Work life balance.

I’ve been a GM since 2013. And for the past 8 years there has been little work life balance.

You are the restaurant. Calls at 4:00 in the morning because a pipe burst. Calls on your day off because the restaurant is on fire. Calls at 2:00 because someone is locked out of the hotel.

These calls actually happened.

How about calls because Suzy is sick. Or table 26 broke a tooth. Or Sam called Joan a bitch while he was taking out the garbage. How about your host is hung over so you have to go in to work on your day off. Or the owner invited VIP’s in and expects you to oversee the table of four. Or a phone call at 7:00 am from the owner to let you know a server posted an instagram post that they decided was inappropriate.

These are all true stories. My phone could never be off. We were closed two days a year and ultimately I was the go to. Call Jeff. He’ll know what to do.

My phone rang during plays. Dinner. Vacation.

However.

The most glorious thing about my new job is that when I’m not there the restaurant is closed. For the past six months the owner has not called me on my day off. I can turn my phone off. I can sleep late. I can relax. It’s perfectly wonderful.

And this time tomorrow I will be on a 16 day vacation. I hope to hear from my boss as he will traveling and I want photos, details, the fun stuff. But unless the restaurant catches fire it should all be fun contacts. I won’t work for 16 glorious days.