Since my first week of being a GM, I committedmyself to being a teacher to those on my staff who are young.

I’ll never forget during our first hiring event before David’s even opened a young man named Charlie came in for an interview. He looked at the floor while telling me he was outgoing and confident.

I hired him. Then took the opportunity to coach him on his handshake, his eye contact, and his answers. He worked for me for two summers.

Same summer a parent called me up to discuss her daughter’s schedule. She called at 7:00 on a Saturday night. I very curtly informed her that I’d never discuss a schedule at 7:00 on Saturday and I’d never discuss her daughters schedule with her, as she, the mother, didn’t work for me. She hung up on me. The daughter never returned.

I’ve had lots of conversations with young employees.

A young man, named Nick was a food runner our first season at David’s. Our second season I let him be a junior bartender. Meaning, he worked Monday through Friday lunches on service bar. He didn’t complain, because he was learning.

All summer long he spoke of being a ski bum in Colorado.

I have had the following conversation a million times with young staff members.

Learn to wait tables. Bartend. Cook.

Then put your shit in your car, a truck, a uhaul. And drive someplace fun. Nebraska, Iowa, Florida, San Diego, Alaska. You have a desired skill. You can get a job.

Go have fun. Come home when your ready.

This is the story of my personal life.

Meanwhile, Nick stayed in Maine because of his girlfriend.

She broke up with him on Christmas Eve 2014.

Two days later he gave notice. Last I heard from him he was in Colorado.

Big intro to my real post.

I use my job as a teaching tool.

When I started at my current job I had a haram of hot boys who were food runners. Seriously, the ugly one could work for Abercrombie.

I did not hire them. I’ve only hired hot girls since I started. You know who you are. Especially Bob and Garrett

Any way.

First of August, a food runner gets his shifts covered so he can drive to New Jersey to see his girl friend. Perfect.

Unfortunately, his friend, going with him doesn’t get his shifts covered.

He texts about four minutes before his shift to say he won’t be there.

I don’t text back.

Weekend comes and goes.

Wednesday rolls around and the texting, missing employee shows up for his shift.

He does his opening side work and I ask to see him in G4.

When he arrives, he finds me and our sous chef Joe. My witness.

90 seconds later he is terminated and on his way home.

He was totally perplexed as to why, although he missed his shifts with no excuse.

Once again, long build up.

This employee’s mom was in for dinner. I ask about him. I let her know that she can let him know we’d be happy to have him back next summer.

Which led her to say, thank you for teaching him a lesson. Thank you for making him come to work and doing the grunt work before you fired him. Thank you for making him grow up. He definitely learned a lesson.

It reminded me that I made the right decision. It also reminded me that my job is a teaching job.

And I was glad his mom wasn’t mad at me.

Whew!

Birthdays are the fucking worst.

There I said it.

Why you ask?

Well.

First.

Chain restaurants have made everyone believe they are special for being born.

My old boss used to say everyone has a birthday, Why should that cost me money.

Second.

No one over the age of 3 is surprised by a dessert being brought to the table with a candle.

Here’s the deal.

It’s a pain. Your server has to be told. If we catch it. And I appreciate that you told me on the way to the table but we are knee deep in people and I’m easily distracted.

Also, not every restaurant has a person in the kitchen who is skilled at writing messages in chocolate on your plate.

And, if the birthday girl absolutely doesn’t want dessert what are we supposed to do?

We don’t give free desserts. So if no one orders dessert we are really in a pickle.

So, tell your waiter. Order dessert. Don’t be super sneaky. The person knows it’s their birthday. They are 50. The reason you are all together is because it’s their birthday.

And don’t yell at me when we forget. Do you know who specializes in birthdays? Chuckie Cheese. Go there.

Please!

Tonight was a weird night.

Weird energy.

Weird weather.

Perfect for Halloween weekend.

Except for a little snafu at the start of the night everything was going well.

Around 7:45 a couple comes in for their 8:15 reservation. By all measures, the couple sitting at their table should be up any second now.

PS. The couple at their table is Mr Finn’s daughter and her partner. She had told me she’d be in. She’s so sweet. I bought them dessert. I thanked for her kindness during her last visit.

However, Mr. Finn’s daughter isn’t budging. So we are worried we’ll run late.

Meanwhile, while the couple is waiting, I’m at the door.

The gentleman asks for a nice table.

I tell him all our tables are nice.

He asks to see a menu

We asks if it’s Latin food.

I explain we are an Argentinian steakhouse.

Nothing in depth.

Staccato Questions.

Staccato answers.

He eventually tells me he and his wife own a restaurant.

Ugh. Here goes.

It turns out it’s a real restaurant. Upscale. Beautiful space. He asked me to look it up on the iPad.

Suddenly the conversation takes a turn. More engaging. More warm. For both of us.

They’ve owned it for a while. They do 1.3 million a year in event revenue. He’s the operations manager. She’s the chef.

They have great staff. Been with them forever. Her sous chef for 18 years. They’ve been staffed all summer.

I share our staffing information.

She talks about being a working chef. How they’ve gone away for the weekend to celebrate her birthday. They can do this because of their excellent management team.

Around this time a table exits. And the host and I look at each other with the same idea.

She whispers that she’s going to bus F5.

I say I’ll ask the question.

I explain to them that their table is running late. However, the chef’s table is now free. It will offer a chance to see our chef and the kitchen in action. They’ll be able to see the flow of the restaurant. Also the server at the chef’s table will offer a great experience.

They bite.

And the rest of their evening was magical to quote them. They had an amazing time. Their server, who we’ll call Jen, because that’s her name, pulled out all the stops. Including singing happy birthday to the wife when she brought dessert.

Our chef came out and they chatted for about 20 minutes. Turns out they have lots of mutual acquaintances.

When they left they stopped by the host stand again to let me know how grateful they were for their magical evening.

It really is experienced like this that remind me why I like my job.

A reservation that should have been just like the other 45 reservations tonight turned out to be amazing for the guests and us.

They also tipped the server around 50%. And gave me 20 for making their night.

Cheers. To nice people.

PS. Their restaurant which is pretty busy and pretty big is in a very small town in Connecticut. About six minutes after I sat the couple another couple comes by on their way out. The woman goes to the restroom, the husband I chat. Turns out they live in the same small Connecticut town and know the owners. They didn’t want to interrupt their dinner but did tell me to tell them hi.

Small world. Isn’t it.