Saturday, November 27, 2010

"The Fools of the Trade" c2010 by Joe Sixtop all rights reserved

     The carpenter has tools at work; nails, a hammer, a saw (except for Karen, she brought drums and an eating disorder). The electrician has those colorful wires and the plumber has a plunger and some wrenches.
     We've got an apron full of crap like inkpens, lighters, a table crumber if we're swanky, a server book and a wine opener. All this stuff comes in handy and if I show up at work without any of these, I'm pretty bummed.Of course, even at my most hungover, I've always got them and I get a little irritated when my coworkers "borrow" any of them and I don't get them back.
     A lot of servers, even good ones, underutilize one of the most useful tools of all: their manager!
     I'll always remember the time a manager bit my skull off when I looked into the office to ask for some help. She was looking at Ebay. But most of the time, they'll fall all over themselves trying to help us. If you're weeded, it could lead to unhappy customers and most managers hate that. We even had one guy who'd fill up the ice bins (or as we call them, ice holes) just because thy were low. Awesome!
     Just ask. They'll run food, get drinks, prebus, all kinds of shit. You want your shift to go well and your money to be good. Use every implement at your disposal.
     After all, you already know: your manager is a tool.