Day 14 of Nothing

¡Sábado Gigante! (Giant Saturday)

I kept it pretty mellow because I knew I would need all of my energy for work. I made heart-shaped pancakes. I doubled the recipe and they did not turn out as tasty as last week :(
Still yummy but not a fluffy, so maybe I will have to make two separate batches for quality control purposes. I decided to take in my work shirt. I have a XL black men's dress shirt. Arm length is great but I am swimming in it. I decided to sew two darts up the back and it made it a little more fitted and girlie. I also needed a new apron for work, my old one had holes in the pockets and was so faded it look almost gray not black. I had all of this black fabric laying around so I thought why not make a custom apron with pockets for my wine key (love the double lever), pen, crumber, lipstick, phone and check presenters. I used a double layer of fabric to make it thick and durable. It also lays nice. I left my old apron at work so I did not get the pockets just right, so I am going to have to adjust the position and pocket size. But it worked really well last night. I am happy with it and the lines are straight. I will post a picture after I wash it. It got pretty dirty last night.

Boy was it a big day! We have booked for at least four weeks for Valentine's Day. A wait list of at least thirty people. Yet we actually had people calling the day of, with confidence mind you, asking for a 7:00 reservation. Why don't you ask for a booth while you're at it. Ha ha ha (my evil sinister laugh). We had three reservations for every table, approximately 5:00, 7:00 and 9:00. Starting at 5:00 when we open ending at 9:45 being our last reservation. We had a set menu priced at $75 per person including a choice of starter, entree and dessert. Not including wine, gratuity or tax. I will address that in a minute. I went to work at 3:30 and we had people knocking at the door at 4:30, we don't open until 5:00. When we did open the door at 5:00, there was a flood of people and it did not stop until 9:30 for the lounge side of the restaurant.

My first table brought in two bottles of wine. Oh great this is how the night is going to be. I have no problem with someone bringing in a bottle of wine that is sentimental. However when you bring in a $7 bottle of wine that is marginal and the corkage is $25, you might as well order a great wine that is $35-40 on our list. My favorite part of this table was the fact the gentlemen insisted to have the wines decanted. Again, I have no problem decanting wines, but to decant a wine that does not need it is just showing off and wasting my time. I humored him and decanted both wines and set up different glasses for each wine and he redeemed himself a little by ordering a wine off our list, $35 Sauvignon Blanc though.

By this time they have two decanters, three bottles of wine, and four glasses on the table, just a little bit of high maintenance. Oh but it gets better. I guess out of the two couples at the table, the lady who made the reservation asked the owner if it was okay if her husband could just order dessert. He apparently doesn't eat very much but wants to take his wife where she wants to go on Valentine's day. She continues to tell the owner that they will tip as if he had the $75 meal. They proceed to take their own sweet time eating and I am getting nervous that the next reservation at 7:45 will have to wait.

The gentleman who brought all of the wines after their entrees is staggering drunk at this time, but the rest of the party isn't. Clearly this guy is on something else, because one minute he was fine and the next he is stumbling out the door. Just when you think it could not get worse, oh wait it does. I drop the bill and they split it two ways between the two couples. The one couple tips 20% but the husband who only ate the souffle tips 12%. What should have been a $80 tip turned out to be $56. I am not bitter, I just think it is funny. Why would you even come into the restaurant if you don't want our food or our wine. Hmph! This was my first table. Luckily most of the rest of my tables were not as bad, but they did bring in their own wine and half of them tipped an average of 15%. Well, if it was not for the quantity of tables we served, rather than quality of checks we would not have had a successful night.

I was very happy when my manager told me to transfer my last table to him and for me to go home. Yeah!, it was only 10:00pm. I paid for my water with a gift card that was left to us as a tip and called it a night. I got home to find Enzo wide awake eating mashed potatoes. My parents made a filet and lobster tail dinner for their friends, Eric, and I. Andy started up the grill and cooked the most perfect steak and lobster I have had in a long time. It was so yummy and well deserved treat after a long night.

I tailored a shirt and made an apron for free. Worked almost a full eight hours, making some great money and still had a Valentine's dinner for free. I don't think you can do much better than that.