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Thank goodness. This is the first time I have had two days off in a row since December 12th. I decided to keep the youngest girl home with me today and we are just kind of hanging out. I have to make us something to eat and I think we are going to play with blocks here shortly, so I will be busy for awhile.

Other than moving the Wife’s computer into the kitchen and installing a wireless link I think I am going to take it easy today though. I still can’t seem to shake this fucking cold.

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I’ve been in the restaurant industry for 20 years now, with the same company. When I first started working for them, it was because I just plain out needed a job. I was irresponsible, having had around 30 jobs from the time I was 16 until I turned 20. I couldn’t even stay in the military. I had to beg the guy who hired me for a job. I went back every day for about a week until he got tired of seeing me and finally just gave me the job.

I went in on a Thursday or Friday night to watch some videos and fill out all of the paperwork. My first day was to be the Following Thursday morning washing dishes. It happened to be New Years eve. I overslept. I was supposed to be there at 7am, but I woke up at 2 in the afternoon. Damn. I called up my boss and apologized. He told me that was OK, come in on New Years Day, but make sure to call when I woke up if it ever happened again. I responded by letting him know that I HAD called when I woke up. I was not the most responsible person at that point in time.

I managed to show up on time the next day. I was sleeping on the floor of a friend about fifteen miles away, and got up on time and caught the bus to work. It was OK, but just another damn job at the time.

I waited tables for about nine months. It was good money but I discovered that I hated it. Waiting tables has got to be one of the hardest jobs that there is in the hospitality industry, particularly considering that in the U.S. the customers are expected to pay your wages, not the company that you work for.

After that I started cooking. I had been cooking for awhile anyway. I was working the graveyard shift, and the guy that cooked while I waited tables would go lay down on the back table about Ten each night, and I would cook and wait tables until Five the next morning which is when I would wake him up. After he was eventually fired, they made me the cook. I did that for about nine more months until someone decided to put me in management.

I have managed 16 restaurants in one capacity or another. I was a multi-unit manager for awhile in ’99, that really sucked and I quit, but they ended up giving me a job at the corporate office to keep me around. I truly enjoyed that, but it was a 75 mile commute EACH way, and with the cost of gas and automotive repairs, I just couldn’t afford it anymore. In 2003 I made the conscious decision to go back into restaurant operations until I retire, unless some kick ass job comes along, but that is extremely unlikely. No matter how much I have my times that I hate my job, as long as I do it, I am pretty much guaranteed a job until I retire. We have never laid anyone off, and are continuously growing and getting better. Hell, if the right district came open I might even be persuaded to take another promotion. I turned one down about a month ago. As it is right now, I have no interest in moving anytime soon.

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On New Years Day I will have been with my company for twenty years. Damn. Some days it feels like 100 times longer, but there are days that I feel like I am still 20, just not as many. With three kids to get through college over the next 18 years, I have at least 20 more working for them. That’s the scary part. 20 more Christmases at work. Possibly I will get to spend a few with grandchildren, but there won’t be any with my kids.

Anyone else made fun of automated phone systems? My bank uses one. You can either punch in the selections, or use verbal commands. It’s pretty cool particularly since, like a dumb ass, I tend to check my balance when I am driving. It does a pretty good job recognizing different speech patterns. Lately I have been using different voices. It doesn’t do so well at Sam Kinnison (sp?) nor does it like opera. The people riding in their cars around me must wonder just what the fuck it is I am doing. The only saving grace for them is that it is cold and my windows are up.

The girls are on their winter trip to Hilton Head. They arrived earlier this evening. It’s weird because my son normally goes with them, but this year he stayed home with me. He has to work this weekend, and also has wrestling practice later this week as well. Tomorrow is my only day off until NEXT Thursday and Friday, so he gets to spend it with me cleaning the house from Christmas. I will get some cleaning done, but I am planning on sleeping in until I wake up. No alarms. No children beating me on the head to get me up.

Doing the bachelor thing, Chris and I are having pizza tonight. He offered to pay for it, which is cool. He didn’t want to wait for me to get home, since he got a checking account last month, he has received his fake visa and wanted to do it himself. I understand that. It is a small slice of adulthood that he can enjoy. Domino’s quit delivering to my town last month (the bastards) so we order from Papa Johns. I told him to get online at papajohns.com and it was pretty easy to understand. He called me up (I was on my way home from work) and seemed to be having problems with the website and I couldn’t really walk him through it over the phone, but he finally figured it out. A few minutes after I got home, he got a phone call from the pizza place, and they told him that they no longer deliver here. I told him to ask when they quit since I had just ordered from them last week. They told him four months ago, and hung up. I proceeded to call them back and asked for the manager to raise hell. After a few minutes of the conversation in which SOMEONE was really looking like a dumb ass, he said “who are you on the phone with, Domino’s?” I immediately stopped the conversation in which I now looked like a fucking retard and apologized to the lady and told her I would place an order online after we hung up. My son had ordered from Domino’s, even though we have not gotten a pizza from them in months. Fuck, I don’t need anyone else’s help to look stupid, I can do that quit easily on my own thank you very much.

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I managed to get home for a couple of hours. I just woke up and am trying to suck down a cup of coffee before heading back. They were actually supposed to call me and wake me up 40 minutes ago, but have apparently forgotten. It was as bust as I had anticipated, maybe a bit busier, but the ugly part will begin in about 30 minutes, now that it is getting dark out.

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Tonight was just a short preview for me of what it will be like at work tomorrow. They got hammered about 7pm, and called me at 7:30. I went in an expedited until about ten or so. I have two waitresses that are basically just pieces of shit and will be gone soon after the holidays.

Their drawer was short $68 as well, which was a nice bonus.

I have to hit the sack, 4:30 comes too fucking early.

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