First.

I’m tired.

We continue to do record numbers. The numbers we did tonight we weren’t doing till mid July last year. A month after I started.

How tired am I?

I fell asleep writing my last post last night. I woke up with my phone in my hand three hours later. The sun was coming up. The typos in all of my poats from last night were embarrassing.

I’m also overwhelmed.

I‘ve been in the weeds since March. There is no catching up. There are days I twiddle my thumbs mostly because I don’t have the energy to do the next thing.

It’s the first restaurant general manager job I’ve had where I didn’t have a number 2 and a number 3.

I’ve always had staff.

I hadn’t written a schedule in years when I started this job. I hadn’t created sections in years. I hadn’t ordered liquor in years.

My people did that.

Im a one man band.

I do ALL of the administrative work. I write the schedule. I answer the phone. I return the calls. I now respond to the hundreds of requests that come in for large party reservations. For information on weddings and rehearsal dinners. I do payroll. I maintain (I misspelled this word in a spelling bee in 1979) the tip spreadsheet. I track sales. I am accountable for deposits. I do all the interviewing. I do all the hiring. I track all the new hires. Do all the orientation meetings. All the onboarding for new hires. Did o mention that I had about 40 calls today from the time I got to work and turned over the phones to the host team?

Im exhausted just typing that.

It’s also the first time I’ve spent service hours on the floor. In previous restaurants I was available but I was often in the office. This is not possible now. We are too busy. At 4:50 when we open the doors I’m on. Shaking hands. Putting out fires. Running recooks. Dealing with the weather. Doing voids and comps.

Im a busy man.

So.

This was a long introduction to my post tonight.

Tonight was the hardest easy night I have ever had.

It was SMOOTH.

BUT.

The night started with my new host arriving. Great. I’m super happy to have her join the team. But I also remember I never sent her floor plans.

While I’m meeting with the hosts to give them instructions for the evening a young man walks in dressed in black.

He says hello.

Who is this. I look at him. I look at him. I look at him.

Oh fuck.

He the son of a friend of the restaurant. I hired him in March.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

He’s arrived without going through orientation. I have no paperwork for him.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

I get the hosts squared away.

I get the new guy squared away.

I spend the next six minutes swallowing my lunch whole.

We finish preshift. It’s time to open the doors. No music.

Fuck.

This has been happening a lot lately. Turns out that Amazon Prime wants chef to pay extra for the music. He thought he’d taken care of it.

No big deal. He’s on it.

Except.

Every. Single. Server.

Comes to me and says, you know the music is not on!

Seriously?

I hadn’t noticed that it was as quiet as could be with a restaurant full of people.

Chef gets the music on.

Whew.

I head to the patio.

I need to make sure they are all set.

They are.

I’m there five seconds when an indoor host appears saying I’m needed at the door.

I head back inside.

A host is on the phone with a lady who wants to bring a cheeseboard to the restaurant.

Seriously.

I take the phone.

The lady explains they have a cheeseboard with them. It’s hot. She insists I put it in the walk-in while they dine with us.

I explain that I can’t go this.

She pushes back.

I say no.

She asks for ice.

I say we don’t have plastic bags.

(I‘d like to point out that this is not our problem. Also drive by the grocery store, pick up a hot/cold bag. And you’ll be all set).

Meanwhile a two top has been seated whose family called to pay for their meals.

The couple wants to buy two copies of chef’s new cookbook.

Did I mention chef has a cookbook.

The couple wants it signed. Chef is now 20 tickets deep into cooking.

I have a 20 minute conversation about cookbooks.

It was probably 3 minutes but it felt like 20.

The chaos continues.

All little things. None of them serious.

Until 6:45 when I head to the patio only to discover that it is raining.

WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FUCK???

Seriously.

If it didn’t rain by 4:00 we were in the clear.

The rain lasted about 7 minutes.

Thank god everyone outside was jovial about. Some tables didn’t even move. They could see the sun behind the clouds.

The rain stopped. We dried the chairs and tables.

And finally.

Finally my night became okay.

Getting back to the start of my post.

Last Saturday I was chatting with a server after close. It was a fun chat. And I don’t remember how it came up but I ask him for feedback.

He said I was disorganized.

I’m not. I’m really not.

Im just too busy and have to prioritize things.

I told my new host tonight that I was going to stop apologizing for not being prepared.

I’m doing the best I can.

I challenge someone to do it better without coming in several hours earlier.

Tonight was a good night.

I’m proud of where I work.

I really do love my job.