A December to (somewhat) Remember

In the hotel restaurant industry, the holidays are a painfully slow season.  Aside from a few holiday parties here and there, our normal consistent clientele of vacationers, business travelers and convention attendees are virtually non–existent.   When we normally take home over a hundred of dollars a shift (and a lot of times much more), we are now taking home $30 if we’re lucky, and many times get sent home after an hour with no tables (and still have to pay $3 for parking). 

This is the time of year when working at a mall restaurant (or within close proximity to a major shopping zone) can really bring home the cash.  Masses of people swarm around these restaurants toting heaps of shopping bags looking stressed and famished, ready to punch the person next to them if their restaurant pagers don’t vibrate within the next minute.   As I envy this type of craziness at my restaurant during December, I know it all balances out.   Because when January arrives, most of the mall restaurants are dead; juxtaposed to convention hotel restaurants when corporate America is back in full swing.   Yet again, it will be our turn to annoy the public when we hand them a pagers at the host stand and force them to wait for a table.

The only saving graces this time of year for us are the few loyal, local diners.  Thank god for these saviors.  On these dreadfully slow December days, having a local VIP diner can truly make our day.  Last weekend, a couple of my regulars popped in on what would have otherwise been a pointless Sunday shift.  I’ve been waiting on these two wealthy hipsters for months now.  I was unaware they were approaching the door when the greeter saw them, called my name and nodded her head toward the door.  I looked out and immediately smiled.  I practically skipped over to them with two menus and said, “Welcome back.  Wherever you two want to sit, it’s all yours.”   It had been raining that day and the outside patio wasn’t set.  However, the rain had passed and it had become gorgeous.  Appropriately so, they wanted to sit outside.  I grabbed a rag, told my assistant to get two seat cushions and we made it happen.  We chit chatted a bit as usual, talking about going out the night before and the shenanigans we’d gotten into.  One of the guys joked around that the other one bailed on the $300 bar tab the previous night by saying he went to the bathroom then never came back.  We all had a good laugh.  They ordered; and aside from my obligatory serving duties, I left them alone.  They simply ordered two breakfasts, two sides of chicken sausage and one Arnold Palmer.  Their bill was $47.    I somewhat facetiously handed the bill to the guy who had apparently “bailed” on the tab the night before and said, “Guess you’re picking up breakfast.”  We all laughed and he agreed.  The savvy (and did I mention good looking?) regular left me $50 for a tip.  Wow.  Unexpected, generous and it completely made my day. 

Although I am using my credit card for practically every purchase right now, I’m learning to embrace these slow times.  There’s no stress on the job, I get to pamper and truly appreciate my regulars and I have much more free time in general.   

Because when January hits and we’re slammed and stressed out again like crazy, I’ll be wishing I was back in the December ease of standing around socializing with co-workers and being able to spend extra time with my VIP’s in a stress-free environment.  

Until January humanity.  ~ HK ~