Roadie Meets Benjamin

I really do not enjoy closing at work, especially on a Friday evening. This past Friday I found myself the last busboy in for the evening. The day had already been long: early Key Club meeting, National Spanish Exam, lots of homework, Spanish tutoring right after school, followed by work. What's worse is that all of the guys I was working with that evening were lazy, slow, or a combination of both. I made a strong effort to quickly clean tables so that I would be permitted to send guys home sooner, thus grabbing a bigger portion of the tip-out pot. One good thing was that we were short a busboy because he was out for back surgery (not-so-good). Another plus was that the guy I picked up the Friday closing shift for paid me $30 just to come into work. The night was going swell, since my friend that I never see anymore was working that evening and I was able to talk with him in slower times. That evening, the servers seemed to be more careless than ever. Glasses were breaking all around me and I scrambled to clean up the messes. As I swept peanut dust near the end of my shift, the boss approached me with a stern look upon his face. He held out three time slips exclaiming that the teens had worked over 5 hours without breaks. This is against the law and entails a $1,000 fine if caught. Two of the guys were only 5 minutes over each, one who I had told to leave 8 minutes prior. So, I got scolded for nothing considering that it was "my responsibility" to ensure that all had their breaks if necessary. After 6 hours of fun and frivolity, I fled the restaurant with nearly $100 for the evening. I could not imagine having a better job at this age.

Awesome as a Blossom

This past week I worked a lot more than usual. I know that five days may not seem like a lot of time to invest in work, but when you put school, homework, and club responsibilities on top of that, things can get hectic. Thursday was my first night off for this week, so I decided to take my girl out...to Texas Roadhouse. Right before going to eat we had a friendly game of bowling (I won). Dinner was great, but it was a weird feeling knowing that I would have to come in for the biannual server assistant meeting. I finished my dinner and headed to the mall with Erica to look around. We returned to Roadhouse for my 9:30 meeting and Erica insisted in staying in the car. I hated the idea of having a meeting because the last meeting lasted over an hour longer than expected. After waiting a good 15 minutes for the meeting to start, I smelled a wonderful aroma. The manager had brought in appetizers for our consumption. Sadly, I was still stuffed from my meal earlier and refrained from eating any more greasy bacon, cheese fries and cactus blossoms. The meeting began and the boss went on this long rant about employ apathy. He told us that the servers did not care about us or our home lives, so we should not bring in any raw emotions. Suddenly the boss made a turn to a more positive note.

"Servers really do not care about you guys. But to tell you the truth, servers come up to me all of the time and compliment Chaz saying 'Chaz is so helpful. His work-ethic is like no other. He is amazing.'"

At this I was not shocked, but deeply surprised at its inclusion in the meeting in front of 12 other young guys. Some were jealous, but bore no harsh feelings. The meeting ended and I returned to my car to find this girl resting in the back seat.

Is Your Vur-Jan-It-Y Worth $10?

Do people you work with ever get on your last nerve...so much that you experience a momentary glitch in your typical character? I walked into work on Sunday evening after having switched with another busboy my coveted opening position to pre-closer. When I came around the corner of the kitchen I heard the same ol', horrendous cackle. "Oh, boy...he is here" I thought to myself. After making eye contact with him the compliments toward me began flowing. "Chaz, I think your beard is awesome. I wish I had an awesome beard like that. You are so funny, Chaz. You crack me up." I knew that he wanted something. It was not long until the nuisance approached me and asked if I could do him a huge favor. I hesitantly asked for his request and he exclaimed to me that he needed me to work for him on Saturday so that he could chill with his gal pal. I am certain that he saw the look of disgust on my face because he quickly offered to pay me for my kindness. I agreed to work for him on Saturday morning in the closing spot. Now I was hesitant for two reasons: 1) Nobody comes in to eat on Saturday mornings so tips would be significantly lower. 2) The people that come in on Saturday mornings have kids that eat for free so that brings in even fewer tips for busboys. Essentially I was trying to do him a favor because it always seemed to be an inconvenience for me during the prior times that he had asked me. I proceeded to tell him that I was willing to do it for $10. All of a sudden this expression of disgust comes across his face and he exclaims

--"$10?!?! I do not have that kind of money! I have car insurance to pay!"
--"I do too, buddie. $10 is nothing."
--"Chaz, come on. How about $5?"
--"It costs me $3 in gas to drive here in the first place."
--"Just take $5."
--"I said $10."
--"I do not have that kind of money. I am poor."
--"Is your girlfriend not worth $10?"
--"I just do not have that kind of money at the moment."
--"You will after you get your tips this evening. I said $10."
(40 minutes of arguing later)
--"Ok, Chaz. I will make you a deal. $3 to get here and $3 to get home. PLUS $2 on top of that. What do you say?"
--"Man, I said $10...take it or leave it."
--"How about $8.25?"
--"I am NOT dropping my price. I typically charge $20 but I am trying to do you a favor."
--"Ok, let me think my financial status over."
(10 minutes pass)
--"Ok, Chaz. If I pay you $10 will you cover my shift?"
--"I am done with this ridiculous argument. So, the final answer is NO."

The guy punched the wall and exclaimed that I should not lead him on like I was planning on doing it, but to just say "no" in the first place. He obviously did not realize that I was trying to help.

Later that evening after he had called me a jerk, he asked me if I wanted to walk out to our cars together so that he did not lose his "vur-jan-it-y" to some creep in the night. I reluctantly agreed, but as I was leaving I noticed that he was in pursuit of speaking to the boss. I made a mad dash for the door and ran to my vehicle, looking back every twenty feet or so. Thank goodness I escaped THAT experience.