bill. You do the math.
- Asking guests if everything is okay more than once is considered harassing them.
- Being a waitress also means being a hostess, cashier, busboy, cook, and room service runner.
- There is so little organization that the tables aren’t even numbered and they don’t require their servers to learn the menu.
- “Good service” is not being polite, friendly, and welcoming – it’s being invisible.

So, yeah. I feel kind of bad quitting after a day, but that’s only because they’re pretty nice people there. But, oh well. It was a waste of time and definitely not worth getting up at 4:30 in the morning for.

The Radisson markets itself as an upscale hotel, but it’s all fake… Once you get behind the scenes, out of the public areas, it’s obvious that the management needs to seriously assess that situation. The kitchen is huge, but so open and empty…They don’t do enough business to keep it totally stocked (except for banquets and such, I’m guessing). The walls have huge stains on them, the wallpaper is old and faded, it seemed like everything was dirty, some of their cloth napkins have holes in them…It’s fake luxury. It’s all about appearances there. “We’ll set our tables and people will think we’re high-end, so they’ll pay $7 for a continental breakfast.” Sadly, it seems to work – although apparently not THAT well, considering how slow they are.

*Full disclosure: I originally wrote this in June 2007, when my brief stint at the hotel actually occurred.

Rat Race: Yes, I Kept It

Two cute guys sat in my section tonight. When I was clearing their table after they left, I noticed that they left their receipt on the table with the word “hottie” written on it. Danielle thinks they left it there as a “hey, you’re hot” kind of thing, since they were flirting with me the whole time. I think it would’ve been more effective to write “thanks, hottie” or something along those lines. Or to write it on my credit card slip that I was guaranteed to find. So I’m not so sure it was directed at me. Either way… weird. Amusing, but weird.

Less Than Anticipated

I only made $105 all day today. Wasn’t very busy though. Got cut at 7:20 because Nina and I were in the bar and we only had two or three tables each for most of the night. It’s about 20% of my sales though and I can’t complain about $350 in three shifts.

Exhausted.

But, my sunglasses are supposed to get here tomorrow. Yay.

Friends and Money

I love the girls I work with.

Girls’ night in next weekend, can’t wait.

Today was good. Made $135 in tips and about $46 in wages (although before taxes and I don’t get that until the 20th). That brings me up to $245 home with me so far this weekend, and I’ve got another double tomorrow so there’s another $150-200. Gonna be tired as hell though.

My thoughts are being reduced to incomplete sentences. Bedtime.

Sometimes Things Just Click Into Place

By the first of next month, I may not be living at home anymore.

The Boy and I found a place we like, and it’s going to be available in two to three weeks. We haven’t seen the actual apartment yet because the previous occupant just moved out yesterday, but I’m going to call next Monday and set up a time to go check it out. I’m really excited about it but I don’t want to give away any details in case things work out the way I hope.

This week is crazy for me. On Wednesday I have my three classes until 12, a lab from 1-3, and an observatory lab from 7:30-9:30. Then I work Friday night, a split double on Saturday, and a double on Sunday. I’ll probably bank at least $300 over the weekend. It’ll be exhausting though. I’m nervous about my Saturday morning shift because generally you have to wait tables there for at least four months or so before you’re scheduled for one, and there’s a good reason for that. This past weekend, Avery said that at one point he had 13 tables at one time. To give those of you who haven’t worked in a restuarant before a frame of reference, the average section is six tables at a time. Am I ready for that? No. Not at all. But I’m covering somebody’s shift and there isn’t anyone else who can, so I’m going to try anyway. At least I know I’ll make a lot of money just from the sheer number of tables I’ll have.

Rat Race: Too Young for That

I had a five year old try to order whiskey on Monday night.

His mom laughed and ordered him a “kid’s whiskey” instead. Definition: “Sprite with a shot of Coke.”

Five year old boys should not know what whiskey is.

Also: The guy at McDonald’s yesterday recognized me from the gas station I had seen him at earlier. It was a little strange.

Self Sells

Now that I wait tables, I always have at least $20 in ones in my wallet.

I feel like a stripper.

Sometimes I wonder if that would really be a whole lot more demeaning than waitressing. At least then I’d only be selling my body, instead of my entire self.

Meh. $65 on a Thursday night makes me not care too much.

Damn Rat

If you ever see a rat cross the street in front of your car, you might as well turn around and go home because you’re going to have an unusual sort of day.

That’s what happened to me on the way to work this morning, and I’m pretty sure it was a jinx because a lot of weird shit happened today. First the computer at work wouldn’t let my manager switch me from training to server, and in the process of trying to fix it my tickets got all messed up. Then it wouldn’t let her give me a new number and when that finally worked, it wouldn’t recognize the number and we had to reboot the computers for the sixth or seventh time. All the computer rebooting, combined with two cooks who get overwhelmed way too quickly, mean that the kitchen got extremely backed up and food was taking up to thirty minutes to come out. And yet I still got about 17% tips overall, so that part was good.

Then on the way home from work, my car died as I was turning off 288 onto King’s Row. Luckily I was able to idle across the road and onto the side, and there wasn’t any traffic, but still. I just replaced that battery last weekend! I still don’t know what happened because I got my car to start back up after sitting on the side of the road for 15 minutes, and my battery is fine now. I think I may be getting a new car tomorrow though. I found a really good deal on a 2002 Oldsmobile Alero (a 2-door coupe, not a granny car, thanks), so my dad and I are going to go look at it first thing in the morning.

I registered for school last night. My schedule is…
Monday/Wednesday/Friday
8-8:50am Mass Communication & Society
9-9:50am US History to 1865
11-11:50am Stars & the Universe

Tuesday/Thursday
12:30-1:50pm Individuals in Society
3:30-4:20pm Health Psychology
…So not exactly the schedule I wanted, or even some of the classes I wanted, but overall I’m happy with it. I’m actually really looking forward to my astrology class, and my health class. Individuals in Society sounds pretty interesting too. I think I’m just ready for school to start in general.

I Quit

I know – one day. But…

Things I wish I had known before I applied:
On average, breakfast servers only make $35 in tips for an 7-8 hour shift – and that’s the busiest time of day.
A “busy” day consists of 35 tables in the entire shift.
Most tips are only 10% on a $10-20 bill. You do the math.
Asking guests if everything is okay more than once is considered harassing them.
Being a waitress also means being a hostess, cashier, busboy, cook, and room service runner.
There is so little organization that the tables aren’t even numbered and they don’t require their servers to learn the menu.
“Good service” is not being polite, friendly, and welcoming – it’s being invisible.

So, yeah. I feel kind of bad quitting after a day (okay, so I didn’t even call, I just didn’t go back), but that’s only because they’re pretty nice people there. But, oh well. It was a waste of time and definitely not worth getting up at 4:30 in the morning for.

The Radisson markets itself as an upscale hotel, but it’s all fake… Once you get behind the scenes, out of the public areas, it’s obvious that the management needs to seriously assess that situation. The kitchen is huge, but so open and empty…They don’t do enough business to keep it totally stocked (except for banquets and such, I’m guessing). The walls have huge stains on them, the wallpaper is old and faded, it seemed like everything was dirty, some of their cloth napkins have holes in them…It’s fake luxury. It’s all about appearances there. “We’ll set our tables and people will think we’re high-end, so they’ll pay $7 for a continental breakfast.” Sadly, it seems to work – although apparently not THAT well, considering how slow they are.

About Damn Time

I got a job! I’m a waitress at the Radisson. My shifts start at 6am, eek. But, they end at 2pm, which means my afternoons will be free. So yay me. Now I can start saving money again.