Training...FINALLY

I have been more than slacking in the updates department.

Lets see...I haven't written about my 4 days of training or my first 3 shifts on the floor by myself.

As I obviously don't have the memory to recall everything exactly I'm just going to do my best.

Lets see...

Training:

Training went really well. My trainer turned out to be the girl that finally acknowledged me after standing at the door for a good five minutes on the day that I went in to get my application.

She has worked at Hooters for like 4 years and was super sweet! Since I've served before she didn't have the hardest job in the world, and I was putting orders in on the micros like a pro by the end of day one.

My second day of training I was with the same girl. Everything went wonderfully. There were only a few things that are done differently at Hooters that I/still am having some trouble adjusting to.

#1: I've never worked at a restaurant where the guests didn't have their silverware automatically at the beginning of the meal. Hooters is the exception. The Hooters girls are supposed to take your order, sling it into the kitchen, and then bring you your setups for your app/meal. Basically it's just some plates, forks, and knives. Easy enough right? Today was my third day on the floor alone and I still have trouble remembering to bring my tables their setups. I don't know why I just can't get it into my brain! Oh well, it's a minor deal, and I always remember eventually, even if it is right as I'm bringing them their food and realize that they don't have silverware to eat it with....ooops.

#2: You having to ring the food into the computer in a certain order. It makes sense, honestly. You ring the food into the computer in order of items that take longest to cook ----> items that are quicker/easier to cook. That way the cooks can just go down the list and see right away what they need to start making so that the order comes out all at once. As I said, it obviously makes sense, I've just never worked somewhere that operated that way, so it's taken some getting used to. I've pretty much got it down though.

#3: It is so goddamn unorganized! Maybe I'm just an exceptionnally organized server or something but I swear it seems like those girls do everything the most difficult way possible there.

Example:
Lets say they get a table of 15 people. When they take the order they don't have any way of knowing which guest ordered what as they are normally just scribbling it on a tiny notepad or a napkin. They enter it into the computer not bothering to use the seat buttons (which separate the orders to correspond with a number which coresponds with the person at the table that ordered that item). Then when the food is ready they have no way to remember who ordered what so they end up just auctioning the food off at the table rather than looking prepared and knowledgable and remembering which guest ordered what. THEN when it's time for the bill and they want it all separated they have to go to the micro and struggle to remember who ordered what so that they can split the bill up properly. I just don't understand why the girls do this to themselves! Yeah every now and then you'll get the party that all pays together and they luckily don't have to split up the bill, but it's pretty rare. *sigh* And all this could be fixed by changing like one step in their routine and making their lives so much easier.

Oh well, I'm on my own now and therefore I do things my (much better and easier) way.

Anyway. My third day of on the floor training was with a different girl, AND, it was Daisy Duke Night! I wore some cute shorts of a normal length, and an adorable plaid shirt that I bought from the little boys section of Target and tied up under my boobs. I took out my bellybutton piercing since I was told when I was hired that piercings and tatoos can't show, but when I got to work realized that apparently dress up days are no rules days. All the girls had their belly rings in in all their glitzy, hanging down three inches from their actual bellybutton glory. Honestly, I'm pretty sure this tackiness is what has inspired my to take my bellybutton (and nose ring) out and let the holes close up. I'm kind of over it.

Anyway my trainer is fairly new to my location, but has worked at Hooters for a while. She did things a bit differently than my first trainer. She is a really nice girl, but apparently a lot of the girls don't like her. Oh well, Hooters drama, I don't want it. Anyway, she had me do pretty much everything on my own, and it went really smoothly since she was right there if I had any questions. It was actually pretty entertaining because most of the tables told me (while she was away doing...or not doing...something else) that they liked me much better than her and that I should be the one doing the training, not her! While rude, it did brighten my day to hear that the guests thought I was doing well. There was a table of a couple guys in the night that was drinking pretty heavily (as the Hooters I work at doesn't really regulate the amount people drink apparently..though I'll get to that later) and they got more and more "friendly" with the girls the more they drank. They weren't being inappropriate or anything, it's just entertaining to see guys loosen up the more they drink. Anyway I talked to them a little bit. During one of these bouts of conversation one of the guys asked me if I bale hay.

I just stared at him.

What?

Do you bale hay?

Why would you ask me that?

Well you just are dressed up all country, and you have a nice stomach. You would get that if you baled hay.

It's daisy duke day. That's why I'm dressed like this.

Oh. Well...you would get a stomach like that if you baled hay.

*sigh*

One difference I noticed right away between this trainer and my first trainer was that this one decided to take full advantage of the little trainee following her around and made me do all of her sidework and clean her section whenever her tables left. Apparently she doesn't realize that laziness gets you nowhere in life.

My final day of training was hostess training. We only have one hostess at our location, and she is a petite 18 year old that wears excessive amounts of makeup but has a ridiculously gorgeous face that I oftentimes find myself staring at.

It's weird of me.

She is a really really nice girl though. That day of training was extremely boring though. It was a Saturday night, but for some reason was extremely slow. Her only job is to seat the girls if no one takes the table themselves when they see them walk in, and to take to-go orders. We spend most of the time holding open the doors, greeting people, taking a few to-go oders, and texting on our phones.

Training=End.

Thank goodness.

More to come tomorrow, I promise. I have the day off and absolutely nothing else to do so I'm devoting the time to nurse this blog back to health.