Long work week with no work !

This week has been a very frustrating work week. Because I have very little sonority as a server I have been placed on the patio for quite a few shifts . I was lucky enough to get called to take a restaurant shift last Monday . My last restaurant shift was not great, so I was very worried for this shift . However when I got there I had a few really great tables , then as the night progressed one server was cut and I had half the restaurant. which was about 8 tables. One of these tables was the General Manager of Canoe and his family, so I had to give 100 percent to this table. Meanwhile I also had a 12 top from Tourism Victoria , the people from this party were mainly from London which meant they had lots of questions about the establishment. My last table was another 12 top and a birthday party . This table was constantly ordering , keeping me very busy . I was really happy to have such a great shift . It really gave me the conference I need as a server. Plus to end the evening great I walked out with 140 dollars after tip out!

Unfortunately, the rest of the week did not go so well. For every other shift I was on the patio, and due to lack nice weather I was not needed to work. I had six shifts on call patio in which I did not work . It was very frustrating waiting around knowing that I am not working but having to be available just in case. All long weekend I actually had off , but had to wait around just in case without pay ....Lame! I hope the weather gets nicer.

With all that space time I have been going to Yoga everyday and getting myself back into shape. Plus I have been going on lots of walks and hikes . Me and my boyfriend also joined a beer league baseball team . Which is such a good time! Also with my spare time I have been revamping my goals , and making them stronger . I will post them once they are complete.

Week three ...day from Hell!

Week three was a very long week . It stated off with a kick off split shift , normally this would not have been a problem but I was not scheduled for a split and had a friend visiting and a birthday party to attend to . I started off working 11-4 then 5-10 . Plus because I was the first person sat on the patio everyone who wanted to be sat outside. Resulting in my section of six tables all being sat at once. This meant greeting every table , watering , getting drink order, getting drinks taking food orders, refills and billing ,times six . The weird thing about this is this cycle repeated itself 3 times with all tables coming at the same time and billing at the same time . What a stressful day !

The next day they gave me a large party upstairs at the restaurant. My table was suppose to be a 15 top but ended up being a 20 top. This sounds manageable but to make my shift harder everyone was paying separately. To make matters worse they were all ordering mass amounts of drinks and moving around. This make it very hard to keep peoples orders together. Plus though-out the night people kept joining the table adding more people to the already massive separate bill. When it was time to bill it was a nightmare. Everything was relatively smooth , however, one customer bill would not print. This was not just any customer it was the only rude mean customer at the whole table . It was awful , plus I could not find the night manager anywhere in the restaurant to assist me . This customer did not leave happy . After my shift was done I did not feel great about this shift and was actually starting to dread my next shift .

The next day actually went really smooth. I went in to help set up for Canoe's first annual surf Sunday's. I helped Ryan , the assistant General Manager . This meant cutting pineapples , unpacking lays and helping the bartender get ready for the night . Then while the event was on I served on the patio. It was very busy , however I managed to have a great shift . I made sure to stay extra organized and not stress. The event managed to be a huge success.

Week two

The second week went a lot smoother then the first week . Canoe is a very weather based business, over half the seating takes place outside, therefore it takes quite a few staff to work outside. To have this happen if you have been scheduled a patio shift you are "on call" . Unfortunately because I am new most of my shifts have been on call , and the weather has not been fantastic , resulting in not as many hours as I would have liked.

On the plus side I decided use my spare time in a positive way. The last couple days I have been sitting around waiting all day to call in at 3 30 for my 4 30 shift and not making a effort to use up the morning and the afternoon. So I decided to get a yoga membership. Before school started I was a big yoga practicer, however , when school started I did not have the time or the money. So my summer goal is to make sure that I go to yoga at least five days a week . That is until it gets to hot to practice! Since it is hot yoga or bikram that I pratice.

As soon as the weekend rolled around the sun came out , and I worked 3 long shifts. They went smoothly, although I am still getting used to larger sections. I am still working at getting stronger with the Matrie De POS system ; I am lucky everyone that I work with is always willing to help me out with the machine. Next week my goal is to start getting a handle on everyone names. Which is a huge goal alone...There is over 90 Canoe staff members.

Canoe!

So I am just posting for my first time today . When thinking about the Co-op Term I first thought that I was going to write a journal , however since then I decided I am going to blog . So my goal for these blogs is to blog every Monday . To keep myself accountable and current . This Blog is going to be from my May 3nd journal .

My first week at Canoe has been really wonderful, scary and a lot to take in . When first arriving I got the whole building tour with the General Manager. The restaurant is massive, there are many different storage areas around the building, as well as extra storage space outside. Canoe in the summer can set over 500 seats, so there is a lotof stuff that is needed to make the restaurant function. I got the change to meet some of the people I would be working with . Canoe in the summer employes over 50 front end staff alone . Hopefully I will get know people that work there!

I also got 3 books to memorize. Because Canoe is owed by the Truffles group they have their own handbook(which is massive to memorize). As well as they want their servers to know the complete menu all ingredients included , as well as the complete liquor menu. during the training week all new employees will be quizzed in order to complete training . This is a bit daunting for me . With school done my brain feels as if its on vacation .

My second day entailed learning how to be a host . In Canoe the host is responsible for taking all reservations , seating people , running food and calling servers in. The reason why they start servers off here so they can learn seat numbers . This first shift was long, but I managed to memorize all 500 seats during the shift.

My third day was hosting alone . This went fairly smooth , although I had a little difficulty finding things within the restaurant , such as paper towel. Everyone one at work seems really outgoing and nice.

My Forth training day was in the restaurant. My trainer Mark was awesome. He had me serving tables right away, and gave me pointers and help when needed. The computer system is different from any that I have used so far so it was a little bit challenging finding things on the system.

The Fifth day of training was in the Pub. The pub is usually the busiest place in canoe. My trainer and I had half the pub to ourselves, which is a lot of work. He gave me a couple table to take on my own . One of the tablse grow from a party of 6 to a party of about 30. In which I took all on my own . The whole booking went very smooth . However it was a bit challenging billing everyone because they were all paying separately plus they were constantly moving.