I was supposed to be on prep Friday but Katie called in sick. John asked me if I’d work station 1; it’s not like I could refuse. For one thing, I need the experience. Another thing, more hours means more money. Not that I do this strictly for the pay (cos my paycheck’s kind of a joke), but having that extra little bit of cash is nice for when I want to buy a plane ticket to fly to my boyfriend who I only get to see about twice a year :/

After agreeing to work the line, I got a little inwardly nervous again for a minute. All I ever know about Fridays is that we’re super busy. In my mind, busy means I probably will get overwhelmed and swamped. But in reality, it was just like any other day I’ve worked; it just has a longer push and we close later. Anticipating what I’d be up against, I made sure I had enough wood, I took care to stay on top of dates, and I tried to stay on top of the big ticket items (chicken and pork shoulder).

We ended up doing over 190 covers (precise number pending) and I’m pleased that I made it! John told me I did a good job just before he left for the night (he opened/expo’d); Guilietta (server/M.O.D.) said I was awesome. Praise is nice, but what matters is that I feel good about the night. It was rainy and overcast all day, but when the weather gets warmer, we’ll be even busier. Even so, I’m glad I worked a Friday to get the fear out of my system. The only hitch of the night was at the peak of busy rush, I had to cook 9 orders of shoulder (are you kidding me? I can barely fit 5 shoulders easily in that oven O_O;;) but Elliot helped me with 4 of them and once they came to temp I took care of the rest. It just occurred to me now that I’m extremely grateful that when I had all that shoulder on the board, there weren’t any chicken orders (or even sausage orders for that matter) because I would’ve been screwed.
I know I shouldn’t be but I’m amazed at myself for keeping up with dates and date sauce. It means I’m learning and improving. I’m just so tickled that I’m not an idiot and I can do it. Alright, sometimes it’s with a little help, but I can do it! And John didn’t have much to say about my food tonight! Well, minus my pork shoulders having a little too much jus, but minus that, it was all golden! Woohoo!

I work again on Sunday. Whoa, my first working Sunday in 2 years of working at Avec! That should be exciting, since Armanzo will be there, as well as Elliot as expo. I’m not sure who else I’ll be working with, but it should be a good night. I hope Armanzo’s on 2 that night. That would be fun! Fingers crossed. And now, it’s almost 5 AM and I need to get my ass in bed. Good night!