Mountains and Valleys

Its amazing how things work sometimes.

These last 8 days since I blogged last have been some of the most jaded of my life. Let me take you on a short recap:

The Sweet (not fruity) Car:

On Tuesday, June 20th, I started my vacation from the restaurant in fine style. My Dad, Grandma, and Jan (my stepmom) arrived in Seattle, on the tail end of a long road trip from Santa Rosa, CA, stopping to visit relatives and friends along the way. Along with them was the 4th member of the party (and my new best friend), a 2003 Honda Accord EX V-6 (with leather). This is now my new car. It's sweet. REALLY SWEET. The lease was up on it so instead of sending it back, D&J offered to buy out the lease and then sell it to me on very generous terms. I couldn't pass it up then, and I'm glad that I didn't now. Anyways, that night we went out to Joey's, a meat-market-trying-to-be-a-respectable-restaurant kinda a place. We turned in pretty early thereafter.

Great BBQ Beefy goodness! :

Wed, June 21st, we went and did a few things around the city, mainly getting all the legal stuff with the car out of the way, but also some fun stuff (finally went up in the space needle!) and then ended up back at my place for a Prime Rib that I had been marinating in anticipation of the gathering. Erin having discovered that my oven was broken, we decided to cook it on the grill outside (also taking advantage of the good weather). It turned out really tasty, and washed down well with the vast amounts of wine that was consumed. Erin (broken oven and all) really put the nail in our coffins with a desert of what I like to call "Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes" with coffee ice cream.

Don't know why you say goodbye, I say Hello!:

Thurs, June 22nd, I started the day by dropping off Dad, Jan, and Grandma at the airport, then came back and took my new car for a wash, to really get a grasp on what a sweet ride it was. Soon after washing, drying, windows, rims, tires, and putting on my new plates, I fell asleep for about 6 hours (still shakin' a hangover). During my nap, Erin went to the airport and picked up Bo, a good friend of ours from San Francisco, and (after I woke up) it was groceries and back to Erin's house for dinner. A few days earlier, Erin's boss had shipped 2 live lobsters as a thank you for her hard work, and they had been chillin' (no pun intended) in her crisper, waiting for the eventually jacuzzi ride into eternity. That night, we ate ate like kings. Friday, we hung out with Bo out at golden gardens, and after a trip to the liquor store, we came back home to my place and did beef shish-kabobs that I did on the grill. Blythe, a Seattle friend, joined us and we swapped mp3s, drank, ate, and basically lived it up.

Vacation is over:

Saturday night, I went back to work. It was kinda a shock, and I was a bit sluggish, but it was nothing too dramatic. I made some good loot and my tables were pretty much layer cake. Also, to my pleasant surprise, I found out that despite my vacation (6 days off in a row), I still had retained my weekend (sunday/monday). After work, I met Erin and Bo back up at the D&H (our local dive bar), and had a few drinks before setting off to Erin's house to sleep.

Andrew Jackson is drowning and other tales of Patio Hell:

Now, I don't know what possesed me to do so, but the day before I went on vacation, I had offered to pick up a shift for a co-worker on Sunday morning. He was going to Seattle's Gay-Pride, and I figured that after having that much time off, I could probably use a wallet-infusion, so I casually said "If no one else can, I'll work for you". I should have known better, these are words of doom in a restaurant. It's what you don't say if you really don't want to work. But, I had said them, and, in consequence, found myself on a very hot sunday morning patio closing shift. The temperature got to a roasting 90 degrees (All my California friends are saying "hmmpf!" right now), and it was my definition of serving hell. Hot, and the only comfort is the brief period of time walking into the air conditioned restaurant, before running up and down a long flight of stairs to the kitchen. To make it really awesome, one of the cocktailers scheduled to work decided that she wasn't coming back in, ever, so we had to work one person short, and a trainee even got in on the action. A bit of comedy though: About halfway through the shift, one of the cocktailers ran over to me saying "my tip just blew into the lake!". "How much?" I asked, trying to stiffle a laugh. "40 bucks!" she said. I looked over to the lake, and sure enough, there's 2 twenties staring back, soggy and floatin' out to sea, just out of reach. I told her to just keep an eye on them, that they would eventually float back into shore, (not really sure myself if they would), but they eventually did, and one of the bussers fished them out with a long pole he had found in the bowels of the restaurant banquet shed. After work, Erin and I went up to a disc golf course that we frequented last summer, and played a few rounds before coming back to my place to watch some HBO and crash.

At this point, I was flyin' high, having the best time I've had in a while.

Casius Cole

On Monday morning, I awoke to a massive spider bite on my shoulder, which had swelled to the size of a Kummamoto Oyster. (that's a half-dollar for you non-seafood loving folk) I don't know what bit me, other than it happend apparently when I was sleeping, and was roughly the size of a bulldozer. After examining it for a while, and determining that it wasn't poisonous, I grabbed my phone and checked my voicemail. Sean, (one of my best friends and co-worker) had left me a message at 3:24 in the morning.

Cash, aka Cashbo, aka the Snuggler, Sean's boxer, loving friend and adopted "family dog" had died, apparently of a heart-related problem. He was buried at Sean's parents house Sunday Night.

Now, Cash, for those who didn't know him, was the most lovable, cuddly, awesome guy that I had met. I've never seen an 85lb boxer try so hard to act like a lap dog. Sean often brought him over to hang out with us "guys" and play video games, throw a frisbee, or just to hang out and slobber up a good rawhide. Never had I seen him angry or aggressive. I also had never seen any symptoms of a sickness. In all respects, he was a well loved, well cared for dog, and somewhat a celebrity in our tiny circle of the world.

It was a pretty big shock. We're all trying to collect ourselves and get used to life without him, but, being so unexpected, it's gonna hurt for a long time. We are all just spending some time with Sean and with our other friends that knew him best, and trying to find a bit of comfort in each other.

Everything in the last couple of days has kinda been a haze for me.

I really don't feel like blogging about it anyways.

Vacation!!!!

On vacation this week (6/20 - 6/24), so I may not be bloggin' much.

This is the first stretch of more than 5 days that I have taken in the last 5 years, and I'm looking forward to it.

First off, I'm having company in the form of my Dad, Stepmom, and Grandma (arriving anytime now) on the end of a road trip. They are also bringing me my CAR!!!! (super excited about that)

Then, when they leave on thursday, a friend from SF is visiting for the remainder of the week, and I go back to work on Saturday.

Hopefully, the money that I have scrambled to save will hold out until then.

I could Muddra Beaaah

Tonight I had a lovely 12 top of Austrailians.

Interesting table, easy enough, by itself, but the restaurant failed me. It was one of those nights where every thing that can go wrong does.

People kept ordering wine that was not in stock. It seems our wine program always is on the fritz, but tonight was particularly annoying. It's an embarassing thing to go to a table that doesn't speak really good english and say repeatedly 5 times, "oh...I'm sorry, we are out of that one too."

The computers went down. Right when my large aussie table wanted to split up their 3 separate checks, the credit card machine died, which meant we had to turn the ordering computers off as well. The result is that we had to figure everything out manually, also taking manual credit card transactions, which, for a table of that size, took some doing. Of course I keep telling them they just need a modem that can handle the bandwith that we are putting through it, but they just shrug it off. The tech guys at corporate tell them the same thing, but don't offer to send us one.

Also, we seemed to be out of everything that I needed at any one given moment. Need to greet a table? No waterglasses. Need Bread? No butter. Need Coffee? None brewed. Need a salad? No Chef. Need a computer? SOL

No big deal though, just some minor setbacks, overall it was a pretty good night. I just hope certain people can just step up their performances, but all in all, not too stressful, decent tables.

Aussies tipped me 20%, happy waiter.

Good Monday for me.

Grad-yoo-a-shun tables

Now, I never was much for books and such, and never went to colledge-skool, but I shure do love when they come into my sectshun.

This last weekend I had 3 large tables (15 or more) in a row, so needless to say I was tired by the end of the night, but it was all worth it. (and nothing a few stiff drinks and 2 days off couldn't take care of.)

These people spend ALOT. I think the moms and dads are just so happy to not have to pay for school anymore, and they go nuts. This last weekend was one of the busiest that we have had for a while, and I made some good loot. Amongst all the Phd's, MA's, and BA's was me, an N/A, quietly cleaning up. Good thing too, as I had a big 'ol piece of beef to buy. (Prime rib for my family visit next week)

On the Paul Allen front, no luck yet (who'da thought he was so hard to get ahold of?)
:) gonna try a few more times, before I throw in the towel on that angle.

Viva La Westlake! - Part 2

So the open house was over.

I think we may have actually accomplished a few things:

1. At Karen's suggestion, We urged the city to work with WANA (Westlake Ave. North Association) to build a comittee, based on 1 representative from each of the businesses, resident areas, and marinas on Westlake, and meet with them to develop the parking plan more fairly. Karen - "We would like the city to consider this the Beginning of the process, NOT the end." (stall 'em!)

2. We may have gotten them to think about the bus routes a bit more, possibly adding extra busses (or even bus lines) to the westlake area (stall 'em!)

3. They might publish their notices in Spanish, as no city official wants to be the one suppressing the minorities. (stall 'em!)

4. The residents plainly stated thier case, and want more time to get the word out and talk with the city. (stall 'em!)

One thing that I know for sure, the lots in front of our restaurant are DOOMED. The reports and proposal handouts all made it very clear to me that those 2 lots are the center of the whole "problem", according to the city. That 500 yards is the most fertile field in the farm for them, and will likely remain "Premium Parking".

So what now?

The SDOT is accepting comments until July 7th, WANA meets every Thursday night. I am continuing to spread the word to everyone in our area. We I am also possibly going to try to contact the owner of the South area, who will be developing it into a park-like area (to be completed by 11/07) and try to get him to see our side of the issue.
The problem with that is the owner is Paul Allen.

Viva La Westlake! (Pottis Vs. SDOT)

Today brought the SDOT's Open House on the parking issue on Westlake. I awoke early, ready to march in the protest rally that would end up at the South Lake Union Naval Reserve building. A good friend and co-worker of mine had offered to pick me up and march with me, but unfortunately, when we arrived at the starting place for the march, no one was around. We waited for a bit, then headed down to the Open House. Upon arrival, I was not really surprised at the scene that awaited us.

It was your typical "not too serious city issue" meeting. Everything about the meeting, even the setup of the information tables, was carefully laid out to snub any opposition. DOT employees in their expensive suits were hobnobbing about talking with each other, and staring intently at me and my co-worker (who happened to be the only non-city people there at the time). Cheap refreshments a la Safeway had been carefully laid out on the table, and we were herded through a line that allowed us to sign in, collect our pretty yellow "comment form", grab a cheap pen that didn't work, and sit down at folding tables that were still scarred with food from someone's reception/retirement/etc. Held in what looked to be an old Gymnasium, there were tables set around the perimeter, each one labeled for a different group (residents, non-residents, businesses, and one that was cheerfully marked "transportation alternatives"), and city officials who looked poised to answer any question that you may have asked. In the corner, standing like an Obelisk of greed, a brand spankin' new Pay Station, which was escorted by a higher up parking cop (who looked as if she hadn't worked a beat in ages) I started to lose a bit of faith. There were only about 10 of us there, (my friend and I the only ones under 60), and there were only about 15 minutes until they (SDOT) would start speaking.

Not to be a wasted effort, I finished my page long comment form, handed it in to the Rubbermaid box, and casually strolled over to the "non-resident" table, where I met with a Ms. Marni C. Heffron. (the person who took the survey that started this whole thing) Our conversation went something like this:

Me - "One of the goals of this program is to meet the needs of the community right, so why aren't employees of the area provided options such as Zone permits or subsidized bus passes?"

Ms. Marni C. Heffron - INSOLENT FOOL! How dare you speak to me! You know not of parking affairs you pleb! You smell of Fish and Sweat! Run back to your kitchen and offend not my nostrils! You are but a mere child, mortal; do not bother me with your ruckus! If you do not agree with my parking summary, IN TO THE LAKE WITH YOU! Soon, ALL your money will belong to us!!!! MUAHAHAHAHAHAH

Ok, so maybe it didn't go exactly like that, I'll admit my disgust for the way this has been handled by the city has slightly skewed my outlook on the city employees.

No, Ms Heffron was a complete professional, but did not have the answers that I was looking for. I stumped her quite a few times, especially when I busted out the numbers that I had crunched as examples of what we'll have to pay. Her inability to answer easy questions (ones I could have answered myself actually) meant to me that she must be in agreement with me. She "agreed" with me that employees are affected the worst by the plan, and she also "agreed" that the fees paid by employees are considered a "negative consequence" (her words) to the plan. She started stumbling....

And right at our most perfect moment, at the pinnacle of our relationship, something wondrous happened.

The protest march showed up. Late...but then again, right on time

Suddenly, I was flanked by 3 or 4 crusty old guys (presumably boat owners), all listening to what the lovely (and now very jittery) Ms. Haffron had to say to me. They were not pleased. Next thing I know, Marni started shrugging uncontrollably, trying to fight off the facts and questions that were being forced fed to her. Poor woman looked on the edge of tears. I would have felt sorry for her, but I was too busy making new friends.

After we had reduced Ms. Haffron down to a puddle of goo, the presentation proper started. It began with the Wicked Witch (Grace Crunican- Director SDOT), reading verbatim the handouts that we had been provided, followed by Jumbo Cop telling us how it was to be maintained (tax money). Then they opened it up for Q&A, and that's when the real party started.

At first, their microphone for the audience didn't work, and we all had a good laugh (fitting metaphor for this whole thing) I was hesitant at first to speak, I've never been one for an open stage like that, and I felt I needed my facts a little more organized, but that didn't matter. The 3rd person to get on the mic. was my friend Karen (our director) who began her comments by reading my email to her concerning the restaurant folk. The 4th person was the person I gave my petitions to yesterday. So, after a few more, I figured that I can' t be just this ambiguous server hiding in the audience, and I stepped up to the mic. I really had no idea what to say, but I just wanted to make sure that we, the poor blue collars, were represented. I said something like this:

"Hi...uh...my name's Scott, and I'm here to represent the restaurant workers."
(round of applause caught me off guard, probably started by my buddy in the audience)
"I work with a bunch of people who are hard-working blue collar people, many of which can't be here right now because they are on the clock serving the Westlake area. We cannot afford to pay to park every day, some of us commute from 1/2 an hour away to work basically minimum wage jobs. And also, I think that all your little notices and publications should also be released en espanol because there's a good chunk of the population of Westlake workers who are Spanish speaking, are not represented, and don't have a chance to give their opinion. Thank you."

And I stepped away.

The kitchen guys say that I'm never going to have to pay to eat at our restaurant again.
(to be continued)

Pottis vs. S.D.O.T. (round 1)

The battle against the SDOT continues today, as I gave up a portion of my day off to go to work and hopefully collect more petition signatures. Not very encouraging, as many of the staff haven't even heard about the developments. The SDOT finally posted plans detailing which lots will have which kind of parking meters, (link Here) and I was not surprised to see that our 2 main restaurant lots are going to be marked "Premium Parking", so we will, at the very least, pay a lower rate, and have to park farther away. Now I am shifting my attention to try and make the employees of the area eligible for "RPZ" permits, which would be a 35 dollar rate per year (still ridiculous if you ask me) which would allow us to park in the cheaper zones without paying daily.

The thing that bothers me the most about all this is that nowhere has the city offered information about where the money is going, or why it's nesscessary. They've offered up reasons such as "strive for simplicity" and "Balance a variety of user needs", but no real solid reasons why it needs to be done. For employees of the lake, especially the blue-collars, it's just going to be another expense.

Also, No one is representing the South Lake Union area. The North end of the lake has all the wealthy boat owners, sellers, and marinas (including the live-aboards). The South end houses the restaurants (4 of em), the offices, and more yacht and marina places, as well as the seaplane business. I suspect, (and I don't think i'm wrong in doing so) that the restaurants more than likely have the most vehicles (both employee and customer) out of the other lots on the lake. I almost feel that we are being kept in the dark about most of this on purpose, so there won't be too many voices opposing. 90% of the people at my restaurant hadn't even heard about this, and the other 10% didn't think it was significant enough to worry about.

They know now :)

Anywho, by the time I had turned the petitions in, I had collected 60 signatures from my staff (not too bad considering the main online petition has about 120) I hope there's more petitions out there, as I don't feel that 180 signatures are enough for the city to take notice.

Round 1 is over, the fight still seems slightly decided for the city.

Round 2 starts tommorrow, bright and early in the morning, when I will go down and help with the protest march, which will end up at the city's open house, and hopefully some of my questions will be answered. If nothing else, it will be satisfying to finally meet with the people I've been emailing this week, and discuss our course of action.

Tales of 12th grade hell

So I apparently didn't get the full dose of Prom just yet, as last night had a totally different kind of hell for me.

Our brand new host computer system decided to launch today, So host-bot told me that there would be 12 of them, at about 5:30, half an hour after I clocked on. Prom kids like to travel in flocks, so this is usually the case. So 4 of them showed up at 6:00, also not unusual for a prom table.

So, I throttle out the bread and water, and ask the 4 that were there if they would like drinks. "What do you have?" one of them asked. So, politely, I ran through the options for them, all non-alcoholic.

"Coke, Diet coke, Sprite, Iced tea, coffee. Lemonade- Strawberry, Raspberry, or regular, all fresh squeezed, hand shaken, Orange, Cranberry, Pineapple and Tomato juice. Thomas Kemper Root Beer and Cream Soda, Ginger ale, San pellegrino, Shirley Temple's, Arnie Palmer, and Roy Rogers.

The kid thought for a moment, then ordered a Strawberry Lemonade, the next kid asks:

"What do you have?"

I would repeat this list at least 8 more times, as they were incapable of listening while I was answering the question for one of them. Anyways, by the time it was all said and done, 5 more had joined thier ranks, they had 3 entertainment cards (45$ off total), and 9 seperate checks.

Total tip = $23 (punks!)

Funny thing happend though...

I took the 23 bucks and shrugged it off, after all, it was my Friday, and I had 2 glorious days of freedom after this shift. I worked the rest of my shift, which only turned out to be a few other tables, and was cruising around toward the back of the restaurant, when I noticed a bunch of $ on the ground. Now, I had just walked past that point, and it wasn't there on the way there, so someone had just dropped it. I waited in the area until the two girls that had just gone to the john were on thier way back, asked them if they were missing any money, and they both said "no", as if I were bothering them by asking. I checked with the cocktailer (who was closest to where I found it), an wasn't hers, I checked w/the manager at the end of the night to see if anyone was short, nope.

So, I got an additional $48 bucks.

Instant Karma.

In Other News...

I weep for the future.

I served 6 prom kids tonight, and 2 of the little bastards stiffed me. With prom tables, there's always that chance, but I really was pulling for these kids, I wanted to believe that they were "in the know" about dining out, but they failed me. Little punks.

So I roll in 20 minutes early, and Jo-Jo the boy wonder (host) says "you got a 16 top, and they're here already" So I hit the ground arollin'. I served the "16" (which actually was an 18) with my magical ninja server skills, and got 'em up to 764, which I figured was a good way to start the day, even if I succumb to the all to easy "Auto-grat." of the house, 15 percent before tax was something like 109, and it was still daylight. Anyways, hoping for the golden 140 (20%), I rolled the dice, and let the guest decide the tip...dude left me 110, I am happy.

Then, they showed up

They showed up, and I was ready for em'. (or so I thought)

I quickly and efficiently flew through them. 3 seafood fetts, a veggie pasta that I made up myself for a weedeater (Fett w/asparagus, brocollini, and bell pepper in an alfredo), 1 Large Caesar salad (no shrimp or crab or calamari, just the ceasar), 1 Shrimp Scampi, a coke, a diet coke, a sprite, an iced tea, and a "just a straw for my water", no appetizers, no dessert, 3 separate checks, 40.00, 21.07, and something like 36 er so, one credit card, 2 20's, a 20 and a few ones, and it's back to the table with the check presenters...And then...

10$ tip on the card (36$), 4 dollar tip on the 21.07, and then... nothing.

Bupkis. Whatever happend to manners? Don't the rich private schools up here teach kids manners? There ceartainly is a lot of them up here, and the publics don't look too underfunded from where I'm standing, so why are they churning out little brats?

Still a decent night. Put some money away for the car :)

Westlake ave parking

So, I was waiting for my bus outside my restaurant last week, and noticed flyers on the windshields in the parking lot. Apparently, Seattle's DOT (my new worst enemy) are planning to put parking meters outside our restaurant which, in turn, could cost me and my fellow employees mucho dinero. Now, maybe it's just the fact that I am getting a car at the end of the month, or maybe because I already see my friends getting tickets 2-3 times a month (the way it is already), but something about this rubbed me the wrong way.

Now, I'm not really the activist type. I figured, however, "not doing much else", so I went to work printing out petitions, building visual aids, and organizing a protest rally to arrive at the DOT's open house on the parking issue. When I started, the online petition from WANA (Westlake Avenue North Association) was a mere 80 signatures. I then printed out petitions and took them into my work, and in a few hours had collected about 45 signatures. I still have until Tuesday, June 6th to get more though, so I set myself to work tonight building a monster of a visual aid to hang on the employee bulletin board. While I was crunching the numbers, I realized this new plan could cost our employees up to $1600.00 a year!!!!! Even on the low end, it will still be $144.00 a year, which is nearly 4 times the amount of the "RPZ" permits that will be sold to the boat and business owners, but not availible for employees. GRRRRRR!!!!!

Guess I gotta wait until Tuesday to know how this is gonna turn out.