Friday, February 27, 2009
They've done it again
From the makers of Waiting comes a new comedy about the shenanigan's that go on in the service industry. Still Waiting makes a complete mockery of my job, and everything that goes along with it. This straight to DVD classic uses sexual innuendo, cheesy comedy, and a couple of would-be stars to sum up anything and everything that goes on in a corporate restaurant. If someone sees it, lemme know how it is, as I will probably not be spending the $5 to buy this movie at whatever gas station/24-hour diner it ends up selling at.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Kearney/UNK Issues
These are a few ideas for my next editorial.
1) Here on campus, we have a luxury over many other schools in our athletic conference. The Health and Sports Center. This indoor facility makes it possible for athletes and students alike to train or exercise when the weather doesn't allow for outdoor activities. This has always helped baseball and softball players because the rainy and snowy weather during their seasons prevent them from practicing on their fields. This semester, though, there is a new rule that prohibits balls thrown in the Cushing Field House. The rule only allows balls being thrown, or kicked, during reserved time by teams (University or intramural.) This does not seem fair to the athletes who's sport is paying their college tuition. They are simply trying to better their skills, and they pay the fees to use the facility.
2) Speed limits need to be better enforced on and around campus. It is a game of "frogger" getting across 25th Street, and it is also very bad on 29th between the football field and the sorority/fraternity houses. Not only do some people speed, some people go well below the speed limit (looking for these mythical parking spaces some speak of), which can be just as dangerous.
3) April is Sexual Violence Prevention Month. An issue on this campus that could be resolved is lack of awareness. Many women do not realize the resources they have here on campus that could lower their risks of becoming a statistic. Here on UNK Campus, we have a SafeRide program with Kearney Cab that few people know about, and also a SafeWalk program that insures the safety of students leaving their night classes or late-night study sessions. Many women come to college feeling more independent than ever without realizing the risks of living as a single women on a college campus. Kearney and UNK are both very safe places, but bad things happen everywhere and prevention and knowledge are the only ways to protect oneself.
1) Here on campus, we have a luxury over many other schools in our athletic conference. The Health and Sports Center. This indoor facility makes it possible for athletes and students alike to train or exercise when the weather doesn't allow for outdoor activities. This has always helped baseball and softball players because the rainy and snowy weather during their seasons prevent them from practicing on their fields. This semester, though, there is a new rule that prohibits balls thrown in the Cushing Field House. The rule only allows balls being thrown, or kicked, during reserved time by teams (University or intramural.) This does not seem fair to the athletes who's sport is paying their college tuition. They are simply trying to better their skills, and they pay the fees to use the facility.
2) Speed limits need to be better enforced on and around campus. It is a game of "frogger" getting across 25th Street, and it is also very bad on 29th between the football field and the sorority/fraternity houses. Not only do some people speed, some people go well below the speed limit (looking for these mythical parking spaces some speak of), which can be just as dangerous.
3) April is Sexual Violence Prevention Month. An issue on this campus that could be resolved is lack of awareness. Many women do not realize the resources they have here on campus that could lower their risks of becoming a statistic. Here on UNK Campus, we have a SafeRide program with Kearney Cab that few people know about, and also a SafeWalk program that insures the safety of students leaving their night classes or late-night study sessions. Many women come to college feeling more independent than ever without realizing the risks of living as a single women on a college campus. Kearney and UNK are both very safe places, but bad things happen everywhere and prevention and knowledge are the only ways to protect oneself.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Tip Your Tender
Ever think about what a bartending job entails? Not only do they need to know every drink, they need to know the menu. They keep your drink full, put in food if you order it, run credit cards for servers, and keep the tables' drinks full. So why don't people feel the need to tip them? I have never stiffed a bartender myself, but many many people do. Next time you think about stiffing a bartender, think about the little things they do for you while you are eating/drinking. Did they put a glass of water in front of you? How about silverware? Odds are they got your salad for you, and maybe they even brought you that side of mayo that you asked for. Not every bartending job consists only of spinning bottles and shaking martinis. Remember that bartenders, unlike servers, cannot take a break. If a server doesn't have a table, he/she can sit down for a few, roll silverware, even order some food, but not bartenders. Unless there is not a single person drinking in the restaurant or sitting at the bar, the bartender has something to do. Also remember when you are tipping that your drink bill is accumulating with every drink. If you would tip $1/drink, and you have 7 drinks, don't think that leaving a $5 bill is acceptable. It is just like a server waiting on you.
THIS SITE knows what's up, and THIS ONE is something I wish I'd started
TIP FOR SERVERS:
Tip your tender. Most of the time there is a mandatory amount that every server must tip out, but if not, take care of your bartender. They will take better care of you.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
I dig travelers!!!
I'm not sure what it is about people on the road, but I love love love them! They are laid back, they are gonna have a few beers with their food, they are gonna ask questions about the city they're in, they are gonna ask about their server, and they are gonna tip! I met a young couple on their way to Utah to go snowboarding this evening. They were interested in me. Not the fake kind of interested (you know, the kind that I pull when someone tells me about a baby, or a marriage) the real interested. They asked questions, told stories, and laughed. Again, it was real laughter, not the kind that I use when a customer tells me the same joke that he has told me every Thursday for a month about the guy walking into a bar and saying ouch, get it? Get it? Yes sir, I get it, I just can't laugh at things that aren't funny. I don't have it in me. Nonetheless, if you, as a server, have time to talk to these people, they really are amazing. And if you, as a customer, are taking a road trip, make an effort to go into locally-owned restaurants and visit with the staff. You may make her night =)
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Community Voice
This is an editorial for class
On January 15, 2009, the Attorney General of Nebraska began an effort to get Kearney, Nebraska to change its 51-year old concealed weapons law. The law states that no person can conceal and carry a weapon. This is not a state law; this is a Kearney, NE City statute. The Attorney General continues to fight this issue saying that the law is costing the state too much money. The state law in Nebraska allows for concealing and carrying a weapon as long as the person has obtained a state certified permit. The problem lies in certain cases when a person is carrying a permit, yet is concealing a weapon in a city that bans concealed weapons. While this may not seem like a difficult issue to work around, it is causing quite a stir because the state is doing everything in their power to turn Kearney’s laws around.
Why? What is the point in having local government if the decisions are overturned by the state? Every city is different from the next in one way or another, and to generalize an entire state in lawmaking is foolish. In the way of guns, a concealed weapon in Chadron, Nebraska is much different from a concealed weapon in East Omaha. The people who live in the community should help to decide the laws because they are the people who have to live with them and abide by them. There is nowhere in the Nebraska statute that says a city must abide by state law. The statutes say that cities can make and pass laws as they see fit, as long as they don’t contradict state or federal laws.
A smoking ban has been in effect in Lincoln, Nebraska since October of 2006. The city voted to enact one and it passed. While this was not a state law, it was still enforced in the city limits of Lincoln. Now, this law did not catch any grief because it didn’t cost anybody at the state level money. Had someone objected to this law, would the state have urged Lincoln to overturn the ban?
Consistency is key in a democratic government. This country is different from anywhere else in the world because everyone has a voice, and everyone has an elected official helping to make that voice heard. If the highest government in the state is just going to take away that voice, then there is no point in having a city council or a mayor. The state as a whole is only complete when the individual cities are complete. If a city wants to keep guns out of their community, the state must respect that right. If a city wants to permit smoking, the state must respect that right. Every state in the U.S. is different, and therefore, they have different laws. Cities are no different. Each city must deal with their own problems as they come without having to fear the state overriding, and eventually making the decisions for them.
On January 15, 2009, the Attorney General of Nebraska began an effort to get Kearney, Nebraska to change its 51-year old concealed weapons law. The law states that no person can conceal and carry a weapon. This is not a state law; this is a Kearney, NE City statute. The Attorney General continues to fight this issue saying that the law is costing the state too much money. The state law in Nebraska allows for concealing and carrying a weapon as long as the person has obtained a state certified permit. The problem lies in certain cases when a person is carrying a permit, yet is concealing a weapon in a city that bans concealed weapons. While this may not seem like a difficult issue to work around, it is causing quite a stir because the state is doing everything in their power to turn Kearney’s laws around.
Why? What is the point in having local government if the decisions are overturned by the state? Every city is different from the next in one way or another, and to generalize an entire state in lawmaking is foolish. In the way of guns, a concealed weapon in Chadron, Nebraska is much different from a concealed weapon in East Omaha. The people who live in the community should help to decide the laws because they are the people who have to live with them and abide by them. There is nowhere in the Nebraska statute that says a city must abide by state law. The statutes say that cities can make and pass laws as they see fit, as long as they don’t contradict state or federal laws.
A smoking ban has been in effect in Lincoln, Nebraska since October of 2006. The city voted to enact one and it passed. While this was not a state law, it was still enforced in the city limits of Lincoln. Now, this law did not catch any grief because it didn’t cost anybody at the state level money. Had someone objected to this law, would the state have urged Lincoln to overturn the ban?
Consistency is key in a democratic government. This country is different from anywhere else in the world because everyone has a voice, and everyone has an elected official helping to make that voice heard. If the highest government in the state is just going to take away that voice, then there is no point in having a city council or a mayor. The state as a whole is only complete when the individual cities are complete. If a city wants to keep guns out of their community, the state must respect that right. If a city wants to permit smoking, the state must respect that right. Every state in the U.S. is different, and therefore, they have different laws. Cities are no different. Each city must deal with their own problems as they come without having to fear the state overriding, and eventually making the decisions for them.
The times they are a changin'
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Valentine's Day 2008= 6 hours @$2.13/hr=$12.78 + $240 in tips = $252.78, $42.13/hr!!!!!
Valentine's Day 2009= 6 hours @$2.13/hr=$12.78 +$100 in tips = $112.78, $18.80/hr =(
Don't get me wrong, nearly $20/hr. is still quite a bit of money, but less that half what I made the year before? Come on people. And here's the worst of it! Someone stiffed me! On Valentine's Day! I popped their champagne for them, drew chocolate swirls on their cheesecake, wrote "Happy V-Day!" on the ticket itself, and still got stiffed. How can you do that? I'll tell you how...you go out to eat once a year. You decide to take your wife out for a nice meal, and realize that you haven't been out to eat since waitresses wore pink skirts! You don't realize how much things cost, and you definitely don't realize that tipping is a requirement! You tell me how great my service was, then draw a straight line through the tip amount on the credit card slip. Wow! As if working on Valentine's Day isn't somewhat depressing in itself, someone stiffing you is an arrow to the heart. Mind you, the tickets on Valentine's Day are nearly double what they typically are. My average ticket was $50, and the ticket I got stiffed on was almost $50. $47.33 to be exact.
This may offer some insight as to why people feel the need to tip or not tip. "To Insure Promptness" was the original slogan for the reasoning behind leaving a tip, but now it is a necessity to leave money to your servers, especially on a holiday.
Friday, February 13, 2009
SNOW DAY!!!!
Typically means no dinero for this girl =(. It's odd, I never correlated eating with the weather until I worked in a restaurant. It is a Friday night, and typically money on Friday nights is very good (people had a long week, they wanna sit and enjoy a drink and a meal, they don't want to cook, etc...) Oh no! Not tonight my friend. The second the first snowflake hits the ground, people cease to leave their homes. I guess this makes sense, somewhat. I don't particularly like driving in snow myself. One thing that I don't understand is the opposite of this, though. When it is beautiful outside, people don't go out to eat. They barbecue. Hmph! Basically, in a perfect waitress world, everyday would be fifty degrees with clear skies, and optimal road conditions. Oh yeah, and every table would be young, businessmen, who want appetizers, salads, drinks, entrees, and desserts with coffee. They'd also want to help out the aspiring lawyer who is taking their order and trying her hardest to flirt without flirting. To all you diners out there, enjoy your night in, please call and cancel if you have a reservation, and please please please don't let this weather keep you in for Valentine's Day tomorrow (it's like the Christmas of serving holidays!)
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