A Weekend In the Life of a Waitress

Well, it's Sunday. And I couldn't be happier about it. Sunday means no work, no work tomorrow, and the chance for me to do whatever I want, without having to do it before 4:00 (when I usually leave for work).

I really don't know what made me think it was a good idea to work my usual Tuesday through Friday this past week, and then pick up a Saturday shift as well. Working two weekend nights is simply NOT FUN. Especially because Friday was insanely busy. I was dead tired when I got home and then dreaded having to go back and do it again Saturday. Yuck.

"Min" was absolutely packed Friday night, largely due to the fact that we had a wedding rehearsal for 45 people in our back room. But of course that would mean that very same night would be the night we're the most busy we've been in a long long time. Not only was our entire back room filled, every table in our front area was filled for a good three hours. Joe decided to let me and one other girl (Nikki- been working at "Min" forever and probably would for the rest of her life if she could) take care of the entire Wedding Rehearsal tables by ourselves. Normally, I would not be overwhelmed or even that panicky about having to serve 45 people with only one other girl.

However, this particular wedding party + family were horribly obnoxious. They for some reason decided it was a good idea to keep switching seats and moving around, making it virtually impossible to remember where this pepsi or that salad (all of which were super specific...grrrrr) or that Lasagna was supposed to go. Please, Please, Please; if you are going to eat at a restaurant with a really large group, stay in your fricking seat. I understand the Bride and Groom should make their way around the room...but no one else has the excuse of bouncing around as if we don't provide chairs. And then the groom's parents had the audacity to only tip Nikki and I 15%. Hello, I thought it was common knowledge to tip your waitress(es) 20% for very large groups. Apparently not. But then again, I believe they are cheap, since they flat out refused to pay for alcohol for anyone, not for moral reasons, but because they didn't want to spend that much. As if "Min" is really that expensive. Ok...maybe I'm being judgey. Sorry. It's just my bitterness making me angry. Once Nikki and I split the tip, we ended up with $41 each...not horrible...but not to great. I was banking on at least 50.

When I got home Friday night I was utterly exhausted but was a trooper and headed back to work Saturday. While we weren't nearly as busy on Saturday (I in fact, only had 6 tables all night) all of our tables were pretty large groups and in my case, very very needy tables. I'm pretty sure my tables last night couldn't even take a drink of water without me putting a straw to their mouth. Everyone wanted their salad this special way, or needed 10,000 pepsi's to drink with their meal, or wanted 6 desserts To Go, oh wait, no for Here, or wait, could we do both?

Ah well, I can't really complain seeing as how I made $115 Friday night and $85 Saturday night. $200 in two nights is not to shabby.

So here I am, on a Sunday, very relieved to not have to deal with people and carry huge trays of hot food for another few days. Being a waitress is a fun job, but a frustrating job indeed.

So I'm going to go enjoy my day now, my last weekend here, because next week i'll be back in good ol' Freeport. Hasta Luego!