Function Groups

This has been a interesting week for me , lately at work I have been getting more function groups. Function groups at Canoe are parties of 15 or more. Some Functions have set menu's while others just have special circumstances ; like my party on Monday, they were a tour group from Spain. Prior to these two functions I have never done one on my own . So Monday was a little nerve wracking . Serving of this caliber is not difficult , its just staying very organized . Tour groups like to come in and have drinks waiting for them , then you start by bring up the first corse , which is usually a salad , follow with the entree, then dessert. My party was 16 people , so bringing up food , clearing and maintaining drink orders can be difficult if not organized. Everything however went awesome which is great because managers always phone the tour company to check up on service.

Then the rest of the week I have been serving on the patio. Things have been pretty chill, due to the nice weather. Which can be nice , and a little frustrating , due to the fact that tables have been camping out after being billed. Which is not normally a problem , but when all 5 of your tables are staying 25-60 minutes after billing it can be lame . For both Canoe and for my tips . I think I need to be a little more aggressive after billing . Not super aggressive just clearing everything off the table , such as water glasses , so they dont feel as comfortable to camp.

My last day of the work week I had another function. It was for our liquor company. They are also located right across my house so I frequent it a lot . It was neat to serve them and to make more personal connections with the people that work there. This will come in handy when I am inquiring more about wine , to increase my wine knowledge.

After work I actually had two days off in a row , so I went up Island to see family . One the way home my car broke down , so I had to call in to work and get my shift covered . This was a real bummer . Although I am feeling nice a rested after three day off.

The last two weeks have been crazy busy. I have been working six day weeks for the past month now. They are going well , however , when I have spare time off I hardly feel like blogging . I also have a journal in which I write down daily summaries it helps me keep track of work stuff for my blog. Last week the weather has been smoking hot . Servers must apply sunscreen every couple hours to avoid getting a nasty suntan. I have been really on this, because I have been burnt a couple times. I am finding the heat hard to work in . Its hard to find time to stay hydrated while working a full section. Plus I felt lethargic in the heat , which makes for a long shift. This week has been cooler(thank god). Making for a better week.

Usually I work day shifts , but last weekend I worked three nights I a row, Friday , Saturday , Sunday. Friday night was crazy busy . I have not worked a super busy shift for a while now , therefore I was a little off my game . It was so busy that throughout the night we had 10 or more people on the wait list . When there is a big wait it can get complicated to keep track of billing . For example you can bill a table , then go inside to grab drinks /food and return back to find a brand new table in place. Which means while inside , the last table left cash , left then in was bused and re-sat. This gets complicated , epically when you are not busing the table your self. If the customer takes the receipt and leaves cash the busers (who are also smoken busy ) will just leave the envelope(with cash) anywhere in the server station. That night not including my cash tips I made 150 dollars , however , at some point 100 dollars got lost, so I only made 50 dollars during the whole night . Days like this can be frustrating. Oh well! The next two days were a lot smoother.

I just returned from my trip up island today . My boyfriend and I have both been working six day weeks ; we lucky had the same day off together and decided to have some fun. We spend the day at the Parksville Beach, and took in the sandcastles. This trip was much needed, its nice to have small getaway trips in the summer. I am also trying to get time off to go to a wine tasting event at mount Washington. I think it will be a lot of fun ,plus it will teach me more about local wine ;which is one of my Co-op goals.

Update

It has been a while since I have updated . Therefore, I am going to make this post worth while.

Last week at Canoe I had the opportunity to work my first function. Functions are tour groups that have booked with Canoe. When the Tour group arrives we serve them two different kind of beer , pop tea coffee and wine. Then they start off with salads, move on to the main and finish with desserts. When first setting up I was a little nervous , the tour group was going to be about 150 people and there were only four people serving the group. However it was easier then serving on large party. Basically the people at the tables serve their own drinks and we pretty much just drop each plate until the entire restaurant has food . Then clear the plates , and repeat with plate dropping . The only thing that was a little difficult was the people we were serving were from Spain , so it was a bit of a challenge communicating . The group stayed for a hour and a half , then it took another hour and a half to clean . For three hours of work I walked out with 80 dollars in tips which was amazing ! Plus I believe that this will be great practice for Dunlop.

I have been trying to further develop my goals , trying to focus on furthering my wine and beer knowledge . I got a book from the library about wines in California , they talk about the history of wines and the vineyard is important . I have been focusing on the wines in which we sell at Canoe. Although we carry more local wine it is still important to know. I plan on going to a couple wineries on the Island and taking a tour . I feel that tasting this wines and going to the vineyard will be a great and fun way to broaden my knowledge. I also plan on doing this with beer. When walking to work I pass two great breweries , Vancouver Island , and Phillips my goal is to tour both places.

Yesterday I hiked Mount Doug for the first time . I was not that much of a climb , but it sure showed me how out of shape I am . By the end of summer I want to clime to the top without getting out of breath . To achieve this I am going to hike Mount Doug twice a weak . Run thetis lake when possible , do yoga , and make weekly gym trips. Hopefully do all of this combined will get my fitness level back to where it was .

As you can tell I have neglected my blog goal to blog every monday :(. The reason for this is not a lot has happened over the weekend. The weekend at Canoe was okay I worked two short days because the wind was super strong, making people hesitant to sit outside. After those two shifts the weather stayed the same. One Wednesday I had beer school at Canoe it was awesome. Sean the Brew master is solely responsible for brewing all of Canoes beer. He had a PHD from I believe U-Vic and brew by the Purity Act of 1516. He puts on Brew School to teach anyone who works at Canoe more about brewing process. His Brewery is very neat , the storage unite where he stores the beer look like space ships. There are different vessels that the beer goes though depending on the stage . Example the first step of the process is melting the Wheat and the barely. The Sean transfers the beer though tubes. The interesting fact about this is he uses the natural pressure of the C02 to move the beer, which is rarely done. Everything he does is down to a science. Moreover, what's amazing about his beer is there are no fillers and everything is pure, he does not even pump extra C02 into the beer for added carbonation. Not only did we get the change to learn about the beer we also got to taste everything . I have had a couple beer tastings however I left Beer Schooling having more knowledge about the unique beer at Canoe as well as a little drunk .

The rest of the shifts this week have been the same , slow! Hopefully the weekend stays sunny and I will be able to work more shifts.

Sunshine!

This has been a great week so far. First it started off with me getting an extra serving shift in the restaurant. This was great because one its a guaranteed shift, and secondly the restaurant is more "fine dinning " then the patio , so it was the perfect opportunity to practice more up-scale serving. I have not opened a bottle of wine since school, so I got the change to open several bottles, which was great practice. Opening wine is not the challenge for me its cutting the tin foil around the cork that is problematic. When discussing this with the bartender he showed me a trick . It made my life so much easier. You can take the foil and pull it at the top , this takes one second and makes your bottle 100 times easier to open . This saved my life during that one shift , during that one shift alone I opened four bottles of wine.

After the restaurant shift I worked a couple patio days. I love the patio at Canoe. Its totally exposed , which can be awful if the weather is not nice , however on beautiful days there is nothing else like it . It is warm and most of the 250 seats are in the sun! The people that come down for lunch and dinner are mainly locals , and they are the nicest people to serve because they are in no rush. The last patio shift I worked was so nice that I had tables until midnight, which is great for my Co-op hours.

I had a couple days off and went up Island, It was great to vist with parents , sister and friends. I have not been home for a while so I had a lot of catching up to do . I arrived home yesterday feeling more tired then before I left. However today I was called in for a shift on the patio and it became overcast as soon as I arrived so I was sent home and still paid for 2 hours . This was fine by me because the forecast is calling for 5 days of straight sunshine so I will be working all weekend hopefully into next week .

My short term goals this month are to pay off my credit card in full within two months . I rang up a credit tab of about 1400 dollars so that will be a bit of a challenge . To do this I will give all the tips I make to BMO until its all paid off. Then I need to start saving for a computer!

Not much to update......

So I actually have not worked since my last blog . Its super lame , I am getting super bored. I am thinking about perhaps getting a second job. Due to the fact that Canoe is so weather based. I got called for a job in Sydney today , however declined it because its to far of a commute.

Yesterday we had a host meeting , which was really informative. We had the opportunity to taste all the beers that we brew on tap . As well as try the new feature beer. Which is Amazing!!

I dont think that I like hosting as much . I said that I would host and serve to get more hours, but that does not seem to be working . I booked a meeting with Ryan the GM to see if I can be serving primary.

With all my spare time I have re-vamped my goals. When I first did them and meet with Lee my goals where more just action steps. So here are my new and improved goals.

1) To receive a destination on my Co-op

2) To learn as much as possible on restaurant sustainability

3)To receive great work references for the future

4) Learn as much as possible about beer pairing and further brewery knowledge

5) Enrich my wine pairing skills , and winery knowledge.

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.