Sunday, February 15, 2009
Haha..silly me. Forgot to submit my schedule for the week. In the end, no work for me this week. Lol. Haiz, hopefully they can squeeze in a few hours for me.
Anyway, ystd was valentine's day. Hopefully u all had a gd valentine. Watched a movie called Valkerie(not sure abt spelling). Something abt a coup and killing, quite confusing and not sure how to describe it.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
4 days...4 different tasks.
So i have worked for four days now, and have been appointed 4 different tasks..i have to say, each task is getting more and more tiring and exhausting. Heres an intro to what i did so far
DAY 1: The Dishwasher.
-As the title suggests, im the dishwasher. easiest job ever and a no-brainer, apart from deciding what to wash next and make sure there is a constant supply of clean cutlery and plates. Dirtiest job, but easy. Oh tough part is carrying piles of plates that are extremely hot and easy to break while balancing on the ever-slippery floor. Quite a difficult feat. Hate holding the hot plates, scalded my hand a few times.
Day 2: The Waiter.
-My favourite job. Just take orders, clear table and thats it. Requires minimal brain usage and extremely kind to the body. Just stand there, enjoy the air-con and music. I can even sing along if i want to(which i usually do).
Day 3: The Side-disher?
-Theres no official title for this job.. I was attached to the kitchen to help prepare side dish. Quite difficult as u have to be quick, precise and systematic..not something i excel in. One thing i learn though is to be daring. Get it right the first time, do not ponder if the portion is too much or too little. Skills to improve: Taking mash potato, garden veggie and tasty rice. Must learn to handle hot plates, be flexible and be quick in everything u do or u will irritate alot of ppl.
Day 4: The Runner.
-OK..its not exactly the athletic kind of runner who runs..they shld change it to 'The Sender', cause i am the one sending the dishes. Toughest job ever. Espiecially since im a flat-foot. Points to take note: always be focus and do not engage in small talk. Why? cause u will forget the table number to go to. MAJOR MISTAKE. Made that mistake almost 70% of the time. V jialat. When the dinner rush came in, i panicked, send the food to wrong table, identified wrong dish, spilled stuff on the table. Oh and runner must have excellent arm strength. Why? Cause placing the plate of food at the furthest end of the table requires it. I not up to it yet though. Hope i can carry up to 4 plates of food at one time so i dun have to walk so much 怨望路。 Hope my chinese is correct. And as usual, u have to be able to tahan hot plates.
Thursday, February 05, 2009
-The story so far
So it is the third day of work. Ystd, i went back to taking orders. Taking orders on the second day is really considered eceptionally good over at astons. Ofc, many were worried that i wld screw up so i had to undergo lots of verbal tests and have my seniors watch over my shoulder while i take the orders. I didnt really want to take but my supervisor forced me to..wierd huh. So after a few orders and i got used to the system, i tot 'Hey! this isnt so bad..maybe working here wasn't all that bad (refer to first day exp). Whats more, my leader commented i was hardworking infront of my supervisor...made me damn happy for the rest of the day.'
So today, i went in all happy. It proceeded quite smoothly. There were two new comers. Twin sisters, part-time. My supervisor actually asked me to train one of them i was like 'wth! im barely experienced..why pick me over the other staff? and worse..why me? why nt the other part-time?' So i had no choice but to train, or atleast i pushed everything to my senior. My happy day ended at the end of my first shift. I had to do the dishes again as someone 'minced their finger'. I was to replace that person. So i was like 'wtf!'. Lucky i got saved by my other supervisor. Or so i tot... My other supervisor was unhappy abt me taking orders. Coz new comers must spent atleast 3 days working to take orders. So i had to undergo an exam. I was like 'wth!!! i tot working then no need take exam.' And guess what? its upon 126...passing mark is 120. So i basically i failed..but not for the reasons u think. I failed coz i was darn careless..looks like im not fated for exams but the real thing. Taking orders, i barely made any mistake..when it came down to the paper, i screwed so badly..dun even bother asking abt open-ended qns. My fellow part-timer did hell lot better than me. Haiz, i wish my leaders didnt have so much faith in me..all their hopes pinned on me, and i let them down. Their punishment to let me take order? 4 glasses of soda water (Just so u dont know wat soda water is, it is not ice cream soda. It is the worst drink ever. Bitter but yet absolute no taste. Go buy a bottle of perrier and u will know.)
When i started my dinner shift, i was pulled in to do kitchen duty. At first i tot 'wtf dish-washing again?' But it didnt turn out to be dish-washing. They wanted me to prepare dishes. This deserves a bigger 'WTF!' The kitchen crew said they needed me but my other supervisor say i am supposed to take order. But, the kitchen crew were short of helpers due to the minced-hand incident, so i was dropped there. DURING DINNER RUSH! OMG! somehow i survived that ordeal, with the guidance and help of the kitchen crew. sure tiring, but fun. lol.
3 days of my first job. 3 different tasks..wat do they think i am? Superman?
didnt know there is a spelling check for blogging..quite cool.
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
i started working today at Astons. got all hyped up and cldnt slp in the morning..think i woke at 7. I was like thinking to myself: Finally! No more moring days where i stare at my computer and tv! Rolled around until like 8+ b4 i got up. Since i live so nearby, i reached there at like 11am. Lol. Got 3 new comers. 2 part-time, 1 full time. Me and another girl were the part-timers, quite pretty and also going TP. AHEM! Ya then, we got briefed abt the table numbers, laying the tables, miscellanious and maintenance work. It is all the tedious stuff, but still essential in makeing the customers visit a pleasant one. the first few week for new comers are abt the same till we familiarise ourself, only then can we take orders. So i received this paper abt ordering system and how the food is liked. Memorise abt 2/3 of it on the spot. Smart eh? The full-timer got the paper like last week so he know everything le..cheat rite?
Here comes the bad news. The manager came up to my leader and said: 'hey we need help washing the dishes. get one of the part-timers.' So i was like shit! One girl, one boy, guess who HAS to wash the dishes? ME DUH! Im satrting to think wat YC said was correct. What if they got my name wrong? Or worse, they hire me as waiter, but sort of politically force me to be dishwasher. Something abt wat the manager said made me worry. She said to the part-timers: 'U must work atleast 3 days to get ur pay, if u work 2 days, u wun get any pay..it wld be like working for free.' So guess how many days am i working this week? THREE!!! Gosh..this is extremely worrying. And the worse thing abt the system is that, u ldnt know if ur working nxt week..so maybe they hire me this week, and on thur say 'Here ur pay boy! U don't need to turn up nxt week!' HORRORS OF HORRORS!
Oh wait, i cant bad mouth my employer. So i was given this opportunity to be behind the scenes of the great food serving at Astons. How honourable eh? It started out fine, as i have to wait for the lunch crowd to slowly stream in, eat their food, and then for me to wash. The worse thing is this, all of a sudden, there will this huge pile of plates and cutlery stacked up for me. This is when i rushed like mad. And as there is limited cutlery at Astons, i have to plan wat to wash nxt. Like should i wash the cups first or the cutlery? Both are in shortage, and i have to clear the plates or they will be at risk of falling and breaking. Didnt know dish-washing cld be so taxing to the mind. And i tink i need to slim down..the narrow passage from the dirty plate collection point to the dish washer is hardly able to squeeze 2 person who are rushing abt. And the thing abt peak hours is that everyone is rushing and wants to have things done quickly, causing them to be easily irrtable.
Worst part abt dish-washing is that u can nvr really stop, coz there will always be things to wash. Take for after the lunch period, the cooking crew will be wanting their pots and pans washed. And there are tons of cups and cutlery and plates and many other things waiting to be washed. The hardest things to wash is the kitchen stuff. Burnt, stuff like mash potato and rice sticks to the side. Those stians are so stubborn that i have to scrub, wash, scrub, wash many times b4 they are clean. All the while, the kitchen crew chasing down my neck for the pots and pans for them to prepare dinner. And the stack of dirty plates just seem nvr ending. Good thing? i tink my muscle is growing! :)
Staff there are pretty awesome and friendly. Just know who to mess with and who not to mess with and im fine. Quite a few pretty waitresses too. Lets all hope tmr, i dun get to do dishes.