Red Hearts of Smoke

Valentines Day. WOW. I have to say that working a double shift over Valentines Day was pretty much eye-opening. I saw a ton of things happen that I wouldn't have if I hadn't been working that day. I'll list all the cool things that happened at this end of this, but first! A bit about work. Then the fun part will come.

I clocked in about twenty minutes early, and good thing too, because if I'd been any later, I wouldn't have gotten a doughnut! Ben had bought a dozen doughnuts from Winco for each of his crews (the front of the house and the back of the house) and gave them to us as his Valentines present. I was excited. It was a good way to start work.

I soon found out that almost everyone there was working a double. We would be there all day together. So we tried to keep each other energized, and good thing too. We needed it. The lunch rush wasn't really a rush, though, so that helped. It got slammed right about 2:30, though, which was weird. The other weird thing, though, was that it wasn't the sando or pizza lines that got hit hardest like it usually goes, it was the salad line that got hit hardest. Don't get me wrong, everyone was having a ton of trouble keeping up with the orders as they were wrung in, but I absolutely could not do it. Kristin and Patrick came to help me, and we barely kept up with just the three of us. It was horrible. Right around 3:00, though, things started slowing down enough that I wasn't shaking anymore, and we actually had time to breathe.
Devan and I totally read each others minds during the rush, though, and yelled "I'M DROWNING!!" at the same time. Then we kinda looked at each other for a second and started laughing. He was like, "Yeah! High five, Addie!" Haha. It was awesome.
Oh, by the way, we've discovered that generally if you yell in the back of the house, you can't hear it in the front. So we yell a lot. Especially in the lines behind me. If you yell really loud when you're on the pantry line, then you can be heard. If you're really loud.

3:25 rolled around, and the place was suddenly very empty. And I was glad of it. Having been on full speed for the past four hours really drains you, you know? So, it was during this lull in the business that we did our Valentines for each other. That was fun. A little while after that I got to take a fifteen minute break. There were probably four tables in use at the time, so Robert (who had just come on shift as the night shift manager) told the servers to make their own salads for a while so I could take a break. Devan made mozzarella sticks for me, and I went to eat them in the empire room. Teresa and Cassidy joined me at my table, and we had our very late lunch together, me sharing my mozzarella sticks with Teresa, and Cassidy with her pizza and fries. It was really great to get to know them a bit better. We talked about Cassidy's daughter, and what kind of weddings we would all have if the day ever came, and it was interesting to hear their ideas. I'd never heard some of the things that they want for their weddings. Teresa, for example, wants her reception to be like a costume party, where everyone dresses up as whatever they want to. And Cassidy would have a really small wedding (twenty people or so) and have it in a big gazebo, and everyone would have a flower that they would hand to her as she came down the aisle. I thought that was a cool idea. I doubt I'd do it since my wedding is probably going to be HUGE, and it would take me forever to just get down the aisle if I did that, but I still think its a good idea for a small wedding.

I clocked back in by 4:30ish (I think, I wasn't really paying attention to when I clocked back in), and for some reason was so pumped that I was just... yeah, really ready to rock. But 4:30 was a pretty slow time, so I bugged the hostesses, and talked to Michael and Brya and Nolan (Nolan is the new driver as of a week ago) who had come in for lunch and was waiting for his cheesy bread. We ended up quoting Shrek 2 and laughing so hard that Brya and I were leaning on the counter trying to keep our balance. Michael and Nolan were just going at it, and Brya and I were dying. It was so much fun!

5:00 came around and Casey almost ran over me in the parking lot, thank you very much. lol I lived, though, and things really began picking up after that. The people began coming in, and once again we had a wait list that began filling up steadily.
Every week there is always one server who gets hit harder than the rest. A lot of times its Casey (since he's our head server) or Reilly (since he works the bar a lot), but this time it was Mitch. He had four tables, and one of them was a ten top. He did great, but he was insanely busy and looked pretty stressed. I tried to help by busing his tables so that his turn over time sped up. It meant he was busy consistently, but he would get a lot more business and ultimately more money, and that would make all his hard work worth it.
The pantry line was never really slammed too hard like this afternoon, but I never really had much time away. I could leave to bus Mitch's tables, but I had to come back to make salads for everyone else. Robert was having everyone up-selling the pantry line and the wines too. Everyone was doing great with pulling out all the stops for their over-the-top salesmanship (just like Lisa taught us), but it meant that Cassidy and Patrick and I never really caught a break. We had to do our best with speed and presentation, and sometimes doing the two things at once can make it tough. We'll either be fast but have salads that aren't gorgeous, or we'll have beautiful salads that took longer. That's how things were before, anyhow. I think I fixed that last night. I was the epitome of speed and beautiful presentation! Hah. I was proud of myself.
Around 7:00 I realized that I couldn't feel my feet. Kristin agreed. "Working doubles takes away the feeling in most things, "she said. Its true. Having numb feet and tired legs and arms is an interesting feeling to try to cope with for hours on end.
I was drained by 8:30, as was everyone else who had worked a double. My Red Bull was long gone, and Michael and I were on the same page. He would walk past and be like, "I'm dying man!" and I'd be like, "I clocked in three minutes before you did! I'm dying too!"
Robert told me to start my side work and get out around 9:30, and by 10:00 I was done. I walked up to him and waited to ask if there was anything else he wanted me to do, and he turned around, took one look at me and said "Bye Addie." I started laughing. "Bye Robert! Bye Ben! Thanks!" I clocked out and was outta there in thirty seconds.
FREEEEDOOOOOOM!!!!!!

And thus, my crazy double double Valentines Day came to an end.

Now! I'll tell you some of the fun things I saw.

On Valentines Eve(Friday night), I saw a guy propose to his girlfriend. She screamed. Haha! And we gave them a piece of chocolate cake on the house in celebration.

I'm sure you're curious what we did for each other for our Valentines presents, so here's how it happened.
Cameron passed out his Valentines first. He gave most of the girls boxes of sweathearts and some of the guys got little model motorcycles. lol
Patrick: "Dude, how do you expect me to pay for gas for my car *and* for a motorcycle?? Thanks, Cameron, thanks."
Cameron: "Yeah, I just wanted to make your life harder."
Then Patrick gave his Valentines to his people, and I got yet another box of sweathearts. Hm... I'm beginning to sense a theme here, I think... He said he wanted to get me a set of salad tongs, but he couldn't find the right wooden ones (he knows I like wooden things), so he gave up. He gave Kristin and Cassidy key chains with their names on them, and he gave Devan and Reilly and Ben (and himself, haha) pocket knives.
And Michael gave me a Red Bull, cause last week I begged him for one of his (he brought like five with him!), so he got me my own this time. I was happy. I love Red Bull.
Kristin's Valentine was the promise to go to a movie with me sometime. We've been saying for months that we should go to a movie together, but we keep forgetting. So now we have to. Yay!
Then it was my turn! I gave them homemade heart-shaped sugar cookies, and they LOVED them. They really are so much better than cookies bought from the store. Devan pretty much scarfed his down in three seconds, and then begged for more.
Me: "I didn't bring enough for everyone to have two, sorry Dev!"
Devan: *puppy eyes*
Me: "Haha! Fine! I'll give you the one I brought for myself."
Devan: "Awww, thanks Addie!"
So yes, they liked their cookies, and I was pleased that they enjoyed them so much.
4:00ish rolled around, and I got my real Valentines present, the culmination of which is a Mariners hoodie. YESSSSSSSSS. It smells good too. I love hoodies!

Now for the other cool things I saw from my perch behind the counter! I got to witness (for the first time) a singing Valentine. These four older men came in and gathered around a lady who looked like she had taken her two grandsons out for lunch, and they sang three songs to her. They sounded reeeally good too. All of us cooks and servers pretty much stopped what we were doing and watched for a while. It was so cool! But the coolest part was that one of the guys singing was her husband! And after they finished singing, he pulled out one of the biggest, most beautiful roses I've ever seen, and gave it to her with a hug. She looked so happy. It was so great! Kathryn and Kristin and I decided that when we're sixty we want that to happen to us.

People were walking past my counter all day long carrying vases or bunches of flowers, boxes of chocolate, and bottles of wine. A couple times we saw the guys actually giving the flowers to his girl. And the looks on the girls' faces were always so wonderful. They always looked so happy. Every time we saw that, Kristin and I would look at each other and say, "Awwwwww..." Haha!

It was a great day. It really was. I was exhausted just like I thought I would be, but everyone was happy and cheerful and that really helped a lot. I love the Saturday crew. They rock. They really do.

But... I don't think I'll do this again. Ever. Hehe.