Tonight I got a call around 5:30.

I remember the time because our only push today was at 5:30.

Almost as soon as I answered the phone two guests walked in.

The person on the phone wanted to know if we had 3 seats at the bar, and if our bar had TVs, and were we showing the game.

I said yes on all accounts.

Followed by what would time would you like to come in.

I hear her call to her friends, and then begin a conversation about what time they’d be here. They are laughing, joking, and not giving me an answer.

By this time there are three couples standing in front of me waiting to be seated.

I continue to listen to this woman huck it up with her friends.

After about 45 seconds I tried to get her attention but she was not listening to me.

So I hung up.

Sat the guests who were waiting.

And waited for her to call back.

And she did.

And I made her reservation.

Which when she did arrive she was 20 minutes late for reservation.

Last night we had a table sit around 7:00.

They wanted 2” porterhouse steaks. Unfortunately, we were out of them.

They also ordered a wine that has been out of stock for a while.

They ordered other items.

They left happy.

They then left a survey comment saying, “You should change your menu if you do not have items.,we almost left when the first 2 things we asked for were not available.”

Seriously????

They’ve never gone to a restaurant that was out of something.

They must have freaked out when they learned Hannaford was out of milk and bread tonight.

Have they ever been to McDonald’s when the ice cream machine is out of order?

What happens when CVS is out of vaccines?

Should Toyota remove blue Tacomas from their website when Lee Toyota has sold out of them.

Oh. No.

Magnolia bakery is out of cupcakes. They should change their menu.

What happens when Walmart is out of 90” TVs?

Wow. The animal shelter is out of tabby kittens.

Yes, Virginia, restaurants run out of things. If you leave every time this happens you are going to have a very interesting life.

PS. You’d have loved the Hard Rock when I worked there. We’d run out of French fries on Sundays. Sometimes we’d run out of cheeseburgers on Sundays. Occasionally we’d run out of drinking glasses.

These people live a sheltered life.

We were busy tonight. Lots of people rescheduled from Saturday. People wanting to get out before they are snowed in. We were all jumping tonight.

The bar was especially busy. Almost two complete turns.

Around 6:45 we sat a 7:00 reservation at the bar.

The couple was seated with two other couples on either side of them.

Almost immediately the female member of the party approaches me asking to be moved where it is less crowded. I explain that I can’t move them because we are full with reservations.

She becomes upset insisting that because she made her reservation way in advance we should do something.

I’m not sure what she means by way in advance.

I explain that the place they want to move to has reservations.

She asks about the empty chairs on the other side of the bar.

There are eight chairs empty. I explain they will only be empty about twenty minutes.

She insists she be allowed to move.

Especially because she made her reservation way in advance.

I once again explain that she can’t move.

She goes back to her seat.

They eat. They pay. They leave.

I’m at the door when they leave.

The wife completely ignores me.

The husband grunts at me.

Fast forward to hours and they have left a survey with no comments scoring us a 43 out of 100.

The part I don’t understand is that if I’d moved them they would have been seated next to other people for their entire visit.

I left them where they were scheduled to be seated and the guests on both sides of them were gone in 30 minutes.

PS. By way in advance she meant less than 24 hours before their scheduled reservation.

We have been quiet this week. Busier than last year at this time, but quiet all the same.

The problem with being quiet is that not much happens to write about.

So let me tell you about our first reservation of the night.

Let’s call them the Smiths.

They arrived early, which is often then case with 5:00 reservations. They’d be eating at 4:00 if we were open at 4:00.

They were seated immediately.

They ate dinner quickly.

And left around 6:15.

What I learned after they left was:

They’d been married 52 years. They still loved each other deeply.

They met in 7th grade at a school dance and have been together ever since.

They were so sweet. So cute.

Such wonderful people.

This is my good news talk for the week.

At least once a week someone will call and make a reservation that ends with, will _______be working that night?

First, I haven’t even written that schedule yet, so who the hell knows. And even if it were written do you think I remember every single employee’s schedule?

And.

More importantly.

I will never give out that information.

I’ve trained my staff not to give out that information.

There are a lot of reasons why but the most important reason is for the safety of my staff.

More than once I’ve had an abusive partner call demanding this information. I’ve had angry parents call demanding this information.

The abusive partner had been banned from the restaurant so they had no way of knowing if the employee was at work.

For the parent, I’ve made it my policy since I became a manager that the parent doesn’t work for me. I won’t discuss your child’s schedule with you, their responsibilities, their pay. I won’t give you their check, their W-2, or accept your call that they can’t come to work.

I once had a parent approach me on the floor on an August Saturday night to discuss their child’s schedule. She called the next day to let me know how rude I was.

Back to the topic.

We will not tell you if anyone is working. Even night of. So if you want to know if they are working, text them. I’m sure you have their number.

At least once a week someone will call and make a reservation that ends with, will ______be working that night?

First, I haven’t even written that schedule yet, so who the hell knows. And even if it were written do you think I remember every single employee’s schedule?

And.

More importantly.

I will never give out that information.

I’ve trained my staff not to give out that information.

There are a lot of reasons why but the most important reason is for the safety of my staff.

More than once I’ve had an abusive partner call demanding this information. I’ve had angry parents call demanding this information.

The abusive partner had been banned from the restaurant so they had no way of knowing if the employee was at work.

For the parent, I’ve made it my policy since I became a manager that the parent doesn’t work for me. I won’t discuss your child’s schedule with you, their responsibilities, their pay. I won’t give you their check, their W-2, or accept your call that they can’t come to work.

I once had a parent approach me on the floor on an August Saturday night to discuss their child’s schedule. She called the next day to let me know how rude I was.

Back to the topic.

We will not tell you if anyone is working. Even night of. So if you want to know if they are working, text them. I’m sure you have their number.

We are a steakhouse.

A very good steak house.

An Amazingly good steakhouse.

We are not Longhorn. We are not Sizzler. We are not Outback.

You can get a decent steak at these restaurants.

They are the Toyota Corolla of steaks.

We are the Bentleys of steaks.

Yes, we are expensive, because the quality is reflected in the price.

So when you come to our restaurant, it’s a very good idea to take the recommendation of the server.

For example, don’t order the ribeye if you want a lean steak. They’ll explain the difference between a porterhouse and tbone. And they tell you what cut to get if you want a steak well done.

Tonight, we had a man order a well done NY Strip. The server tried to steer him toward the filet. It can be butterflied, and isn’t shoe leather when it’s finished.

He wouldn’t have it. He ordered the strip.

When it arrived at the table, and he cut into the steak it was a solid medium. The reason: the steak is so thick that to get the center cooked through, you will char the outside.

He sent it back.

It was sent out again. A solid medium well.

He sent it back again.

This time the chef sliced the steak in half, essentially butterflied it, and cooked it more.

His wife was finished eating by the time his steak was finally sent out. And I can’t imagine how tough, and how charred the steak was. He would have enjoyed a filet so much more.

They were very positive when they left. Nothing but great things to say.

But I have to wonder if they’d have not been happier ordering the pork chop or salmon.

The frost heave was worse tonight.

Could barely get the door open.

So tonight, the door had to stay open. Thank god the temperature was about 9* warmer. Also we were slower so the inside needed to be open a lot less.

It was a tad bit more tolerable tonight.

Let’s hope it gets fixed while we are closed tomorrow and Wednesday!

In Maine we have a thing called frost heave. I’ve seen it in the rest of the country. Just never heard the term.

It’s where the pavement gets so cold the pavement buckles.

Our parking lot in the front of our restaurant is asphalt. And tonight the section right in front of the front door developed frost heave.

We discovered this at 4:55 as we were opening for dinner.

The problem.

The front had to be forced open.

And closed.

Like seriously I thought someone would hurt themselves trying to open the door.

And most people gave up trying to close the door.

There is an outer and inner door but with both doors open, the temperature in the lobby was about 40 degrees tonight.

The temperature outside at 6:00 was 12*.

The host and I stood there for the first hour till the first seating was in.

I couldn’t ask her to be there longer, so I acted as host until everyone else was seated. She helped in the dining room etc.

I finally sat down around 8:45. Shivering.

It’s now 1:00 am and I am still cold.

I had my heat in the car on at full for the entire 45 minute drive home. My fingers were numb.

Even a bourbon at work didn’t help.

A bourbon at home hasn’t helped.

Hopefully, the 10 degree warm up tomorrow will help.

There’s a familiar name on the reservation book for tomorrow. Someone who has worked in the business. Someone who should know better.

The reservation is for three people at a high top.

But has a guest note to make sure they are seated at the bar. It’s her husbands birthday.

She could have called the restaurant.

She could have called me. She has my cell number.

Instead she tries to skirt the system.

Just call us. We’ll take care of it.

Truth is, this time of the year these requests are easier to accommodate. But unfortunately they do it in the summer as well!