Work at a Restaurant: Part 3

When your server brings you your drinks, he or she will ask you if you are ready to order. This is not meant to pressure you, so please just be honest with us and tell us if you need more time. At this time, your server should inform you of any special events that evening, if they didn't do so before. If you have any allergies, it is very important to tell your server right away, because they will put an alert with your order to ensure that the kitchen is informed and makes necessary arrangements. Guest safety is our number one priority. We want you to leave full and happy, not in an ambulance or with a rash.

Your server will also brief you on specials for the day (Thursday night is martini night! All martinis for only $4!), and the soup of the day. If you have any questions about menu items, feel free to ask. I know at our location at least, we know the food well, because we eat it ourselves. Personally I couldn't work for a restaurant if I didn't like the food there myself.

Once your server has taken your orders, they go to the Positouch, which is a touch screen computer. Each server has a magcard that they use to unlock the system. Here is where your order is punched in, and it is received on another screen in the kitchen, as well as a screen in the fast lane for the expo.

When an item is first entered, it is highlighted red. Once a cook begins preparing it, they are to "bump" it to the next step, and it becomes highlighted blue on the screen so that the expo and the server knows that it's on its way. When the order is fully prepared, it gets sent across the counter to the expo, and it gets bumped to green. The expo makes sure that it is prepared correctly, and that all side dishes are present as well. They put knives with steak and ribs, spoons with soup, etc.

Once the server gets the okay from the expo, the order is then brought out to the table. We bring everyone's meal at once, even if something is prepared early. No one likes to have half the group finish before the rest even get their meal. When things are very busy, it may not be your server who brings the food to you, someone else who has a second will run the food to you.

Enjoy!

Work at a Restaurant: Part 2

When we last left off, you were comfortably seated with menus. This is where your SERVER (me!!) comes in.

The SERVER comes over and introduces him/herself, and since here in Canada we are bilingual, most servers are also bilingual. We take note of what language menu you have (at Boston pizza we have a French menu and an English menu, not one bilingual menu. The HOST will have offered you the choice when you walked in.) and address you in that language, but if you begin speaking the other language, we switch also.

If you seem in the mood, we will try and make a bit of small talk to be personable and friendly ("You're among friends at Boston Pizza!"). For example, I decided to tell my first table that they were my first customers, and they had a lot of fun with that. They even wrote me a little encouraging note and left it with my tip. So talking with the customers makes both parties feel relaxed.

Usually customers will not be ready to order this early, so we offer them drinks first. The SERVER gets soft drinks or water him/herself in the "fast lane," but any specialty drinks or alcohol come from the bar.

Let's back it up: What is the fast lane anyhow? It is located between the kitchen, or the "heart of the house," and the dining room. There is a counter on either side of the fast lane. One side has things like the coffee machine, the takeout warmer, and the soft drink dispensers. The other counter is where the food comes out of the kitchen. The EXPO lives in the fast lane (more on this later). The fast lane is a one-way street, to keep it flowing since it's not very wide.

So your SERVER gets your drinks from there and brings them to your table. Have I mentioned refills are free at Boston Pizza?

Work at a Restaurant: Part One

I'm betting my friends are all sick of hearing me talk about it, but I just adore my new job waitressing at Boston Pizza! It's a lot of fun and a great environment, not to mention an establishment I can be proud of (I will take this opportunity to assure everyone of how sanitary everything is).

However, one thing that has forever been spoiled for me is the magic of eating at a restaurant. You sit down, order, and the food just arrives to you, right? You rarely question how it got there.

Behind the scenes it is crazy. Fun always, but crazy! I can't emphasize that enough! Here's some stuff you need to understand:

You enter in the doors and are greeted by the HOSTS/HOSTESSES, who seat you. How do they do this? Behind that desk is a whiteboard with the floor plan on it, the tables are all given numbers according to their section and position. This floor plan is divided equally between all the servers on shift that night. This is called "cutting the board." When a server goes home, the board gets "recut" to cover that section. When seating guests, the HOSTS always try to give booths before tables, and to keep all server's sections equal.

HOST also operate the cash register and receive take out and delivery orders by phone. There are usually three HOSTS on duty to be able to cover all of these requirements.

All that work, and you have only just sat down...

Counterfeit Bus Tickets

The OC Transpo strike is over. Ottawa is moving again. If it still takes you three hours longer than usual to get to work, you need to buy a new car; it's not the traffic.

Besides the new HUGE tickets (What did they do? Hire blind drivers?), something new, at least to me, is the rumour of counterfeit bus tickets.

Is this people's way of exacting revenge on OC Transpo for the inconvenience they suffered during the strike? That's the only way I can think to explain it, since it's likely more expensive to produce fakes than to buy real tickets.

Maybe it's the rush of getting away with it, I don't know. But come on, people; it's not like you just robbed a major bank. If you need to feel like you're a rebel, stick to your virtual video game worlds.

HPV Vaccine- More Info

I found a very good site when it comes to researching the lesser-broadcast dangers of vaccines. It should be noted that it is extraordinarily pessimistic, however they bring up valid points. Here is the page on the HPV vaccine I wrote on earlier:
http://www.vran.org/vaccines/hpv/hpv.htm

The Flu Shot: Useless

Here's an interesting tidbit: the flu shot this year does not actually protect against the flu.

As I explained earlier, because the flu is a virus that changes and mutates, a new vaccine must be put out each year to be effective against the current flu. Well, when the next year's flu shot is being developed, it's more or less educated guesswork. This year's flu shot was guessed wrong. It does not protect against the current strain at all. It stops a very rare form of the flu that is barely prevalent and not a concern.

If you've had the shot this year, don't panic, it's not harming you; it just isn't helping you. So the moral of the story is, wash your hands and drink your orange juice!

More general info on this vaccine: http://www.medicalconsumers.org/pages/FluVaccineisRarelyEffective.html

Skipping: In High School, It Doesn't Mean Jump Rope

In high school, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who has never skipped a class by the end of the four years. I'm sure there are some, but it seems like these are an endangered species.

Some reasons I've heard for skipping:

• Issues with teachers; meaning, strict teachers, conflicts between students and teachers, etc.
• Incomplete homework, or a presentation of some sort that the student is unprepared for. Often, In group projects, one person of the group volunteers or is elected to take one for the team and save the rest by skipping the class.
• Other homework. I know a lot of people who will skip a "less important" class to study for a test or do homework.
• Study hall or supply teachers. The rationale behind this excuse is that nothing useful will be taught during that period anyhow. Work periods are also included in this. When asked, the student will probably say, "Well, it's just (fill in the blank)."
• Pure laziness, carelessness, or other plans. By "other plans" I am not referring to valid reasons such as doctor's appointments. I mean, "Yo, we're all skippin' English, gonna go play Rockstar at Jeremy's; you in?"

I'm sure there are more, but those are the main ones. I am not a skipper by nature, I have a theory that my conscience is about 12 times the size of the average person's. However, I have skipped a handful of study halls after convincing myself that they weren't really useful.

And maybe there are some times where skipping can be seriously justified; I don't know. How does one judge that? But I do think that there is a lot of excessive skipping, and it is problematic.

My two main issues with chronic skipping are lack of respect for authority figures, and lack of work ethic/selfishness.

Your teacher has chosen to condemn themselves to be in a classroom everyday for a career, to help teenagers grow, to teach. Maybe you don't feel they really care, and maybe they aren't passionate about their job. However, think of the term "high school career." If high school is your work place, where we work to earn grades rather than money, then your teachers are your superiors, and as such, you must respect them. Skipping is blatant disrespect. You may as well say, "I do not care about your class. The information you are passing on to me means nothing. I don't have to listen to you."

And in this way, the issue of disrespect links to the issue of self-centered attitudes and terrible work ethic. What happens when we graduate and take this mind frame with us into the work force? When we "enter the real world," as we are so often told?

We get unreliable employees who call in sick just because they would rather stay in for a day, who aren't committed to their jobs, who expect everything to land in their laps, who produce very little. What started with skipping French, ended with a less than motivating dead end job, that you are probably at risk to lose.

If you must take it selfishly, you're not doing yourself any favours.