And the results are.....

I walked 183,486 steps in 1 month at work...that's equivalent to about 70 miles that I walked inside of that restaurant! I think that's pretty crazy, personally.  So, yes, thanks to everyone who voted...and I shall have to think about what to make my next poll...any suggestions? 

What Most People Fail to Realize (Part 2)

Welcome to Part 2 of what "What Most People Fail to Realize!" The topic I chose for this continuing series is "The little things mean the most." A few days ago, the boyfriend of one of the girls I work with brought her flowers at work sparking a conversation about how guys usually just don't realize how the little things mean so much.  Well, I gotta say that in most relationships the little gestures and words spoken mean everything to the receiver, and I've been learning how it's true when I do little things extra to make my customers feel like they're really getting great service.  Where I work it's not required by the management for the servers to do certain things like box the leftover pizza, serve the first slice of pizza, offer to take the checks up to the register or offer lids for sauce containers etc...but I always try to show that I care by doing those things and anything else I see may make my guests feel taken care of.  Even though many times they don't want me to serve their first slice of pizza or any of the other things I offer, I like surprising them with the courtesy of offering.  And, in return, I find that my customers return the favors like: thanking me for great service, complimenting my personality, leaving me thank-you notes or from my younger guests-coloring pages, and, of course, leaving bigger tips! Sometimes, I even gain their loyalty and friendship! I've been to a few restaurants, where the servers just do their minimal job requirements expecting to get the coveted 20% tips, but I find that restaurant's guests look to the little extra things to decide if their dining experience was good or not...like having the server engage them in entertaining conversation if appropriate. So, yes, I've come to realize that the  relationship between a server and their customer is very similar to a romantic relationship...it's a wooing process. And, sometimes, the wooing takes several different encounters before the customer expresses fondness, then there are times when the sparks fly from the very first! So, remember, the little things count in every relationship!


Also, I'm still counting down the days to the final count of my steps taken! I'm actually mildly surprised at what the results are so far, but there's one more week left in the poll so I'll keep any more comments to myself.  Well, except for this: Only three people have voted? According to the visit counter there are a lot more people paying attention to my Serving Tales than just three...so vote, please! All this talking about counting has me wanting to count my tip money...Hahaha, I think I've been a waitress for tooooo long.

So unexpected...

Okay, this isn't going to be a long post, but I had to tell this short story from today.  I got sat with a table of 5, set of parents and their 3 kids.  Their youngest was a boy of about 3 years of age, and he was throwing fits over soo many things, but he also said the cutest darn things! Like when I introduced myself "Hi, everyone. My name's Kate I'll be your server tonight, can i start everyone off with your drinks?" The boy's answer was: "No thanks, bye bye." And I was immediately dismissed by the child! Then when I brought out their pizzas, the boy dives into his to steal the sausage off of it...and I had to warn him "Careful, buddy, it's hot!" He says "You shouldn't make them hot, you should make them warm!" Hahaha! To a three-year old boy's logic, it seems very illogical to make cold food so hot that you have to let it get cool again to eat!

Really? Reeeeeallly? Seriously?!

One of my worst fears happened tonight...it was a very very(yes, I felt the need to bolden, italicize, underline and repeat the word in order to emphasize my point) slow night, and finally it was 15 minutes until close, and I was finishing up my last big task of the night: vacuuming, when...(insert drum roll here) a table walks in! (Gasp!) Our delivery driver walks over to me and says "Kate! Guess what?! Remember all those times you took a delivery for me late at night? Well...I got you a table! Have fun!" ::sigh:: Okay, so after some thought, I decide "No Big Deal" and reconciled myself to staying a little later than I thought I would. But, yah,  a table of three guys...They'll eat quick, not be complicated, and possibly tip well(because, guys generally do tip female servers well in my experience...regardless of whether we flirt or not!) I'll have them out in 30 minutes, and I'll be out 15 minutes later.  All of which, happened according to plan...except for the $1.77 tip? Yah, that wasn't part of the plan.  Seriously, you're going to come in, sit down, keep me, the manager, and two other guys past close, and then leave me not even enough to buy my own soda? I don't get it. So, yes see the title of this post to see where my thoughts were when I found out what they left for me.

Thoughts and Such...

I have not posted in a while, because there really hasn't been too much interesting or entertaining happening in the restaurant business as of late. I mean there was one frustrating moment on Friday, because of inappropriateness from one of my customers, but I really don't want to go into detail of that because it's not what I wanted to hear or what I want to have others hear from me. 

And...please, remember to vote on the poll on this blog! It just takes a moment, and my record-keeping of my steps is coming along quite nicely! I think you all will be intrigued to know the results.

Oh I just remembered a cute instance that I must share...I had a table of four on Monday, a mother with her two young sons (ages 8 and 10?) and another boy with an apparent mental handicap (age 16-17?) Well, I greet everyone with my normal "Hey everyone, how are ya'll doing tonight?" And the oldest boy immediately says "You're pretty." I smile and say "thank you." then before I can continue with the specials of the day, the other two boys chime in "He's looking for a girlfriend!" and "I agree with him, you're pretty!" Well, I immediately assure them all that I have a boyfriend, but I definitely appreciate the compliments...well, to make a long story short...the boys were more interested in me than in their food! Every visit to the table became ridiculous with comments of "You're a nice lady." "Do you have a facebook?" "You're so beautiful." "Does Pizza Hut have a facebook page?" And a hundred other things were said that I can't remember...it became a little embarrassing after a while.  The two younger boys were just obvious instigators...keeping themselves entertained with how I would respond to everything. The older boy was sincerely just trying to find true love! You could see the boy had an innocent and sweet heart. Seriously, though there was a refreshing bluntness and niceness about the boy...soo much that when he's walking out the door he tells me "My name is ______ ______ . Find me on facebook okay?" "Ummm...okay, I will." What was I supposed to say? I already told him I had a boyfriend, and I didn't think I should say "No, I don't really know you and I'm not going to look you up on facebook, because I don't want to give you false hope of a relationship."  Or should I have? I really didn't like the fact that I lied to him.

Also today there was an older man in his fifties with a mental handicap...I believe he was there with his caretaker who looked so similar to him that I believe it must've been his brother.  The man immediately offers me his hand and says "Hello, nice to meet you. " I smile and shake his hand and respond to the greeting in kind. There was such a sweet spirit about this man as well, that I started to think about how if only everyone was so friendly and genuine, the world would truly be a kinder place.  I also started to think about how there was a day where people with mental handicaps would've been rejected and treated as second-class humans...But I believe there truly is something to be treasured in these people...they have such innocence and genuine caring for other people, that it makes me think of Jesus saying these words "And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3

So, yes, these are the thoughts that I have been thinking and pondering...and wanted to share with you.

"Life gives you lemons..."

"...then just eat them!" Haha, that was what a father learned from his one-year old son tonight.  This little boy was munching down on a slice of lemon as if it was a piece of chocolate! Silly boy...but, hey, I liked the moral behind it....who needs lemonade anyways? 

So, I've been thinking about this...does corny/cheesy sell? Back when I first started waitressing my manager had a series of "server" meetings, encouraging us to learn all aspects of our job to please customers. Well, one of the things she stressed was "be corny, people love it"...and I'm coming to think that it does sell very well.  I see other waitresses be entirely too silly and outgoing and crazy compared to what I'm comfortable with being...I mean, I like to talk, but I don't like to be outrageous or feel like a fool.  So what has me thinking that cheesy sells is that I felt like a complete idiot today with one of my tables...and I was sure I had annoyed them to no end with a rambling story about offering to serve the first slice of pizza, but they tipped me really well! So...maybe corny does sell?

Okay, so on to the business at hand. The poll you find on the left hand side of this blog...well it has less than 30 minutes left.  So my plan is this: for the next 4 weeks vote on how many steps you think I've taken.  Now I'm going to break it down for you: my week starts Tuesday and ends Monday. I am scheduled for 36.5 hours a week, and sometimes end up working more or less.  I will only be wearing my pedometer at work, so this won't include my personal time and days off... Also, to give you somewhere to start off with, my busiest night is Friday and on a Friday that wasn't too busy I walked 10,000 steps in 7 hours. So, I'm going to crunch some numbers and get my own estimate so that I can set up the poll. I think the amount of steps I take is going to be pretty crazy!

Money Origami

One of my favorite things that a customer can do for me is leave me an interestingly designed and cleverly folded tip...Origami Money is one of the coolest things! Yesterday I was given a piece of origami money, and I couldn't figure out what it was supposed to be! I was sooo upset, because it was obviously something, but what it was was not obvious to me! Anyways, I showed my boyfriend's brother the creation shown below, and he knew what it was.  See if you can figure it out before you read on. 

Did you figure it out? It's a boat! Okay, so the top part is a boat, I determined that the bottom is its display stand, but that can be seen (with a little imagination) as a wave that the boat is sitting on. I was pretty ecstatic to find this on my table where a friendly older couple had eaten their dinner.

Now receiving that boat wasn't enough for me to post about origami money, but lo and behold I received another piece of origami today as well...and decided I couldn't resist sharing.  My other item of money origami was a little more obvious with its identity. Check it out below. :-)

Yup, it's a bowtie! And, though, I thoroughly love and appreciate the bowtie and boat (they're so much fun to show off) my favorite origami piece I ever received was a ring! I unfortunately didn't think to save the ring, or even a picture of it, but a long time ago a grandfather made a $5 ring and gave it to his grandson to give to me.  It fit my hand perfectly and was definitely some cool bling(though you shouldn't wash your hands while wearing it...lol) Here's a pic of what they look like that I took off the internet.

So, yes....tonight, I did a Google search for money origami and there are some VERY impressive pieces out there...which I can only hope one day someone will make them for me. But, if you're interested, as I was, do your own Google search and see some of the really creative money origamis out there, and if you're really intrigued go ahead and learn how to make one and give it to a server next time you eat out...they'll appreciate the time put into the making of it more than the actual money! Maybe you can come visit me at work...I would, personally, love a rose made of money...hint, hint. 

Farewell for now,

Kate Lynn