Random Babble

It's been a busy couple of weeks. 

Trying to keep the restaurant together. Two of my waitresses are off for extended time. One surgery, the other crushed her hand in an accident, which will require surgery. 
One plague or another has visited most of my employees. Either the poop-n-pukes or the snot headed cough. 

Thanksgiving was good. The turkey over cooked itself a little (bad bird). But everything else was great. 
My daughter was a great help. Getting the house clean enough for company. And assisting me in the fooding.  

Sadly, once the festivities were over, I was blessed with the snot headed coughs and lost the next three days to Nyquil naps. Almost feeling human again. A shower will help with that. 

And. Daughter's doctor visit yesterday was promising. She has dilated 1cm and is showing signs of anytime now!  If you read my post Conflicted, you know this is exciting. 

Now. I need to start the next holiday insanity. Christmas is coming!  I love decorating. I'm a Christmas tree freak. I have, um, several.  

I'm babbling now. So. 
Til next time, Have a spiftacular day!

Now is the Time!

Ok.
So here I sit.
In my recliner.
Wondering why I feel like crap.

It occurs to me, as I sit, in my recliner, that it could be too much recliner sitting is making me feel like crap.
And bad eating habits.
And my job becoming more desk work than physical work.
Desk work followed by recliner sitting.
And bad food.

So, I'm going to try to correct this problem.

I have started with a daily vitamin. Yes, Centrum Silver. Laugh away. Hubby dear did.

And I'm going to find my yoga mat.
A couple of years ago, I was doing some yoga. Then got side tracked with the moving thing.
I will try to remember to start slowly.
Last time I figured I could start with a 10 minute session. That's a nice short workout.
I held the first pose for 20 seconds. My thigh muscle burned and my entire leg shook with exhaustion.
Well, I'd never done this before. Just have to work into it.
Two poses and 3 minutes later?
I was sure I was having a heart attack. I found my recliner and collapsed. Woke up an hour later.
But I kept at it. After a few weeks I could do 20 minutes. Then came the moving thing.

Now it's time to get back on track. I need to rebuild some muscle and lose some flabby stuff that someone dropped off here when I wasn't looking.

And I think I'll start back at 3 minutes. And work my way up again.

My Restaurant Hates Me

My daughter and I own a restaurant.  Or rather, it owns us. 
It's not fancy.  Probably more akin to a "greasy spoon" diner.  

My father managed restaurants, my mother was a bartender.  I remember growing up I thought having my own restaurant would be marvelous.  Creating exciting flavors, and serving them on pretty plates.  Having the happiest customers ever.

I'm just about over that now.

My daughter and I own the restaurant my parents bought in 1984.  We have inherited it.  We have a love/hate relationship with it.  Some days?  A lot of hate.

Owning a restaurant means you are on call 24/7.  The phone ringing at 3:30am is a given.  We are not only restaurant owners, we are cooks, dishwashers, servers, cashiers, bookkeepers, maintenance men, and social workers.

If someone calls in sick, we are very likely the ones to cover that shift.  If a piece of equipment breaks down, we try to troubleshoot it ourselves rather than call the real (overpriced cause you have to have it) repair services.  We do most of our own bookkeeping to keep down the cost of having an accountant to do everything.  We mediate differences between employees,  between customers. between employees and customers.

Some employees feel as long as they show up and clock in, they have earned pay.  Honestly?  Standing around watching the clock is not what I pay people to do.

Some feel that it is our job to arrange around their family life, social life, and appointments.  We try to be flexible.  We are at the bottom of the food chain is the retail world.  Minimum wage.  So flexible schedule is about the only "perk" we can offer.  But, really?  If one only works 3 days a week, can one not schedule their dental cleaning on one of the days they have off?

Some employees think employee meal is taking enough food home to feed the family.  Some think the coffee sale they put in their pocket instead of the cash register isn't going to hurt anything.  Some think we are making a fortune. Hah!

Some customers seem to think we acquire the food we serve for a reduced price or even for free.  They don't understand why we want to charge for extras.  I want to go to a hardware store, buy a hammer and ask why the nails don't come with it. 

Some customers think that if they eat 3/4 of a meal and decide they don't like it, they don't have to pay for it.  Why would someone eat most of a meal they didn't like?

I have listened to the medical woes of customers.  The marital problems of employees.  Tried to help out employees that are short on cash before payday.  Refereed the spats between servers.  Assured customers that to the best of our knowledge the eggs don't have salmonella.  Explained to customers and employees we HAVE called the soft drink machine people 5 times and they keep saying it's fixed every time and I can't FIX THE DAMN MACHINE MYSELF!!

I have explained to customers, more times than I can count that replacing hash browns with corned beef hash on the breakfast special for the same price just cannot be done.  That we use lemon juice packets, we are not upscale enough to keep real lemon slices on hand as I would throw out more than I served.  That we are a little bitty place without the space or equipment to do things like the high class place down the street does.  That's why our dinners are less that $6.00 a plate.

This business is not for the weak hearted.  It eats you alive.  Even for owners the pays sucks.  I'd make more money at Wally World.

Yet, in the end.  I'm still here.  Cause it's what I do.  And really?

Because I love it.