I’d like to speak to the manager!!!

People email me for large party reservations.

Today a man emailed me ti change from 16 people to 24.

I made the change. And emailed him back.

He relied: thanks sweetheart.

Hmmm.

I’ve told Adam that I have a new boyfriend.

I’d like to speak to the manager!!!

Today.

Was a day.

It started with TLF being short staffed.

As a rule.

Since I’ve been a GM I don’t deny requests off.

Most of the time it’s fine.

Sometimes.

Like tonight.

It fucks me.

Hard.

Without buying me drinks first.

We had 7 servers tonight.

We should have had 10/11.

We had three bartenders.

We should have had four.

We had 6 food runners.

We should have had 8/9.

Short.

And we asked the world of our team.

And they delivered.

We turned no one away.

And.

Most everyone appeared at the end unscathed.

I did get a letter of resignation but I was not surprised.

Although it did make me sad.

They got through it.

Meanwhile at UM we are also short staffed.

I have one bartender.

I’m supposed to have three.

We did turn people away.

There is no way to keep up as a bartender and do service drinks for a million people.

I handled the bartender with care.

I turned off reservations at the bar.

And only took a few walkins.

Service went great.

Except for about 20 minutes at 7:45/8:00 when I over sat the dining room.

Luckily the downstairs bartender came up and helped out.

Here’s the part that drives me insane.

I cannot.

Tell someone no at the bar.

Without pushback.

I’ve tried gentle.

I’ve tried firm.

I’ve tried explanations.

I’ve tried lying.

No one cares.

It leads me to believe we have an alcohol problem in America.

I love love love to drink.

I’m sipping a bourbon as I type.

But if you told me no tonight. I would not lose my mind.

All night people came in.

All night I said no to sitting at the bar.

All night I got pushback.

Around 7:30 two guys seat themselves at the bar.

A server comes over and asks if they sat themselves.

I had not even noticed.

I send over to tell the they need to check in with host.

One of them comes over.

Hot.

I explain that I don’t have room at the bar tonight.

He pushes back.

I explain that they can go downstairs.

He pushes back but leaves.

His friend stays.

I approach him at the bar.

He will not take no for an answer.

Ive told him he can get drinks downstairs.

I’ve told him we have reservations for these chairs.

He wants to stay.

Why can’t I stay?

Because we have reservations.

But the chairs are empty.

I say, yes. That’s how reservations work. The chairs are empty till the reservation arrives.

He is pissed.

But leaves.

He calls me choice words at the host stand.

Meanwhile a reservation arrives.

They have reserved a table.

They want the bar.

I explain that we can’t accommodate them.

We seat them. 20 minutes later he comes up to me and accosts me because the chairs are still empty.

I have no time for it.

I am not kind.

6 seconds later table 43 leaves.

I ask how their dinner was.

All was good but we need a better bartender. The Sri is room too long.

He says this loudly so the bartender will hear. It’s not for my benefit.

I’m having none of this.

I say the bartender is out with a broken arm.

He says no she’s not, she’s downstairs.

I all but tell him he’s an asshole.

He knows I’m pissed.

I look. The four of them were in the restaurant 1:45.

They didn’t take that long.

Meanwhile we’ve seated the 8:00’s and the bar us backed up.

Turns out asshole from earlier has gone downstairs.

He’s done nothing but complain about me.

He’s told the bartender he’s a lawyer.

And that we are losing his revenue by not letting him drink upstairs.

He doesn’t see the irony that he’s drinking booze. Priced the same. In another venue. That shares revenue.

I’ve just nothing.

He goes on and on.

I tell the bartender to let him know that if he’d gone to business school he might understand this better.

She shared that she asked him if he ever worked in a restaurant.

He said no.

And she said then you do t know what you’re taking about.

They left 6%.

I hope he’s not a lawyer that deals with money.

Then table 43 leaves. Without ordering food.

The mother is mad because she can’t eat anything.

Because we have a pepper that’s in the marinade on our chicken.

She can’t eat spicy food.

On a scale of one to ten the pepper is a -4.

The server told them this.

I tell the server they can leave but they have to pay for the beverages.

I print the check.

I approach the woman and explain this.

And she attacks.

I tell her it’s not spicy.

I tell her we can get other things

She agrees to sit back down.

Her family is embarrassed.

She is acting like a child.

They never recover.

The husband eats and leaves.

Her very cute son is horrified.

The daughter is apologetic.

She grunts at me when she leaves.

Meanwhile.

I’m exhausted.

Beat.

How do you say no to someone about the bar without them yelling at you.

I’ve tried just no.

I’ve tried telling the truth.

I’ve tried reservations.

Nothing works.

Meanwhile.

I’m fucking exhausted.

I’m tired.

I’m ready for fall.