Broken Hearted Runner

Well, my life certainly has taken a fork in the road. I went from unemployment, spending all day in my running clothes or my bathing suit - writing, reading, sunbathing, and sketching, to waiting tables - turning down one job offer for another, and continuing to get offers from customers regularly - while continuing my consulting work. It's quite busy and I'm enjoying it. For example, last night, I was waiting on a fun couple; I taught the engineer husband that there really IS a difference between pints across the world (go ahead look it up - there is a difference between a pint and an imperial pint). I think he really enjoyed being challenged to "Google" the difference. After that initial conversation, he kept making comments about how I'd be a great members to "the team." So finally, I look at look the wife and ask,  "Are you assembling a team of Super Heroes?" Both of them laughed as she handed me her card and offered me a position at ...

At the beginning of my second shift today, I asked around for some good material for my writing. I probably should have clarified that I wanted to write about other people's shitty serving experiences, not my own. It was totally different from last night. I was actually waiting tables with someone following me. The back of the house was understaffed and I was probably a little over zealous. My trainer and I took on some extra tables thinking that the two of us could cover a lot of ground. But, yeah, we can't cook the food so, we were left making promises and trying to keep people happy. I admit, that I was a little unprepared for this. After the first few nights of everything moving so smoothly at the restaurant, I was unsure of how to handle things. And honestly, I AM still in training, and I did make a few mistakes. The couple of small mistakes I made, however, would have been easily recovered any other night. Tonight was just a complete shit-show. I literally had a tab...

Day 3 of server training - Food running. Wow! That was fun. It was a super busy Saturday night. It was strange because the weather was supposed to be really crappy and rainy, so it was completely unexpected. I was afraid to run food because I thought it would be boring and honestly, I didn't know the floor plan very well. But I only made a couple of mistakes which were laughed off easily with the customer. And I learned a lot - fast. I had forgotten how much I loved manual labor, or service work. There is always something to do whether it's re-stacking the dishes, getting more glasses, cutting bread, or whatever. I love to be busy and busy I was. I'm pretty sure I have 2nd degree burns on my fingers from running hot plates. There were moments when I'd grab a plate knowing it was hot but it didn't have to go far so I took it anyway.  And then a large party would walk in front of me. It was like a test of my strength, "Just keep holding it, Sarah. You can...

Tori Amos has a song called The Waitress . Back in the good ol' Evans Seafood days I would listen to it after a bad day at work. Listening to Tori's haunting vocals and scream-singing along as I drove home always made the bad days better. Well, today was my first day back as a server in a restaurant after, what, 10 years? Wow. Things are different now. For example, I spent an hour and a half in a classroom setting, complete with a menu quiz before I got to walk the floor following a server. The computer systems are much more intuitive - I like that. But at the end of the day, it's just the same - hospitality and food service. I'm the second oldest person in the place - and the age gap is pretty big. I had a hard time dealing with the fact that my peers are only a few years older than my son. We played, "Guess What Year I Was Born" most of the night. The good news is, I don't look as old as I am (or these kids are really bad at math). The bad news is, I...

So, I have this friend, Joe. I know, I know. This sounds like it's going to be a bogus story, but hear me out. I have this friend, Joe. Well, maybe he's not a friend. Maybe that's a bit of a harsh word. Joe is a guy with whom I used to work. And, to be fair, I'm pretty sure that 6 years ago, when we worked together, that we were not friends. Actually, I'm pretty sure that Joe disliked me very much. Ooh, I'm going to say it... yeah... I was Joe's boss. And other than that one time in February 2011 when he and William and I went to Atlantic City on the company dime, I can't say that we ever did anything that would resemble a friendship (but that was a fun trip). So, what's the point of my story, you ask... I have been following along in Joe's blog , and I have found myself inspired. Like me, he admits to also being in the process of going through a midlife crisis (although he calls it something else), and instead of continuing down the p...