Saturday, February 26, 2011

Knowing my place...

So far, life at the restaurant is good. I'm learning a lot - not necessarily explicit, but more of what I'm picking up behind the scenes. I haven't yet been "accepted" by the staff, but fuckit - they're all 10+ years younger than I am and, frankly, I don't need their approval.

What IS driving me crazy is the inefficient and impractical way things are managed. I certainly can't walk into a situation and tell the powers that be how things should be done. But, oh, if I could...

They expect us to know wine and wine pairings, but they don't offer any concrete suggestions. I.E "Suggest the Riesling when...", "the Malbec is good for..." And then they test us on our knowledge and we get in trouble for not having the answers.

Same goes for the food. I know a lot about the dishes I've ordered. And a fair amount about the dishes I've served. But there's no "menu bible" that shows what each dish looks like and what the ingrediets are and how it's cooked. Let's be honest - you can read a menu till the cows come home (buh dump bump cha) but it's not until you see it in real life can most of us actually grasp it.

These and so many other things I would like to suggest. I'm not in a place to do so and that pains me - both from a personal perspective but also for the restaurant's greater good. But what can you do?

In the meantime, I pray that I make much money. I'm wicked broke - to the point of not being able to pay rent. I need to talk to ye olde roomate about the utilities, but both of us are too uncomfortable to bring it up in person...

So much going on, so much going through my mind.. The GM is manager on duty (MOD) tomorrow, so maybe I can casually mention some of this stuff.

Sucks being the smartest person in the room, eh? LOLOLOLOL