Guess I forgot to write last night! I spent a couple hours at the beach, working on my tan (while I still can). I finished reading my mystery book, then it was off to work the front of the house, which in restaurant-speak is the sit down part of the restaurant with the maitre'd, bar and bartender and waiters and waitresses. I was expecting to work with Lisa, the General Manager of the Lobster Grille, but found Denise working (she usually works days). She agreed to show me the ropes but did tell me up front she was going to have me hostess (!) by myself. She showed me some of the reports that the managers fill out, went and got petty cash for making change, then had me help Pogan set up the banquet room for the Rotary Club. We set up five tables (two different colored table cloths set at angles to themselves) with the tablecloths, silverware, glasses and cloth napkins. Pogan says that usually 18-19 people show up but the Rotary pays for 25 people. Last night they almost ran out of food, so Ryan had to supplement the food Janee had put together with more veggies and a pasta dish when they ran out of chicken. That seems to be the standard fare-chicken or beef, fish of some sort (usually mahi-mahi), a vegetable, then either rice or mashed potatoes, a mixed green salad with two dressings, and bread. Coffee and iced tea are also served, cookies or brownies for dessert. The food is served buffet style, in chafing dishes, which are set up on tables outside the conference room. They eat, have a meeting, and then leave. Pagan didn't want any help tearing down the room. I think, he wanted as many hours as he could get for doing it. Pogan is a boat captain, who supplements his income on off times by bar tending and taking care of the Rotary Club (his dad is a member). The Rotarians finished an hour earlier than normal and with me helping, it wouldn't have taken long to "tear" down the tables and set-up. So I left him to it, although I took the food back to the kitchen.
As for hostessing. Denise showed me the reservation book, how it worked (it's usually in the gift shop where they make reservations), how to take reservations over the phone, and making sure when seating people, that I take both the menu and the wine list. She also walked me through walking through the restaurant to make certain the daytime waitresses had cleared and cleaned the tables, as the set up for days and evenings is different. She also straightened up the pool area, as it is in direct sight of the bar and restaurant. She said they don't allow children in the pool during dinner because of the noise level (makes sense). As we were walking around the pool area, there was a woman sitting on a lounge chair with two iguana sitting up, looking just like little dogs begging for food! I asked her if she was all right. She said yes, but that she had fed them some lettuce and now they wanted more. We left her, and I saw she left the pool area shortly thereafter. Last night, an iguana walked into the kitchen by the dishwashing sinks. I chased him out. Ryan told me Mrs. Donovan (the daytime dish washer) feeds them and calls them her children. No wonder they feel right at home!!
We only had reservations for 12 people last night. One 2-top at 6pm, three 2-tops at 7pm and one 4-top at 8pm. Just two walk-ins, single people wanting to eat. One gentleman came up to me stating he heard reservations were mandatory to eat at the Lobster Grille but that his phone didn't work, there was no water in his room, and all the doors had screens in them with louvers. He asked "is that how it always is here?". I told him I would gladly seat him any time at the Lobster Grille. They recommend reservations but it is not mandatory. I also told him I would talk to the front desk about the water (a main broke so for an hour or so we did not have water in most of the resort, including the kitchen). The Grille dishwasher, Patrick, called to say he was going to be late but then didn't show up! Ryan worked the line by himself, Willie worked the Pantry (he pulled me aside and told me too many ice creams were opened and that I had to be more careful about which container I opened as apparently all the containers had some ice cream missing. I did tell him I only worked last night, Judy worked Sunday and Monday. What I didn't say was that NONE of the containers had in them what was on the outside-they reuse containers here- so how do you know what things are unless you open a container?). I did tell him I would remember. I did most of the seating myself. Bolongo employees sometimes have a way of disappearing at times. I just did my job, stayed close to the front podium. How can you greet and seat people if you aren't there to see them come in? Ah, well..
I told Lori in HR today that I would be leaving March 1. I will work at Bolongo until February 27 (Sunday is the last day of their schedule), then fly into LAX on Tuesday, March 1, see my mom and sister and her family, fly back to Reno so I can get rid of all my "stuff" and pack more appropriate clothes, then go to D.C. to spend time with my friend Betty. Not sure what the future holds, but I've just about learned all that Bolongo can teach me. The rest is getting experience and deciding what it is I want to do when I grow up (although someone recently informed me that they had no intention of growing up, lol).
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