Category: First course

Here’s the good news: The new place begins mock service in five days. Why is this good news? I will have something far more interesting to write about than my incredibly introspective, interesting, and insightful assessments of myself. That’s right–enough about me. I hit a low yesterday. I shared it in this blog. Then I…

Top Ten Reasons To Wonder If You Are Right For The New Job: 10) You realize that those you will be managing actually know more than you do about your job–and they are all half your age. 9) You have acquired a deer-in-the-deadlights expression that is both unseemly and unlike you. 8) You find yourself…

“I have to tell you about my experience making a reservation,” Mr. Restaurant Gal said when I called home to see what was up in the late afternoon, knowing I wouldn’t be home before 10 p.m. “Oh, okay. What?” This is not a usual topic of conversation for us. “I have to tell you about…

At one moment today, sometime between 11:32 a.m. and 6:27 p.m., I realized I was subsisting on a handful of soggy French fries soaked in malt vinegar and a nibble of Sweet Tarts stashed in my briefcase. Yes, that’s right, my briefcase. Restaurant Gal had to bring a briefcase to work? Restaurant Gal actually owns…

Ten days ago I told my managers I was looking for my next opportunity. Monday, not even a week later, I was riding the bus to another part of town to say goodbye to one of my favorite bartenders who also works part-time at my restaurant. I wouldn’t see him again before I left. Before…

I took the job. The assistant manager job at the fine-dining place. In the words of Ricky Ricardo, “Lucy, what have you done now?” Well, I am confident it’s going to be great, terrific, unbelievable. That is, after I have read all the wine books, learned layers of fine-dining lingo, crammed for martini menu class,…

“Restaurant Gal, you’re the maitre d’ here, right?” asked the mother of a family of three who I had just seated in a booth in the bar area. Dad was reading a map; Mom was marveling at how we still had a smoking section and taking full advantage of it; Daughter was looking over a…

I don’t know which question slammed me more: “Why are you applying for the host job and not the assistant manager position?” -or- “Am I talking to Restaurant Gal?” Yeah, no contest. Am I really ready to be a manager? Ha Ha. Only kidding. What I mean is, am I ready to work for someone…

I have lead a double life these past few weeks. Yes, I have worked the podium from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Before and after, however, I have been operating under another identity: Private Event Planning Gal. And I love it. Love it. You see, the full-time private event manager took an impromptu vacation. I…

I am exhausted. The dogs also known as my feet are barking incessantly. My head is pounding. And it was slow–even for a Monday. There is a place in hell for the first day back to work after a vacation. This is the day you wonder why you ever took the job. This is the…