Feburary 15th, 2008
6:45p.m.-8:55p.m.
"The Bar"-First Chair
Left Side of Pages 4-7.
"Observations"
-I feel my legs turning and twisitng the chair.I can even feel the bar pole beneath my feet.
-I look up and notice that the manager is cussing at the Keno machine, I laugh because I know that, tha's probably the hardest thing he has to do all day other than treat people like me like shit.
- I see the lead Bartender filling up a Bud Lite and watching all the foam ouzz over, I already know that will be one out of the one hundred that she will poor today.
- I hear behind me two girls (waitresses) fighting about who wants to take a table with these regular customers that are rather picky but still need attention and no one wants to wait on them.
- Finally they rock,paper,sissors and girl A loses, she gets there drinks and mutters something rude as she walks away.
- I sigh a little bit because I look at up at the clock and notice it's only 7:00.
- I decide to get up and walk over to the jup-box and put a few quartors in and play a small amount of songs to make the time go by faster.
- I think before I put the last quator in and remember I could go ask the bartender to give me free credits so I won't have to pay, but then I also think that I'll have to talk to her so I re-think everything and put the last quartor in and shake my head.
-I walk back to my little turney chair and sit down and start to play with staws because today there seems to be a dead spot in the night.
- I figure if I go back in the kitchen something interesting might be going on...
- Thank god I'm right the cooks and the waitresses are at it again fighting about wrong orders that are made and food not coming out on time.
- I sit again the table with the coffee machine, and ice tea maker to see if anything will evolve.
- The manager came into the kitchen and heard the music was turned up really loud, then saw that the girls were getting fustrated by not being able to communicate.
-The manager then goes around to the back of the kitchen where the cooks are and turns the radio down and walks out of the kitchen and back into the resturant.
-The girls all smile at each other and make a "ha, ha" remark.
- I smile a little to trying to hide the fact that I really despise the cooks and the way they talk to me.
- Then the lead cook remarks to the other cook back that all the girls are bitching and fucking annoying (exact words) and shakes his head.
-Then one of the girls contiues the fighting by agging him on with a wahhh noise treating him like he's a baby.
-The cook gets 20 times more pissed because he's know for his very short temper and takes the cooking oil and spray's it at the girl as well as part of me.
-She get's upset and marches away probably to go tell the manager.
-I on the other hand shake my head get a towel and clean myself up.
-I decide I have had enough for tonight and pack my things up and go home to type what I have seen to you.
Right Side of Pages 4-7.
"Ouestions and Observations"
-So many nights have gone by that I have seen drunks fall off this chair and waitresses count there money before they leave for the night. I can't believe I have worked here this long.
-Why did we even get keno anyways, the place where you get you ticket to play is right above the place where we keep all of our beer, bottle, boxes so it's a pain in the ass to put them away with gambaling attics standing there.
-I've seen once how they change the draft beer's it's kinda cool how someone from the back goes and gets a keg the rigs it from under the bar. I hate beer though...its nasty, I mean yes my father was a drunk that loved beer but thats not why I hate it, I have tryed to sip it down but the only way that I'm gonna drink is if I'm really fucking thirsty.
-You know I'm really tired of hearing waitresses complain that they never have enough money or have to get things for there kids and blah,blah,blah because when it comes to a table that the people are a little difficult no one wants to get off there ass and get the job done,that's how you make money.
-Who the hell is in there mid 20's and rock, paper, sissors what babies.
-I hate the clock right by the bar...it's like 15-20 minutes forward and when I'm working a shift I would always look at it and get excited because I thought I would be almost off work and then I would remember that its fast...it pissed me off.
-This damn box seems to never play anything I like...or ever have songs of bands that I actually listen to. You think that it being on "internet" jup-box it could friken find some of the music I listen to but nooooo only country and hick-ass stuff it available ohh yeah and the alternative rock crap and some rap...lucky me.
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2 comments:
I was quite interested in reading the interactions with the waitresses especially with the girl who made the "wah" noise that you inferred meant that she was saying the other person was treating her like a baby. Perhaps you could do an interview with the waitress asking her about what she wants from the job and why she feels like she is being treated in an inferior way. An interview with the person whom she said "wah" to might also be interesting for their views on such a subject.
Wow. It's hard to believe that the people you work with interact in this way! What a crazy "behind the scenes" look at some awful human relations issues! It is no wonder that you hate this job so much!
Lots of interesting observations and thoughts/questions. You made me wonder about lots of things. Is the keno strategically placed in your opinion, or was that spot simply the only place it could go? Why have two addictive and potentially problematic items (gambling and alcohol) placed right together? It's a little ironic, if nothing else.
Your notes make me think back to your "diner talk" source. It seems that cussing is pretty prevalent in this community (I wonder if that's true in most restaurants, or just this one...or restaurants similar to yours in some way...?)
So "diner talk" might include cussing? This might be something for you to continue to observe/look out for/investigate.
I thought the "wah" noise was pretty interesting too, especially within the context of how these members communicate. I wonder if there's any research out there on aggressive/negative communication trends in restaurant employees. I wonder if you can connect any of the negative aspects of this community that you are observing to textual research - have you found any articles along these lines? Do the trends you've noticed in this restaurant "mesh" with what you see in the research? Do you think this negativity you are observing is unique to your specific community, or do you see this as a larger symptom of restaurant culture?
Fascinating stuff!
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