Princesses

I finally worked a busy shift last night.  It felt really good to be busy.  The night goes by so much faster, and truthfully, I kind of enjoy the process.  Greeting the guests, playing the game of niceties, taking the orders, serving... I'm sure I wouldn't enjoy it if/when it becomes a full time thing again, but last night felt good. 

Now, what DIDN'T feel good- the owners of this place are horrendous.  One, more so than the other.  They are two sisters who prefer to run their business with fear tactics and bullying, rather than mutual respect.  I feel bad for a lot of the kids that are working there.  Most of them are teenagers, or very early twenty somethings.  They simply don't have the experience in life yet to know when it it ok and appropriate to stand up for themselves and demand respect.  The owners make no bones about the fact that they are mob connected, and seem to really enjoy playing up the bitchy Staten Island Italian persona.  To me, they look like two dumb bitches running their business into the ground.   I just minded my business and did my job, choosing to ignore the obnoxious behaviours I was witnessing, avoiding the two princesses and focused on just making my customers happy.

It was apparently one of the busier Saturday nights in a long while.  Presumably, since the other restaurant that I was working at in town closed two weeks ago.  They no longer need to share their business.  The staff is very good at what they do.  They go into auto drive as soon as dinner service kicks off.  The owners/princesses do their best to create extra work and petty responsibilities for their young employees throughout.. thus making themselves look and feel very superior.
 Examples include, but are not limited to:  ordering servers to make them tea. demanding servers (including young women) to make home deliveries, despite the fact that they are on shift as a server.  having servers be responsible for cleaning areas such as the restrooms, walls, floors, garbage, etc.---- all areas that I personally, as a customer, don't ever want to see my food server touching. My favorite of the night was when one of the princesses bullied a young bus boy into being her "chauffeur" tonight when she and her friends go out drinking.   Super classy.

Anyway, it doesn't look like this place is going to work out for me.  One busy shift out of every 3 I work is not going to financially justify getting a sitter, and the emotional/ logistical difficulty it creates for the boys and I.   It's too bad, because the place could be really good if the owners got their heads out of the clouds and got their act together.