June 02, 2003 - 9:47 a.m.
Had THE most hellish day at work... first off, the management was drunk, which made him more pleasant... but less helpful. Secondly, my nice quiet inside-over got slammed by a team of 40 Irish Rugby players...
"we'll have 20 pitchers of bee-er to start, love"....
and then came the surf and turf... and as logic follows, this could have been a profitable venture.. until one dude tries to be all showy and pay for the 350$ drink tab that is steadily mounting and... dun dun duhhhhh, pays TO THE PENNY! saying that the rest of the lads would cover the tip... yeah right... that consisted of them passing around a plastic cup and throwing quarters and dimes into it...
Ever tried counting a 20 oz cup full of change? it certainly doesn't add up to forty dollars, not even ten percent of 350...
so, here comes the auto grat.. designed to save me from these hairy situations, the purpose of which is to safeguard me against 35 tipless 12 oz steak with shrimp... and wings to start...
which is all well and good, until the same guy who paid for the beer comes to complain to the manager that the tip is written in... (this has always struck me as sketchy... but what else can you do?).. so, while the rest of these guys happily pay their autograt bills and try to find out if i'm courting... this asshole, after having it all explained to him, several times... reasonably... says, yep but we took care of the tip.. we each threw in change to the cup...claiming ignorance to the fact that i now have to tip out the kitchen, bar, management and support staff on his 350$ beer binge and 180$ food tab...walks back out to the patio and leaves his bill paid... to the penny.
fucker...
so, the young guys hung around getting sloshed on our south patio... i washed my hands of them and tried to stop shaking... on his way (for the 6th time) to the loo this one guy stops and asks me if my manager is a good guys, if he treats me well...what am i supposed to say, cause this guy's liable to say just about anything? so i sieze the opportunity to not so subtly hint at my displeasure regarding the nasty coach type man...
catching my drift... like a punt in the face he looks sad.... "well that's just awful...it's not right..." what good is sympathy from a drunk? at least i feel slightly vindicated for having said something and exposed him to his teammate, who otherwise thinks of him as a swell guy who springs for 20 pitchers after the game...
he takes out his wallet, says, this is all i have.. i wish i had more, and hands me a ten. I'm feeling better already...
geez, where are the rest of them... if i was coniving... i'd be heart to hearting it with each one of them... but then... i'd be the asshole.
let it rest, and just hope that the old jerk drops every ball that comes his way.
