Restaurant Gal

Month: December 2006

  • Where You Can Get Anything You Want

    Little known fact about The Gal: I almost grew up in the restaurant and hotel business. I say “almost,” because my family had sold their holdings and moved on by the time I was a teenager. Still, my formative years were spent playing hide-and-seek in closed off dining rooms, hanging new curtains in redecorated hotel…

  • Scary People

    I give up. I give in. And I will give you this: Forget Halloween. Forget full moons and any other weird days of any other months during the year. The week between Christmas and New Years brings out the absolute worst in every single person on the planet–every single day. It brings out the worst…

  • A Very Narrow Window

    “Tell her,” coached the dad. “Tell her exactly how many.” “We want a reservation for 20 people. And we want it tonight, okay?” No smile accompanied this demand. I eyed the scruffy-looking father and his not-too-adorable grade-school-aged daughters. Okay, I’ll grant everyone a little leeway on appearances the day after Christmas, but these three looked…

  • Ornamental Tales

    When I married Mr. Restaurant Gal, I bought an ornament to commemorate that event, and hung it on a very small tree along with a few generic ornaments I’d bought at the mall. Several years later, when I was expecting our first baby, I saved the ornaments my friend had tied to the baby shower…

  • Old Walk, New Walk

    I can walk to and from my new job, although it is contrary and a contradiction to my old walks. Old walk: Pass by dozens of Ethiopian restaurants and wonder how they all stay in business. New walk: Pass by dozens of bikers and strollers and other people who can say they “live in the…

  • I Am a Total Bitch

    Why am I such a bitch? I work with fun people, for the most part. I find training a handful of new hires to be easy, for the most part. But I am such a bitch when it comes to two coworkers, and I cannot seem to stop myself from being one. One is a…

  • Girls in Uniform

    I laughed ’till I cried today. So did one of the hosts who I am supposedly training to be an ace maitre d’, but she already is, so now we just have fun together. We LOST it laughing this afternoon. I laughed so hard I had to excuse myself from the podium, walk into the…

  • I’m Your Gal

    “You want reservations? Here’s your gal!” said my GM to the ladies waiting at the podium. Ha! If you only knew, I thought. “Oh the reservations gal. Great!” they smiled. And I booked them in for Christmas Eve. “Are you the gal who can get me the best table in the house?” asked another guest.…

  • Remembering a Lifetime Ago, Now and Again

    We took Mr. Restaurant Gal’s mother out to lunch for her 81st birthday. Times are not good for her, and they are not getting better. They will only get worse. These are givens. Times are hard for Mr. Restaurant Gal as he keeps careful track of his mother during these not-good times. It will only…

  • Radio Gal

    Radio Replay If you missed the Friday night fun and want to hear a replay, go to: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/hostpage.aspx?show_id=6008 The show is archived and you can hear it all. Thanks again, Aaron. –The Gal On a very bleak day at my previous fine-dining job, I received a comment on my blog from Aaron Delay. I commented…