There's something about Christmas...

..that changes as you get older. It's not an experience anymore .. maybe more "just a day" .. nonetheless, it was special.

I think it's a little sadder as you get older because you see your family, your parents, your friends..yourself.. All getting a little older. Just a little bit older--or a lot older.

New Years just around the corner now.. Within the coming days, I will share some memories of New Years past at restaurants.. and my thoughts on the holiday.. And how, especially New Years, we truly witness ourselves getting older...

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MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Hope you're not working.. Unless you're a server in a Chinese restaurant..

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600 milligrams of sodium per tea spoon: What they don't know...

I work in both worlds: Office by day, restaurant by night. Interesting always to me when those worlds merge together.. Always at this time of year: Christmas ..

Office parties amaze me. The office workers happy and content sipping on their boxed wine that has a markup of 80% per glass .. Devouring their mouth watering "home cooked" food that is 95% from a box higher in sodium than pig's liver .. Loving that dessert that was bought at a supermarket and spruced up with some cherries and whipped cream that the kitchen staff had to sniff first to make sure it wasn't sour cream instead..

Tis the season for holly jolly joy.. Bathroom trips soon later.

What goes through me like nails on a chalkboard, though, is hearing co-workers think of the server as a mindless robot that just "does and does" instead of gets tired and annoyed. To me, a cardinal rule of being a proper customer is this: If you're beer is a little under half full, and the server is getting drinks for everyone else at the table, SPEAK UP NOW and don't wait until the server comes back to serve the others the drinks they asked for..

Another rule often violated by the typical office customer: The office party is NOT, I repeat, NOT the central focus of the server. It's not the reason they woke up today.. it's not their favorite part of the day. As a matter of fact, it may very well be their least favorite.

Ahh, yes. The merging of two worlds on extreme ends of the spectrum. This weekend, after my office jobs, there will be Christmas parties. Both worlds have their drawbacks.

It must be Christmastime..

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A sea of red.. It's Christmas time again

Break out that red dress! Wash the scarf! Dust off the white turtleneck to go underneath your fuzzy giant red sweater! Get the Christmas tie prepped.. even better if it lights up! Oh, and if it plays music? You've got my vote..

The world's tackiest clothing comes out in full force this time of year--New Years Eve is a close runner up to the obnoxiously red outfits that men and and women proudly wear as they strut into their local catering hall for this year's version of their "Holiday" party..

While the servers get blinded by the bling, the guests and party goers drink until their stomachs are full.. and then some.

The chests puff out a bit.. the red sweaters tightly being stretched around the guts filled with liquors from far and wide..

Last night was an extraordinarily weird party at my secondary place of employment.. There were four Christmas parties at the same time .. Only a few servers on board for all of them. Plated dinners, steak, prime rib, crab cakes, stuffed chicken, pork chop.. Over 140 people in the same room at the same time--at all different parties. Being that they were there for the same type of event, they chose to chip in for a DJ for music.. However, perhaps they were unaware, the DJ was awfully fond of karaoke.. The room was left a mess .. a complete mess. Drunk folks stumbled up to sing their favorite 80s Cheap Trick songs.. People who wanted to just dance were left in a confused state of mind.. "Dance to this guy singing ANGEL IS A CENTERFOLD?" ...nah. Back to the bar..

It was an interesting affair. .And YET another prime example of why Christmas parties remain near the top of my list in most vile catering events..

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Christmas parties from hell

Every year like clockwork, they are in.. Wearing their red dresses.. cocktail skirts so high co-workers are blushing.. The major league asshole management wearing red suspenders and a Santa Claus tie expecting that those flashy holiday outfits will erase the other 11 months of ritualistic abuse they put their workers through.

That's right.. it's holiday party time, all over again..
Could it be more tense!?

Perhaps the worst part of the event is sitting with the group of people that you most don't want to be around. You really don't want to go to work, and the people that are there through the year further agitate you. But at the Christmas party, you must eat drink dine and wine together.. or Whine together.

For the server, it's annoying at first but gets rather funny by the end.. Last night, during one such event, a hospital gave an "employee of the year" award.. There was half applause while the other half of the room suddenly became bitter. As I tried to squeeze my way through a crowd of people at the bar with my tray of empty glasses in hand, I overheard a murmer "asshole" and "how the "f" did he win?" Made me chuckle..

Then the dancing!
oh.. the dancing..

Don't dance! Please! Not for me, but for yourselves!

The fun comes but once a year.. Memories that may not last a lifetime, but at least a season.

Another fun comment:
"Did you see what she is wearing?"

The water cooler will be busy this week.

It's starting to make sense why people get drunk. It's so much easier than dealing with this mess in a stupor as opposed to a sober rage.

Christmas parties from hell.. Tis the season.

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Another Saturday night.. another Hawaiin Tropic Zone moment

When I logged on the big Earthcame Hawaiian Tropic Zone live web feed tonight, Prince's 1999 was playing. Even more 'exciting' were the moments of dead video playing, or weird video.. new cameras from new angles showing nothing but odd Tropic Zone places it appears people are never in..

Boy.. this continues to be fun!

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Happy Thanksgiving..

And if you're working .. Share some horror stories here.

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I guess they're just trying to help..?

A new study in the Journal of Law and Economics says that the only way to stop obesity amongst our beautiful children is to ban fast food ads..

I love this stuff.. Really.. Precious.

We are heavily inundated with ads about fast food--no pun intended, really--but is it only the ads? Is it only the happy face of Ronald McDonald? Is it only the weird ads for Burger King? Is it only the sports stars eating Big Macs (trademarked, of course)?

Or could it be.. what's in the meat!

This week, we learned that the secret ingredient in fast food meat is corn!.. that's right, little yellow nuggets of questionable impact. That coupled with stories in the past about how corn can make you fat .. It leads me to conclude my age old belief that fast food should be avoided at all costs, until perhaps they tell us what ingredients are in meat and why McDonalds contain as much iron .. as they do. Iron.

The question is this, what should be blamed? The ad? Or what the ad is showcasing as fun and good? Perhaps the sources of food should be questioned and the overall great American escapade of what we think food actually is should be thought about.. After all, this is what is in a McDonalds Chicken Nugget:

Chicken, water, salt, modified corn starch, sodium phosphates, chicken broth powder [chicken broth, salt, and natural flavoring (chicken source)], seasoning (vegetable oil, extracts of rosemary, mono, di- and triglycerides, lecithin). Battered and breaded with water, enriched bleached wheat flour (niacin, iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), yellow corn flour, bleached wheat flour, modified corn starch, salt, leavening (baking soda, sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate, calcium lactate), spices, wheat starch, dried whey, corn starch. Batter set in vegetable shortening. Cooked in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, (may contain partially hydrogenated soybean oil and/or partially hydrogenated corn oil and/or partially hydrogenated canola oil and/or cottonseed oil and/or sunflower oil and/or corn oil). TBHQ and citric acid added to help preserve freshness. Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an anti-foaming agent

Lots of stuff. The ads don't mention that, right..? Maybe if they did we'd finally grow up a little and come to maturely realize the real thing that contributes to obesity: Our overall habits and the fact we mistake trash as food..

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People taking things into their own hands..

I have been very surprised lately with the brashness of people at restaurants.. I have seen this act a few times at the restaurant I work at, and also at a few others where I was a customer: Customers going behind the bar, and getting their own beverage. Really.. does anyone else see this occur? To the point where servers, managers, front of the house people, all have to approach the customer and ask 'excuse me, what are you doing?' .. they normally respond factually: "Getting a drink" ..

This happens especially at my establishment of secondary employment during banquets.. often the bar is closed for the length of the dinner service because the bar is in the middle of the kitchen and seating area, so a full bar would be a hindrance to serving food quickly. So .. people take it on themselves to go behind the bar, grab a pitcher of soda, water .. maybe even a beer.

And they are very sneaky about it, too.. Really, does anyone else see this ever happen? Are people going mad!? Why can't they ask the server to quickly get them a pitcher of water or soda.. the server can do that?

I mentioned a few weeks ago during a wedding to a man that the bar was closed until right after dinner. He said, 'ok' .. next I see, he's sneaking behind the bar to grab a beer.. I have to tell him he can't.. A few minutes later, he is trying again.. Another server had to exclaim his inability to DO THIS!

Is this.. maybe not common? Or is this a new pattern of people wanting things so quickly because of life in general that they are taking this practice to their local restaurants??

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Old time is still a flyin'

One day you're sitting pretty.. The restaurant is yours. The next day your losing business.. you want to give the place away.. The final day you're bankrupt.. Cashless and strapped, the only thing left to find solace in is that cold mug of beer---the same one that led you down the path to hanging yourself ..

And years later, when your memory serves you well only part time, you're back in the same restaurant you once had.. dancing in a congo line with an orange wig on your head.. And you may ask yourself .. Well, how did I get here?

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