OFF.

Today is my first day off in 9 days. I know I only work part time, but off days are still GREAT. Days where I'm scheduled for dinner shifts can seem like days off, but there's always the thought of work in the back of my mind, and with that they can still be tiring.

My goal was to get up today and get some things DONE. So far I've eaten cereal and had two cups of coffee. Not bad, right? Yeah, I know, nothing productive yet, but I'm gonna get on to some G.R.E. stuff in the next little bit. I'm setting a table and chair up in my sister's room for a temporary "study station" to leave up until after the test. I'm now OFFICIALLY registered to take it on Monday, October 5. This way I can have a few weeks to study for it, I'm motivated by the deadline, and I'll get my results back just in time to finish my application by November 1. Not too bad of a plan as long as I actually study a little.

As for work itself, it's been an interesting week. Nothing too crazy, but there was one instance that gave me a pretty good laugh. Since I've been working at Sticks, I've gotten to know or recognize the majority of our regulars. A lot of these people are really cool, regardless of how they tip. There are some that run your ass off and tip well, and others that trap you in good conversation and don't leave you shit, but you enjoy the time with them. Of course, like any server, I'm a big fan of the ones who treat you AND tip you like a friend instead of a pizza-slinger.

Anyway, the other day this one regular came in with his wife. The best way to describe him is with the word "grouse". He's a grouse. That's not necessarily a word, but it sounds right for this guy. I'll break it down even more for ya. If he were on Sesame Street, he'd be Oscar. If he was a dwarf, he'd be Grumpy. The guy never smiles, and he always wants his white wine glass chilled. I greeted him and his wife a few weeks ago when we had a busted A.C. and they immediately complained about the temperature. Of course, as the messenger of the news, I got the evil looks as if it was my fault we had a bad system, and the guy says "Welp, sorry," and walks out before his wife realized he was leaving (I'm not defending her here, she's almost as bad as he is, but I thought it was funny he left her behind).

Fast forward to a few days ago and the A.C. is fixed and the couple returned. I sat them, crossing my fingers they wouldn't sit in my section (which they didn't, whew), and of course they commented on the air (yeah, thanks, I noticed it was fixed too). They ordered drinks from me, which I passed on to their server. As the night progressed, their pizza appeared in the window, so I ran it out to them. Just like with any customer, I placed it down with a smile and told them to enjoy. Before I could finish putting it on the stand, the guy looks at me and says, "I've got a question for ya." Giving him the benefit of the doubt and thinking he's going to be friendly for a change, I look at him and say, "What's that?" As his perma-frown increases, he asks, "Where did the pepperoni go?"

I feel my half-fake smile fade as I put my tail between my legs and stare this asshole down. "Uhhh, I don't know, sir. Did you order it with pepperoni?"

"Well, I THOUGHT I did," he says.

So I pick it up and say "I'll get it fixed," and as I turned away I stopped, fake-laughed, looked at him and said, "Psht, and I thought you were going to ask me a SERIOUS question...HAHA..."

Didn't deal with him the rest of the night, but felt pretty good about getting the last word in. Of course, I couldn't have done this if he had been my table, and probably shouldn't have anyway, but hey, sometimes you gotta walk away with what holds up as a LITTLE pride in your own mind. You can get away with a lot more than you think with people like that. I laughed about it, because it's hard for me to understand how anybody can be that unhappy all of the time, but what can you do? Ha, I brushed it off and smiled, because he'll be back regardless of little things like that...

Woohoo. Battle stories. Gotta love 'em. And the grumpy regulars. Smile, folks. You'll get less wrinkles.

Not much else to say right now, but it's gonna be a gym/dinner/movie date night tonight, so I'm pretty excited about that. It's also the third weekend of college football, and some good things are happening over the next few days. I still get excited about weekends, regardless of how much I have to work over them. People are happier, and friends are free when I get off work. So yeah, weekend time is gonna be nice.

Until then, I'll be around. Peace outside.
DS.