My butt is dragging

I am fried. I have reached that point where everything in my body wants to crawl back under the sheets, rip the phone out of the wall, throw my cell phone down the alley and pull a pillow over my head. As a waiter I am usually up to whatever the job throws at me. But from time to time I get run down as do most people I suppose. It is at these times being a waiter is very tough. You have to be on your game to make your money. You can't afford mistakes. Being cheery and friendly and having a service first attitude is difficult on most days for hours on end, but when you enter a shift already depleated it makes for a long night. I'm looking at a 8-10 hour shift today with little to nothing in the tank. Will I rise to the occassion? Of course I will, it keeps bread on my plate and the bill collectors at bay for another month of life.

For those who have never been in the food service industry, this is why many of us are caffine fiends (and some worse). The job at its basic level is enormously repetitive, which only adds to the difficulty in focusing when you are running on fumes. Thankfully that pattern also affords us times where we can coast, turn on our auto-pilot and let the night pass us by. So if I am a bit more quiet tonight than usual, it's not because I don't care or am not interested. I am just holding the last little bit back, so there is still something of me here, not just an empty shell. I'd like to remain one level of conciousness above zombie.

And then it all starts over again tomorrow.

Related Tags: Red Lobster, Food Service, Darden, GMRI, DRI, Customer Service, Seafood, Restaurant, Caffine, Tired, Pooped Out