On busy-ness

Ziggy is weeeeded; Mimi is not

 I was a little confused as to where I was last night. Let's see, I was outside, I ran my ass off, and I didn't make any money. Crabhouse? No! Psych to me!
 Busy is busy, which is good, but there are some things that can be done to ease the pain, so to speak. There are also some major peeves that make it worse. This will be fun.
 
 Timing.
 Getting double or triple sat is going to happen, it's a law. To you none-servers, this basically means getting two or three tables at a time. Might not sound like a big deal to you, but add the other tables that are already sitting, and things can blow up pretty fast. Very fast. As in," I'm cool, I'm cool, I'm in the groove, everything is going along perfectly, oh SHIT-I-JUST-GOT-DOUBLE-SAT-I-HATE-EVERYONE!!!!!!". It can happen in the blink of an eye.
 This is where timing is crucial. Now is not the time to be giving your tables your 20 minute menu dissertation. Just get them drinks, let them know what they need to know, and run. Excuse me, walk away gracefully. You always have to be at least a few steps ahead of the guests because you can always count on someone doing something to trip you up, like asking a lot of questions, or ordering things one at a time when you ask if they need anything else, or wanting to "just take a look at the desserts, just to see what you have". The heavy-ass dessert tray that is all the way inside.
 This is where a server's experience shows. If you see right off the bat that a table is going to load you down with questions, then go get the order on the table that is ready and waiting. Don't make them suffer because you have poor time management. As long as a table has drinks, then they are ok for a hot minute. You can politely let them know that you'll be right back with them. Don't let them suck you in!! Servers that are less than experienced let themselves get sucked in; baaaad move. You get behind when you're busy, busy, and you can piss off your whole section, not just one table, ( you've sometimes gotta throw one to the wolves, sorry, fact of life ). You piss off your whole section, and managers get pissed off at you, and your whole day sucks.

 Running Sidework.
 Ooooooh, this my personal favorite. Nothing jacks me off more than going to get a glass, a spoon, ice, coffee, whatever, and it's not there. Do you know why it's not there? It's because some lazy jackass didn't refill ice, make tea or coffee when they took the last of it, or bother to go in the back to get more silver or glasses. These asses will run allll the way to the other end of the restaurant to snag a fork or glass or whatever. You know what, that's fine, it happens, but you obviously are aware that there are no glasses or silver in your half of the restaurant. So do the sensible thing and keep grabbing whatever your heart desires from the other half of the restaurant, instead of taking your candy-ass in the back and, I don't know, getting some glasses or silver to take to your section. It's a strange concept, I know, but I really think it will work.
 Because we have too few people that will lower themselves to doing running sidework, we often run out of things. It's just like timing on your tables people, keep ahead of it. It probably takes less time to grab a rack of glasses from the back than it does to keep traversing the restaurant snagging glasses. If they need to run half a rack, then have them run half a rack. It's not hard. Don't even tell me "it's the bussers' job". It's your table that needs whatever, go get it. The bussers are busy too. Don't get me started on busser abuse.
  Because not everyone does their fair share, you have people that basically just wait on their tables and make their money. Because certain people can't or won't help out with running sidework during the shift, other people have to pick up the slack, which makes them slightly busier than they really need to be. And THAT is what pisses me off. It's always the same people. If you can't or won't help out, then you need to find some other job that might be a little easier for you. I'm just saying.

 Service Bar Standers
  Servers: if you have the time to stand at the service bar and stare at the busy bartender while she's making our dramarific drinks then you have time to do something else. Like go get glasses.

 Grace.
  If you're busy, please try not to look it. You can be busy gracefully. Don't go stampeding through the restaurant like a rabid hippopotamus. Everyone is busy, we get it. Running through the restaurant doesn't impress anyone with how hard you're working. You just look like some idiot running through the restaurant.

 I wonder how busy it'll be tonight?