Hmmm what to blame, what to blame...

So today I was working the front (of the restaurant...get your head out of the gutter)

A lady came in and asked for a table by a window...for her grandmother, who didn't see well. I told her that we also had large print menus...

She thanked me but declined...her grandmother had Macular Degeneration.

So did mine...I shared.

She told me she was also 92...my grandma was 96.

So I wanted to open the door for this lady...not sure if this was a good move or a bad move.

When I laid eyes on this sweet lady with her daughter and grand daughter on either arm I was reminded of my grandmother. This small in frame woman looked scarily similar to my grandmother.

My eyes welled up with tears...and I could not hold them back.

But I didn't want to worry a woman who could only hear my cries.

So I sucked it up and welcomed her as if she were in my home. And after she was in, I was out. I had to go crack.

The lady that requested the bright table came out and hugged my neck. And told me that there was a reason that I was remembering. I believe her.

I gathered myself as much as I could...(it wasn't that much)

I thought I had it together until I saw her again later.

She was listening to her creations talk. She wasn't looking at their faces. She was looking towards their voices.

Blindness is a painful thing...

I wanted to love on her. I wanted to help her with her food and make sure she got what ever she needed.

But I fed them instead.

The crazy thing was that I had thought about her earlier that morning as I stumbled upon her birthday. May 7th.

I wondered if I would ever be able to forget. Hoping that I wouldn't.

Soooo then I go into the office to "man up" and read some horrible new...on a text message...

I was told that an old friend of mine died...on a text message...

I was in disbelief. Shocked...I had just seen her last week and talked to her for a good hour and a half.

And I had to hear about it on a text message...

I was mad, sad, and emotional already.

I just felt still.

And I didn't know what to blame my emptiness on.

Poison!!!

This call started like any other...

"I need to speak to a manager please..."

Here we go...

Paul and Flaco were in the office with me when I answered, "this is Jacklyn speaking, how can i help you."

When there is a complaint on the food it starts by listing what was eaten...so the Dude started...

My wife and I were in your restaurant last night and ordered the Buffalo Fajitas. When we got home we were so parched that we had to drink water all that night. Even the next day.

***I was confused...was this man calling me to tell me he had to drink water...that is life player***

So after he was so thirsty he decided to look up our nutritional info on the web. He found out that what he ate had 5260 mgs of sodium...except he kept telling me grams...BIG DIFFERENCE

After reading this he went to his doctor, who convinced him that we poisoned him.

F'n Doctors

So from that diagnosis he felt victimized and decided that he wanted someone to pay...to suffer like he had.

He told me that he had already called the health department to notify them of his poisoning and that his next call after us was going to be to the police station.

All the while repeating FIVE THOUSAND GRAMS OF SODIUM.

He told me he wanted me, all the servers, and all the cooks to go to jail.

I started with what I was supposed to..."Sir I am sorry that you did not feel well after eating our food. Is there anything that I can do to make this better for you?"

He then ranted some more about how I was poisoning people everyday...he even gave me a scenario, "Right now...there is a couple entering your restaurant...65 maybe 75...they are going to order those fajitas...have a heart attack and die...and their blood would be on my hands." FIVE THOUSAND GRAMS OF SODIUM

He then asked me how a judge would feel about that...

So I answered him, because I had been doing more listening at that point...

I told him, " Well sir, a judge would probably say that just like you had the nutritional information available to you after the fact...they had that information available before hand upon request...and they made a CHOICE to come into our restaurant...and they made a CHOICE to order that menu item...and they made a CHOICE to eat it. We did not force you to eat your meal. If you had a preexisting condition that limits your sodium intake, we have healthier options, but the facts are that YOU made the CHOICE to eat what you ate. Therefore a judge would hold YOU responsible for YOUR CHOICES."

He back peddled a bit and said that he didn't want me to go to jail...BUT THAT WAS EXACTLY WHAT HE SAID

He asked me who distributed our food...I told him I could not give him that info...

He asked who made our menu item recipes...I told him I could not give him that info either...

He wanted me to give him the name of someone that he could hold responsible. I told him that no one was responsible for his choices but him.

He did not like that...because he had now chewed my ear for 25 minutes I figured I should give him some attention from the big guy...

So I asked him for his name and info...he gave me his address but asked me not to mail him anything...so I asked for his email...he did not want to give that out. I asked for his number and told him that my AD would love to talk to him...

His smart ass answer was...oh, he actually works...

I responded, "Yes sir, we all work around here."

He didn't want to give me his info at first, only to make a suggestion that we take a menu item off them menu...

So my response was...sir we have over 1200 stores nation wide...to change our menu to take one item off would cost the company thousands and thousands of dollars.

An anonymous complaint would not make that happen. The claim has no grounds, no credit, and no chance of changing our menu.

However if I can put a name, some doctor records, and some credibility behind it...something may happen.

But if he was only making an ANONYMOUS complaint...

His complaint has been heard...and I need to go prep up some fajitas for the next person that make the CHOICE to order them.

So after talking around in circles with this man...I realized that his debating skills were not at the level mine were...bc I had not even begun...and he was finished...

So I passed him off to the Rojo Grande...and warned the Rojo Grande that we may be sharing a cell later...to have bond money ready.

And since then...I have seen that menu item go out many times...and each time I think out loud to myself...POISON!!!! and laugh

Just Fake It

I could take that title soooooooo many different places, but I will focus on what is pertinent to this blog.

As a server or really anyone who is employed at a restaurant, we fake it DAILY!!!

When you are at work you have to check your personal life at the door. I have to be honest...that is sometimes the hardest part of my job.

Especially when I see someone that I don't like, or would rather avoid...you don't really have that option.

Last night I was put in a position where my faking it forte paid off...I was put in one of the most awkward of awkward situations...and I nailed it...I smiled so big when I wanted to scream & all appeared to be perfect!!!

At least to the people who don't know me as well...for those who know me, for those who get me...

I am transparent.

My fakes are shown through as fraudulent...and my lies are received as bullshit.

I think this is because my personality doesn't really operate on a superficial level. Everyone that I meet and accept into my heart...is trusted with my heart. So I feel like they deserve what is real...and when my heart is pissed...or happy...or cracked out crazy...it shows...

Lately everyone has been curious what is going on with me...and I am having trouble faking it...

Everyday on the radio the Graham Man reminds us that tough times don't last...tough people do...

I am just having trouble faking it...and I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel so that makes it hard to forge a gap fake...

But I am going to do it...until I can't do it anymore...or until I don't have to do it anymore...

Which ever comes first!

Oh Buffy

This blog is dedicated to my favorite Squirkle...YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!

Miss Garcia Fernandez ran at me on the back line screaming, "You will NEVER guess who is here..."

So I was scared for a couple of reasons:

1. she RAN at me
2. the look on her face
3. Miss G never really gets excited about people being there...specific people that is

With eyes wide open she said, "BUFFY"

I laughed...bc if I were coming up with the name I would probably come up with something that makes fun of her horrendous last name, or her manly voice...but Big Jack has done the work for me!! PREESH!!!

Madisonville was DEEP at the restaurant that night...Totita was at the front door, Winoria was there, and of course Miss G...and ALL of these ladies knew the stories behind this that made it so funny.

To make things more akward for her (Buffy that is) she got to sit there for a good 10 mins looking around only to recognize how deep we were there!!

Miss G pretended that she did not know Buffy when she greeted the table...and forced her to tell her where she knew her from...she even considered telling her that Miss G was NOT her name...but it would have been on her check...those paper trail will get you every time!!!

By the time the food was delivered to the table the whole staff knew the story of Buffy.

I thought to myself for a minute that Buffy did not know who I was...but then I remembered...

A friend of hers came in to eat at another establishment I worked at previously and practically told me my brother-in-laws life story...referencing my sister time after time...

I shared that story with my Madisonvillians...

So I figured Buffy had done her fair share of internet stalking and FOR SURE KNEW who I was.

I did not behave ugly. I did not make her uncomfortable, but I did hold the door open for her and invite her to come back and see us!!!

THEN...

the VERY NEXT day...who walks in, Buffy's friend...

She chatted with me up front for a minute...again referencing Squirkle multiple times...and I took her to her table.

I walked back up to the front to talk to Totita...to tell her that this was the chick I was talking about last night...

She was talking to someone telling them how it was cool that those people that I just sat knew Squirkle...

Until I told her the priceless phrase spoken by the girl that put her in the PSYCHO category...

"I never have met her..."

Totita's face turned sideways as she did not understand how someone could go on and on and on about someone they had never met...

Oh Buffy and her friends...