I’d like to speak to the manager!!!

I was called to a table last night because two of the guests hated the lobster roll.

I get there and they tell me that they are Mainers and this is NOT a lobster roll. Explaining that a lobster roll either has butter or Mayo and definitely does not have tarragon in it.

I ask them to explain.

And they continue that everyone wants a traditional lobster roll.

And I explain that the lobster shack next to us has a traditional lobster roll.

And.

That 7,429 restaurants in a 30 mile radius including McDonald’s has a traditional lobster roll.

We are not those restaurants.

We respect those restaurants.

We enjoy those restaurants.

I had a fried fish sandwich from next door last week.

But we are different.

And.

The menu tells you that we are different.

Embrace the difference.

I’d like to speak to the manager!!!

The locals continue to pour in.

An endless stream.

At 5:30 a woman walks in.

She says they are going to sit at the bar.

The host explains that we have reservations at the bar.

The woman says, that’s not possible our website says we don’t take reservations.

I interrupt and assure her that it does not say that.

She doubles down.

I assure her that that’s not the case.

She doubles down again and says we’ll since you just opened, and it’s empty in here I’m sure you’ll have room and she goes toward the bar.

I stop her and explain that although we are empty in 30 minutes we won’t be and therefore can’t accommodate her.

She is not pleased and storms out.

An hour later two men walk in, push past the host and say they are going to the bar.

The host says we take reservations at the bar.

They replay, that’s okay we are locals and we are just going to have a drink.

I interrupt and say, we take reservations at the bar. We are booked. You can’t sit at the bar.

They get pissed and leave.

Meanwhile a man is sitting at the bar who arrived at 4:45. He assured us he was just having a drink.

It’s now after 6:00 and he’s nowhere close to leaving.

He stayed over 2 hours.

Just for a drink.

And the stories continue.

But I’m a local part 2.

The most we can seat at our new restaurant is 7.

We have one table that seats 7.

One table that seats 6.

The rest seat less.

All day long I say no to requests for bigger parties.

From friends of the restaurant.

They usually end up at the other restaurant.

But a few people have pushed back.

But weve been bringing our family to this restaurant for years.

Tomorrow I get to tell someone that that can’t be true.

Because we opened 8 days ago.

You went to a different restaurant.

That restaurant cease to exist last fall.

That restaurant would seat a party of 15.

Our restaurant won’t.

That restaurant had rats living in the walls.

Our restaurant does not.

That restaurant charged 12 dollars for an allagash beer.

Our restaurant does not.

So. No.

You have not been coming for years.

And please do not be rude to my staff to prove your point.

The answer is no.

I’d like to speak to the manager!!!

Day 7 is in the books at the new restaurant.

The last two days have been special.

I no longer know everyone in the dining room.

And every second person that walks in let’s me know they are locals.

They then ask questions about the restaurant.

Not one of these people knows me.

Which means one of about a half dozen things.

They are local but just moved in last Tuesday.

They are local but the don’t venture off their street.

They are local but have a bad memory.

They are local but don’t like steak.

They are local but NEVER eat out.

They are local but only for three weeks a year.

Here’s the thing.

I’ve worked in this town for 7 of the past 10 years.

So.

And for the last two less than a mile from you.

And.

I have missed at best 15 days in the last two years.

So I’m pretty sure you should at least know my face.

But you were strangers tonight.

I was discussing this with someone who is not a local but does have a home here. She was in with her family. They dine with us several times a month when they are in town.

I said all of the things above.

And I mentioned that not only would you know me, but I’d know you.

I’d know your kid was just accepted to BU. I’d know your house had electrical problems a month ago. I’d know the car you drove to Boston has a leak in the roof. I’d know you’re about to have your fourth boy and are no longer going to try for a girl. I’d know you were the captain of the Harvard football team and your parents were both addicts. I’d know you have known your wife since 8th grade.

I mentioned this and included the part of missing fifteen days.

And the son said, does that include when you had your gall bladder removed.

And with that proved my point.

And if you do live down the street. And you don’t eat out. You are not our demographic.

Eating with us once a year will not keep us on business.

I’d like to speak to the manager!!!

I just crawled into bed.

It’s 2:38.

I worked a 14+ hour days.

It was filled with anger, yelling, ultimatums, veiled threats, accusations, and a whole list of other things.

This describes at least 6 people today I encountered.

However, one encounter stood out.

When I first started, I became friendly with a family that came in every six weeks or so.

They often requested the chef’s table so after a while I just made it happen.

So imagine my surprise when I had the following encounter.

The phone rings at the new restaurant.

I recognize the name as the son of this family.

I answer.

A voice immediately says, is this Jeff.

I reply yes.

And the voice introduces itself as the father.

He then becomes angry.

Are you no longer at the old restaurant?

Well it depends on the day of the week.

Well are you or aren’t you? I called tonight and they told me you were MIA. I don’t appreciate having to speak to some one else about my reservation.

I say I’m sorry.

He continues on very angry.

I truly don’t appreciate not being able to speak to you when I call. This won’t work if you are going to not be there.

I say I’m sorry again.

He then tells me that he has called to make a reservation and was told he’d have to speak to me to get the chef’s table. And how is that supposed to happen if I’m not even there to answer the phone.

I ask what he’s looking for.

Without missing a beat he demands to be seated at the chef’s table.

I ask how many are in his party and he says 7.

I explain that we can’t seat 7 at the chef’s table and we don’t pull them together.

He demands to know how many it can seat.

I say 6.

He demands that I make the reservation for 6 and change it from 4:30 to 5:00.

He continues at any chance to point out that I’m no longer there.

I tell him that I’ll accommodate him, and he says great.

Then he demands that I give him the name and number of a contact at the restaurant who can accommodate his requests.

I realize this is beyond acceptable.

Way beyond.

He has mistaken my kindness for weakness and privilege.

I’m not weak.

He does not have privilege. If he did he’d have my cell number to access me directly.

I think this might be his last time at the chefs table. That is if it’s not booked by the time he gets there.

I’d like to speak to the manager!!!

Today.

Tuesday was my first day off in 13 days.

I almost cried when I realized I had a doctors appointment this morning. M

Adam told me under no circumstances could I cancel.

So on 6 hours of sleep, I got up and got there on time.

It was an appointment with my neurologist.

In case you are new here I have a tremor in my left hand. It is an essential tremor.

The appointment went well.

I discovered that my exhaustion, lack of sleep, stress, and pain are the reasons it is seeming worse.

I also discovered that from a scale of 1 to 10 it is a 1.

My doctor, who I adore, said that based on five years of observing it, it will much likely get worse around the time I get to 100.

I told her, that I was looking forward to 100 so I could sleep as much as I wanted and needed.

But I was happy to have good news.

I’d like to speak to the manager!!!

10 years ago I opened my first restaurant.

Leading up to the opening day we conducted training.

Part of that training was a speech I put together about hospitality.

It went splendidly.

When I have notes and speak off the cuff I’m pretty good with public speaking.

I’ve longed cease to be nervous.

Especially in my element.

The talk went well.

About 6 minutes in that day I noticed one of the owners watching and listening.

At the end he congratulated me and said that the company should have me share this message with all the teams.

That never happened and fast forward 5 years and he handed me my termination papers and severance details.

Last Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I gave a series of talks with our new team. I forgot my notes but they were off the cuff.

I mostly talked about the passion that exists behind everything we do.

I talk about this often.

It’s the reason our restaurant is so different.

Everything we do we do with passion.

The food.

The service.

The ambiance.

I shared with this new team.

What I didn’t know was that I was doing these talks our marketing team from Argentina who was in town to take photos of the new space we’re listening.

They left on Friday.

And as we hugged goodbye they shared that they gave photographed 100’s of restaurants but they’d never seen anyone who spoke so clearly about what they did. What they were about.

I was told they learned a lot.

And had a new view of what we do here.

And it was reassuring.

Because sometimes you wonder if anyone is listening.

You wonder if anyone cares.

It reminded me that I’m pretty good at doing what I do.

I’d like to speak to the manager!!!

Last Wednesday we opened up the new restaurant for friends and family.

At around 10:45 someone walked in the unlocked doors.

He introduced himself, and told me we’d met before. Back in the winter. He’d worked at the prior restaurant and wanted to see tha changes.

He stayed way longer than he should considering how tired I was.

He told me he’d be back next week.

I told him to reach out if he needed help with the reservation.

Fast forward to tonight.

At 8:40 the new host comes down to say someone has arrived saying they have a reservation.

We had no more reservations and were all in at 7:45.

I arrive to find the guy from last Wednesday.

He says he has a reservation.

I assure him that he did not. And that is asked him ti reach out if he needed help he says he did.

I ash him when.

He says around 5:30. Tonight.

I tell him that I don’t read email after service starts, and that not only did he not have a reservation he has shown up 15 minutes after her thought he had a reservation and we haven’t sat anyone in over an hour.

I apologize and say we can’t accommodate him.

He asks if I’m serious.

I assure him I am.

He leaves.

And I think to myself, what restaurant employee would do this?

I’d like to speak the manager!!!

Back in 1907.

I graduated from college.

I think it was 1987 actually.

I moved to Atlanta in September of that year.

I got a job as a telemarketer.

I lasted ten days.

I did take no for an answer.

We were selling the little footballs that get thrown out at sports ball events.

I would call a high school In Arkansas. Ask for the football coach and ask if it was okay to provide these footballs.

A lot of coaches said no because of fear of hurting someone.

A lot said no.

When I finally got a coach to say yes, I’d take the yellow pages and start calling businesses to convince them to sponsor said footballs.

I was not good at this.

And quit after 10 days.

I hated it.

But it led me to my next job.

I’ll tell more tomorrow!

I’d like to speak to the manager!!!

New restaurant was busy tonight.

Summertime busy.

And it was near perfect.

Around 7:30 we slowed down seating. The team was getting bogged down.

The only reason is we are struggling with muscle memory.

To quote someone I used to know, everything is a choice.

Where are the water glasses? Where are the knives? Where is the button for the halibut? Which wine is the California Chardonnay?

I three weeks tonight will seem slow.

The team killed it tonight.

But we did slow down seating.

And everyone.

And I do mean everyone was gracious about it.

Except for table 25.

They were pissed.

They were the only ones who pushed back.

The only people all night who had a food complaint and the only person who grunted when I skied how dinner was.

I’ll take that as a win.

The one fun story is that table 53 ordered a bottle of wine.

The server was trying a new J1 server who just arrived from Serbia.

She let him open the wine.

I could see across the room he was struggling.

I walked up to the table.

Gently asked if I could assist.

Explained to him how to do the proper service.

Looked at the guests and said I have done this anywhere except for home in 15 years. And gently opened the bottle.

The server poured the wine.

The guests loved everything.

The nerves will be great when he’s a little less nervous.

New country.

New language.

New job.

I’d be nervous too.