Monday, June 30, 2008

Dining room report

After only 3 weekends as a "server", I really don't have too much to report.

I got to buy a new pair of black pants but they are making me wear my husband's shirt and nametag.

Tips are way lower than I expected. Almost without exception, I tip at least 20% whenever I eat out. Tips people are leaving me average much closer to 10%.

I'm grateful I haven't had to clean the bathrooms. I have a HUGE public bathroom phobia.

For the most part, I'm enjoying the customers, especially taking orders over the phone. But the dine ins are great too. Like the man last night from Louisiana who was floored that I knew how to pronounce crawfish, and a beautiful teacher couple with an amazing 2 year old son.

Last night I had 2 different tables stiff me. One was a lady who came in a sour mood. She snapped at me twice before I even took her order. The other was a group of 2 who didn't like the sauce on their 3 handtossed pizzas. Manager Nick wouldn't agree to take anything off the check when I mentioned it to him. I saw him speaking with the lady as she paid on her way out. I don't know if she got him to help her out or not but she left me zilch.

One thing I learned from working in libraries....KEEP YOUR CUSTOMERS HAPPY AT ALL COSTS. One disgruntled patron would spread their experience to at least 10 other people. And they'll all take their business elsewhere. Our pizza chain is competing with at least 3 others within walking distance. I wish we would do more to make a good impression.

There was a pickup order who had to wait for his calzone like meal to be remade after it got stuck in the oven. He had waited to begin with because we thought it was still cooking, then he had to wait for it to be remade and recooked. All he wanted to do was sit down and have a beer on the house. We charge $1 for a 12 oz frosted mug. Now, we could have had him sit at a table and be served the beer. He would have had to pay for it because of state laws but his meal could easily have been discounted to make up for it. For a lousy dollar, this man could have been made satisfied and left with a happy impression of our restaurant. But instead, he was made to sit in the hot lobby for an additional 15 minutes and left probably never to return.

The woman with the 3 hand tossed pizza's...why didn't the manager offer to remake her pizzas on our traditional crust? Or take half off her bill? Neither one of those things would've hurt us as much as one disgruntled customer can.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

23 Pounds of Pizza

per person each year in North America, according to this article.

Pizza For Patriots - Pizza Delivery To Iraq

Here's a CNN video about pizzas being sent to Iraq. I have no idea why pizzas are being sent. It seems like it would be more responsible to send the ingredients and to put the pizzas together over there, but the video really doesn't go into much detail at all.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

The Minivan Squad

When I got home from church this afternoon I noticed my Chevy Prizm had a flat tire. So I had to deliver tonight in my wife's Mercury Villager. The ironic thing was that I was working with Steve, who drives a Ford Windstar.

The villager got us 18.6 MPG on this tank of gas.

I worked 5 hours, took 11 runs, drove 48 miles, and made $28 in tips.

I'm having minor surgery tomorrow and will be off work for a few weeks, but in the meantime my wife Victoria is starting as a pizza waitress. Hopefully she'll be able to post a few times in my absence.

Why Is It Called Cut And Pack?

We had a new kid working in the kitchen tonight. He told me this was his 3rd day. Eventually he made it over to the cut and pack area, where the pizzas are taken off the oven, cut into slices, and packed into boxes for delivery or pick up.

Well I had a delivery order setting on top of the oven, and I just had a hunch I should check it to make sure it was the right order before driving out to the customer and finding a mistake and having to come back.

Well, I found a mistake all right. The pizza wasn't cut! I was very glad I checked.

The other interesting event of the night was on one of my last couple deliveries, there was a young man sitting on his porch. After his friend paid for the food, he started asking questions. How long had I been a pizza driver, did the company pay for my gas, and what would happen if I got into an accident.

I drove 8 hours, took 18 deliveries, put 63 miles on my car, and made $35 in tips. It was a decent night but it should have been better.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Short Night

I was supposed to close tonight but thankfully, driver Jimmy was willing to switch shifts with me. I needed to get home early so I could pack up my soccer stuff. I'll be at the LCSL playoffs on Saturday all day.

I worked 3 hours tonight, took 6 deliveries, and made $12 in tips, driving 28 miles.

The only interesting delivery was for 2 large pizzas and breadsticks for a total of $30.96. The woman gave me 2 $20 bills and then said "Now don't give me a $10 if you want a tip."

DUH!

Monday, June 2, 2008

Dishroom Delight

Around 10 PM tonight, I was washing dishes in the dishroom. Both sinks were overflowing with lids. The counter was covered with pans from the salad bar. There were 2 tubs of dining room dishes in the hallway. And there was a cart behind me with pizza pans, 2 stacks about 2-3 feet high each.

As I was loading the next rack, Mona called out to nobody in particular, "I'm gonna start breaking the make table down."

I called back, in a serious voice, "Good, because I'm about ready to wash it." Mona looked over, did a double take, and said "I guess I need to clean off my glasses.

I only took 1 more delivery, during which time Mona herself kept the dishwasher going, and we didn't finish washing them all until around 12:15, over an hour after we closed.

Tips were way lower than last night. In 6 hours, I took 12 runs, drove ? miles, and made $22 in tips. I would have done even worse, but for a $5 tip on a run that could have been Steve's.

There were only 2 runs on the screen, both were in the same direction, one near and one far. The far one was first and I was up. Steve let me take them both, saying "You'll be driving right past it anyways."

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Buying Money

The stars aligned for me to make some good money in my first 3 hours tonight, but then business slowed down and I actually went home an hour early. Between 5 and 8:30, I took 2 triples, a double, and 3 singles, and I made $31 on those 11 deliveries. During that time I had 7 tips over $2.50 and my lowest tip was $2.

It was about this time that manager Nick realized we were out of $1 dollar bills. He gave me $150 and sent me out to "buy some." I was able to get $25 at the Convenient, $45 at the Circle K, and $60 at Speedway. Thanks to my local clerks!

But unfortunately, my luck changed during this time. In the next 3 1/2 hours, I took 6 singles and a double, made $12, got stiffed twice, and only one tip over $2.04.

All in all it was a good night, with 7 hours, 18 deliveries, $43 in tips, and 59 miles driven.