Theme Seven Small to larger

Theme Seven: Small to larger.
When I arrived to work on Sunday morning at six forty-five, for my second double in a row, I was informed that we were out of home fries. Eighty-six home fries.
I made it through breakfast with the disappointing news. At eleven, we switched over to lunch. I was then informed that we had run out of potato chips, so all sandwiches were served with a small portion of french-fries. Eighty-six potato chips. One of my customers ordered a vanilla shake, I went to the freezer. The bucket was mostly empty with the exception of what was stuck to the edges of the bottom. Eighty-six vanilla.
Breakfast and lunch were busy. There were two cruise ships in the harbor. I kept on top of things, and felt like I had breezed right through the day with out missing a beat. My apron was stuffed with dollar bills, some fives, some tens, and the change jiggled when I carried out trays of food.
When dinner arrived, we were slammed. There were tour busses in town this evening. I was prepared and ready for the challenge. I felt confident and ready to hustle through the home stretch. We split the restaurant into two sections. I took the left wall, an eight table section, and the fill in waitress took the right wall and middle, a seven table section.
I took drink orders for several tables in a row. I filled cups with ice and the selected beverages and placed them on a large tray. I ran the drinks and took dinner orders. I placed several orders in the kitchen at one time. Then as my section filled, I repeated the process and collected drink orders. My task was interrupted when I was beckoned to the kitchen. “We are out of turkey.” Ashley informs me.
I flipped through my check book to check the table numbers, and returned to two different tables with menus in hand and informed my customers of the inconveniences and offered them something else for dinner. I stood there impatiently, trying to be patient while they ponder other choices. I took the new orders and submitted the slips to the kitchen. By that time, a few of my plates were up in the window. I ran food to two tables. And returned to the cups all lined in a row. I filled the order and ran the drinks. Then I took new dinner orders, and submitted the slip to the kitchen. I took a walk through the dining room and checked on customers with their dinner. I heard the bell ring once, “Number One!” I returned to the kitchen. “We are out of roast beef.”
I exhaled with disappointment, and returned to one of the same tables (that ordered turkey) with menus in my hand once more. I took a deep breath and presented my customers with more disappointing news. The man looked at his wife, reached for his wallet, threw a few bills on to the table as he stood. “That is for the sodas.”
“I am sorry for the inconvenience, sir.” I said as they walked out the door.
That is also a hard experience to have especially during a rush, and when other customers are watching. I do not have control over stock. Because of the interruptions, I had lost my rhythm, I had hungry customers waiting. I returned the kitchen and picked up appetizers.
“May I have plates under my soup?”
“Yeah, if we had some.” Paul replied.
I looked in the window, at their stack of plates, there wasn’t one small plate! My eyes transferred to the dish pit, it was over flowed with cups, straws, napkins and lobster shells. We didn’t have a dishwasher on that evening.
I grab two soup spoons and two drink trays, and carry soup out on trays. In addition to the embarrassment of not having these items, the dinners took longer, because we were running out of dishes to serve food that we did have. The cooks were taking turns swapping off from cooking, to doing dishes. Everything was delayed. I walked through the dinning room. A customer put his finger in the air, and looked right towards me. I remembered what he needed. I dropped off the soups and pulled two bags of oyster crackers from my apron.
Then I walked up to the man. “All I need to do is total your bills and I will bring them right along.”
I had to manually write out the prices and total to bills, four separate checks, for each customer at this four top. I ran their bills, and totaled up the bills for each table that already had their dinner.
In addition to the embarrassment of not having these items, the dinners took longer, because we were running out of dishes to serve food that we did have. The cooks were taking turns swapping off from cooking, to doing dishes. The night went on chaotically, and we continued to run out of items. So now instead of greeting each table and rambling off the specials of the day, instead, I told my customers what we did not have. The fill in hostess had kept the manager up dated on what we were out of, but still she wouldn’t let us close.
So the embarrassment continued. Tables continued to walk out, or gave me time limits to when they were walking out. I made a forty five cent tip off of one table. The eighty-six list grew from just home fries to: buffalo wings, turkey, roast beef, ham, vanilla ice cream, meat loaf dinners, pickles, wraps, dinner rolls, and mayonnaise; which meant we couldn’t make tarter sauce for seafood dinners, nor could we serve crab rolls or lobster rolls (which is a popular fourteen dollar item). Oh, and potato chips twice. I no longer told my customers what were out of, but what they could actually order.
I am so grateful that the season is almost over. I can’t believe that a manager would do that to her help! I should have walked out.
All of these problems steamed from two simple tasks that were not completed; the morning crew needed to prep, and thaw out particular items. And a manager or should check inventory daily to keep the restaurant in healthy stock.