Just another day

Hello,

I am tired, have a headache and I also have a fat exam in an hour. I am also trying to do some research for my project and am not finding anything useful. I am sitting here in the school computer lab. The girls next to me just won't SHUT UP. They keep talking and giggling in Chinese. I wouldn't care if they were whispering but they are using normal voices. I would ask them to be quiet, but they sit behind me in my class and I don't wanna create more tension.

I also ordered my Dell laptop over the weekend. It should ship out next week. I am happy about that. I also still have to call the school in Barcelona and see how I should apply for a working visa. Now that I finally paid for the tuition, I find out that it is real hard for American citizens to find work there. Even as an English teacher. Now I am really wondering what the hell I got myself into.

I also worked yesterday. I dropped my tray for the first time. Before then, I never dropped a tray and I've been serving for almost four years. I was climbing up the steps when I tripped and the soups, salads and drinks fell off. No food was spilled on anyone or myself. Thankfully my customers were nice about it. I also got two compliments again over weekend. One family wrote a nice note on the back of the credit card slip. Even though they left me a crappy tip ($5 tip on $75) , I wasn't mad because at least they took the time to thank me. Most of the time when I get bad tips, people just leave and don't say a thing, leaving me to think it was my service.

I wish I had more to tell, but work and school is my life right now so thats all I can really elaborate on. What I need is to go dancing, switching clubs every hour.

I better get back to reality now and finish studying. Later.

Just a Waitress Ranting

Hello Everyone,
I think that you all should visit www.stainedapron.com. It is a website dedicated to food servers. There, you will find hilarious stories and ways that servers get revenge on mean-spirited customers. But as you read it just keep in mind that not all servers are like that. I have never spit or tampered with anyone's food, and wouldn't do it. Neither would my coworkers. But here is what I think : If the server did an awesome job, she deserves to be tipped. If she is crappy give her a crappy tip. It's that simple. Customers that are rude and humiliate us after we went out on a limb for them are just asking for it and deserve the occasional revenge. People that have never served love to tell me that no one deserves to have their food spit in no matter how mean they are and that if I don't like my job I should get a new one. Whatever. Those very people need to use the money they saved by stiffing their servers and buy a friggin' clue.

Speaking of serving, last night was busy for me, but not financially rewarding. I went out on a limb for each and every one of my tables. If a table ordered All You Can Eat shrimps I let them take home way more shrimp than the managers would have allowed. The food was out on time, I smiled, checked up on them often, yada yada yada. Most tables barely left me 10%. If they smile and tell me I am such a nice server, why don't they tip me right ? Maybe what they mean is : "You're such a nice server that you will understand why we are too cheap to leave you a decent tip." As soon as my winter session ends, I am applying elsewhere. This is just too much.

What else.... Ah yes ! School ! I have an exam on Monday and have a buttload of reading to do. I am lucky that our teacher is so nice. He brings jokes to class and is laid back. I haven't started on my homework yet because I've been doing errands.

Well, I better get ready for work. I should be in a more positive attitude next time.

Auf Wiedersehen !

 

Tipping is Not a City In Japan

Hello Everyone :)

I had to work last night unexpectedly, and I had an interesting night. One of my tables, which was a party of six ordered some All You Can Eat Shrimp special. One of the women shared with the other guy who decided that he didn't wanna order anything. That is not allowed, but if I say anything it just creates hostility and its not worth losing a tip over. This guy kept ordering the scampi which is shrimp broiled in garlic butter sauce over and over again. Most people leave the butter sauce alone but he was eating it and kept asking me to get more drawn butter. It was sooooo disgusting, because the scampi is loaded with butter. They were nice to me, and were playing cards to keep themselves occupied.

Another guy came in and ordered some take out food. He always insists that we mess up his order and he always wants it free. My manager finally grew a backbone and politely told the freeloader not to order from us because we obviously aren't living up to his standards. The guy's reaction was funny : "I'm not gonna accept that". Well, our Red Lobsta won't be serving him anymore. Moral of the story : Yes, it is easy to get something free from us, but be discreet about it, and don't do it EVERY single time. To get free food, people will play the race card, put stuff in their food, or simply say that the food was nasty after they've eaten at least half of the dish. Don't get me wrong, sometimes people are legit and deserve a free meal, but it is totally obvious when they just want free food. Enough said.

My winter session class is moving along, but I am dreading our group project. I always have group projects in my business classes, and I always HATE them. We have to do a thorough analysis of KFC. We have a research paper and a group presentation. Thankfully, everyone in this class is a graduating senior and most are serious about graduating so I don't think we have to worry about slackers.

I also saw a cute dog tied up to a pole next to the school bookstore, while the owner was inside. The dog was soooo cute. It was whimpering and jumping up and down. I had to go and pet it. It had a precious look on its face. The owner was pretty friendly too. She told me how the dog, Bo was put up for adoption twice cause it wasn't a good hunter. After I am done traveling, I am going to get a new dog. I want a beagle.

Anyways, I better finish my homework before class starts.

It's a small world after all !

Hello Everyone:)

My new roommate spent the night for the first time. We talked till 3am. We grew up in the same area, and it turns out that we both had our first job at Jack In The Box around the same time. Wierd. Her boyfriend also used to be in one of my Bio classes. When I first met them, I thought they were complete strangers. I guess not.

After school yesterday I finally sold my bookshelf and my stereo combined for $30. I was having a hard time getting rid of it anyways so I figured I might as well just sell it for that price.

I am starting to look for airfare to Spain and its all soooo expensive. I think that I can get a one-way ticket for about $500. I once got a round trip ticket to Germany for $500 on Priceline.

I also chilled at the hot tub at my apt complex with my friends last night. A bunch of people were there. The weather was kinda nice and I could see some stars in the sky. When I was in high school we lived in a house with no backyard because the other houses behind it now weren't built yet. I used to go outside and sit under clear starry sky for hours and just think about my future. Those were the days.

I better start getting ready for my class y'all. Enjoy the day :)

 

It's Official !!!

Well, it's official !! I am getting married to a rich man !!! HAHA, just kidding. I finally paid my tuition and reserved my spot for the school in Barcelona. I will be taking the TEFL course at the Windsor School in Barcelona in late June. I will be learning how to teach English as a foreign language. After I get my certificate I should be able to get hired in schools in many different countries. I am happy, but the course is all work and no play. The course lasts for a month and will begin at 9am and ends at 10pm M-F with a break in between. Plus, there will be a lot of extra HW assignments. I will be lucky if I get a chance to work out during that time. I now have a lot of planning to do for this trip. I have to buy a laptop, plane tickets, get a visa, and the list goes on. I have been dreaming about this trip for at LEAST a year.

I also had a mad food craving last night. My fridge was empty so I drove 15 minutes to the nearest Jack-In-The-Box with drive-thru for a chix sandwich. I was still hungry after so I had some ice cream, which helped. No more midnight snacks for me for a while !!

While I was driving to get my food, I was listening to some Wild 94.9 slow jams that came out when I was in high school. One of the songs was "Moving On" by Mya when she was getting famous. That song just brought back a flood of memories.  I was about 17-18 yrs old, and I couldn't wait to get out of high school and move out. Time was moving so slow. Back then I felt like I had the whole world in front me. I felt like I would always be young and that I would have all the time in the world to fulfill my dreams. I grew up in a sheltered environment and was so much more naive then.

Now I am 23 and about to graduate college. My old friends and peers are getting married, starting families and thinking about buying houses. I am still young, but time is moving so much faster. I now realize that I don't have all the time to fulfill my dreams. I also realized that people aren't what they seem. Sometimes your friends aren't really your friends. On the flip side people that you least expect to be there can come through in your time of need. The most important thing I've learned and am still learning is that there is NOTHING I can do about the past.