Getting back into real world
Hi all!
Behind the scenes of being a waitress
First off all, let me apologise to aviam for not answering yet to her message - I will get back to that the moment I finish writing this, dear. And now, I will tell you what happened this week. A wonderful thing happened - I finished work! As of Tuesday evening I'm no longer a waitress. This was obviously a cause to celebrate and as such I followed in my co-workers footsteps of celebration. Let me tell you how R., a kitchen-girl, celebrated her finish of work. She brought vodka, about three bottle of it. I will shamefully admit that on special occasions such as this some of us drink at work. That they I didn't drink at work - it was my free day and I came specially to see R. off (and for free vodka). ... As you can imagine I came just for a short period of time -15 minutes, 40 minutes for shopping and one hour more. That's not a lot but I managed to squeeze in 3 shots of vodka (50mlx3=150ml) and one of silver tequila (50ml + salt and lemon). After around two hours I was pretty much done in. Using the last of brain cells I had left I went home (my parents drove me - they are saints). Enough be said that after I stopped drinking at 5pm any thoughts of going to the riding lesson I had booked for 6pm were abandoned. And it was supposed to be my first time! Well, at least I had enough sense left to call the instructor.
So, getting back to the subject of my last day at work - obviously I brought alcohol, too. (Three bottles and cash because when R. was finishing work three bottles proved to be too little way too soon.) But thankfully all my fears (like me going bankrupt or getting shamelessly drunk) proved to be incorrect. I drunk the same amount, but this time it took me 8 hours and not two so I was peachy and functioning well enough to serve customers. Actually, I waited on a group of nine Germans who also visited the day before, (four couples and one man all paying separately). At the end of it all they said they would come back the next day and I answered that I won't be there because it was my last day. And they were so sweet about it! They asked me whether it was just a holiday and when I answered that I was just a summer help and actually I'm going to begin uni this fall they wished me good luck. I will miss all my German customers. ♥
I will also miss my fellow waiters and some of the kitchen staff. If I knew that they would be working in the same group next year I wouldn't think long about joining them next year. Overall, despite the dreadful and scary first month of my work there, I'm very satisfied with this experience. I learned a lot. Like, hips and loads of stuff. Here are some things I learned:
And what now?
But hey! Let's not forget that since Wednesday I'm a free woman! What have I done so far? Oh well, Wednesday evening I met a friend of mine, Thursday morning I watched -finally- Slumdog (and what an amazing movie it is!) and met Peasant Girl, and Friday morning I travelled to the Warsaw (our capital and the city I will study in) to visit my grandparents and brother. And that brings us to today. Today I went to Warsaw - my grandparents live in the area but not in the city itself - to search for some fall jackets and to give PG's boots back to the shop for repair. (I got a basket of plums in unspoken thanks for doing that.)
I didn't find any jackets but I found a sale where trousers costed 25PLN per pair (about 8$). That's cheap. Very cheap. So I took two pairs and went to the cash. Imagine my surprise when the cashier told me I should pay 104PLN (33$). When I went 'Uh?' and asked the nice lady to check twice it became apparent that one pair is apparently from the new collection and in fact costs 79PLN. So took home only one pair.
But imagine my surprise when similar situation happened not even an hour later at the bookshop. I was using the gift card I got for Christmas from my mum's work and which expires soon. I actually found Michael Buble album at a bargain price. Usually his CD's cost about 65-80PLN but this one was 32! Obviously, it couldn't have been this good because after ringing up the CD and Austen's 'Northanger Abbey' (12PLN) cashier told me I should pay 84 PLN. At first I was like 'OK' but moment later I caught on and asked him to show me my things again. The prices I saw remained the same but apparently in the database Michael Buble costed 62PLN. And in the second one he didn't exist at all! Thankfully, in the end I got it at the bargain price I found. But lucky me to get into this kind of situation twice in the same day, no?
And tomorrow I'm leaving for the integration camp. Cross your fingers for me - I hope I will meet lots of great people there! (But I heard it's really one great alcohol feast. :/)
Behind the scenes of being a waitress
First off all, let me apologise to aviam for not answering yet to her message - I will get back to that the moment I finish writing this, dear. And now, I will tell you what happened this week. A wonderful thing happened - I finished work! As of Tuesday evening I'm no longer a waitress. This was obviously a cause to celebrate and as such I followed in my co-workers footsteps of celebration. Let me tell you how R., a kitchen-girl, celebrated her finish of work. She brought vodka, about three bottle of it. I will shamefully admit that on special occasions such as this some of us drink at work. That they I didn't drink at work - it was my free day and I came specially to see R. off (and for free vodka). ... As you can imagine I came just for a short period of time -15 minutes, 40 minutes for shopping and one hour more. That's not a lot but I managed to squeeze in 3 shots of vodka (50mlx3=150ml) and one of silver tequila (50ml + salt and lemon). After around two hours I was pretty much done in. Using the last of brain cells I had left I went home (my parents drove me - they are saints). Enough be said that after I stopped drinking at 5pm any thoughts of going to the riding lesson I had booked for 6pm were abandoned. And it was supposed to be my first time! Well, at least I had enough sense left to call the instructor.
So, getting back to the subject of my last day at work - obviously I brought alcohol, too. (Three bottles and cash because when R. was finishing work three bottles proved to be too little way too soon.) But thankfully all my fears (like me going bankrupt or getting shamelessly drunk) proved to be incorrect. I drunk the same amount, but this time it took me 8 hours and not two so I was peachy and functioning well enough to serve customers. Actually, I waited on a group of nine Germans who also visited the day before, (four couples and one man all paying separately). At the end of it all they said they would come back the next day and I answered that I won't be there because it was my last day. And they were so sweet about it! They asked me whether it was just a holiday and when I answered that I was just a summer help and actually I'm going to begin uni this fall they wished me good luck. I will miss all my German customers. ♥
I will also miss my fellow waiters and some of the kitchen staff. If I knew that they would be working in the same group next year I wouldn't think long about joining them next year. Overall, despite the dreadful and scary first month of my work there, I'm very satisfied with this experience. I learned a lot. Like, hips and loads of stuff. Here are some things I learned:
- When you say 'Thank you' it means you don't want change. (Obvious for some but I never really visited restaurants often.)
- How to open beer and wine bottles.
- French have tips included in the bill (ergo - they never leave anything).
- You CAN give a tip if you're paying with card. Just ask your waiter to add the amount you want to leave them.
- People often really don't read menu. And even if they do they still think they will get stuff outside of it.
- People also forget that restaurant is no fastfood so you may, in fact, wait even 40 minutes for your order.
- I learned how to change beer and Pepsi kegs.
- I know how to make those circles out of kitchen napkins.
- 'Bewustloss' means lack of consciousness in German.
- 'Spritzer' is a drink made of equal amounts of white wine and sparkling water. Preferably served chilled with ice.
- If you can speak one sentence in German Germans will automatically assume you know German and will start speaking quickly and uncomprehendingly.
And what now?
But hey! Let's not forget that since Wednesday I'm a free woman! What have I done so far? Oh well, Wednesday evening I met a friend of mine, Thursday morning I watched -finally- Slumdog (and what an amazing movie it is!) and met Peasant Girl, and Friday morning I travelled to the Warsaw (our capital and the city I will study in) to visit my grandparents and brother. And that brings us to today. Today I went to Warsaw - my grandparents live in the area but not in the city itself - to search for some fall jackets and to give PG's boots back to the shop for repair. (I got a basket of plums in unspoken thanks for doing that.)
I didn't find any jackets but I found a sale where trousers costed 25PLN per pair (about 8$). That's cheap. Very cheap. So I took two pairs and went to the cash. Imagine my surprise when the cashier told me I should pay 104PLN (33$). When I went 'Uh?' and asked the nice lady to check twice it became apparent that one pair is apparently from the new collection and in fact costs 79PLN. So took home only one pair.
But imagine my surprise when similar situation happened not even an hour later at the bookshop. I was using the gift card I got for Christmas from my mum's work and which expires soon. I actually found Michael Buble album at a bargain price. Usually his CD's cost about 65-80PLN but this one was 32! Obviously, it couldn't have been this good because after ringing up the CD and Austen's 'Northanger Abbey' (12PLN) cashier told me I should pay 84 PLN. At first I was like 'OK' but moment later I caught on and asked him to show me my things again. The prices I saw remained the same but apparently in the database Michael Buble costed 62PLN. And in the second one he didn't exist at all! Thankfully, in the end I got it at the bargain price I found. But lucky me to get into this kind of situation twice in the same day, no?
And tomorrow I'm leaving for the integration camp. Cross your fingers for me - I hope I will meet lots of great people there! (But I heard it's really one great alcohol feast. :/)