Baby sitting

So I have been in the new place for almost two months. Working in "hellsee"(aka hell C) is really no different other than now instead of being a waiter or bartender I have gone over to the dark side. Being a manager doesn't necessarily present an entirely different perspective. It DOES however offer a different view of the same perspective at least. In the past at other jobs, I had been offered a management position on a number of different occasions. One of the main reasons I turned those offers down (besides the pay cut), is that I generally enjoyed waiting/bartending more often than not. Mostly though, in my mind managers were/are for all intents and purposes nothing more than ‘baby sitters’. Two months or so into it,I have to say my original feeling was not too far off.

Mind you, baby sitting can be fun. Baby sitting can be great. I love kids so make no mistake I have nothing whatsoever against the idea of baby sitting. What I DO have a problem with is the idea of baby sitting fully grown adults which is what restaurant management boils down to. Some examples:

Things you are not surprised to hear as a babysitter/parent:

‘I don’t want to go to school because the dog ate my homework’

Things you are not surprised to hear as a manager:

‘I didn’t come to work yesterday because I lost my schedule.”

As a parent:
“I can’t go to school today because I have a cold.”

As a manager:
“I can’t come to work today because I have the ‘Corona flu.’

As a parent:
“Mom, I will be home late all this week because I got detention.”

As a manager:
“Good news, I am over the corona flu. Bad news, I slept it off in
A jail cell after getting a DUI,,,,oh by the way I won’t be in for
A few days.”


Baby sitter/parent:
“Billy didn’t clean his room like you told him to do”


Manager:
“Wendy didn’t do her side work like you told her to do”

As a parent:

Trying to make a 6 year old understand why he can’t wear
His underwear on the outside of his pants to school his
Useless.

As a manager:
Trying to make some servers understand why they can’t wear
Nose rings, dog collars, and a tattoo that says ‘Fu*k you’
Is equally pointless.

As a parent:
You tell your son or daughter to ‘quit throwing their clothes on
The floor’ 7 million times.

As a manager:
You tell servers to quit wiping food from dirty tables on the
Floor 7 million times.

As a parent:
You sit patiently teaching your child to put the star shaped plastic
Piece into the star shaped hole on the red and blue octagonal shaped
Preschool toy you bought them.

As a manager:
You stand by patiently and tell servers to stack the 10 inch plates on
Top of the OTHER 10 inch plates in the dish pit.

As a parent:
You watch as your child tries stubbornly to fit the star shaped piece
Into the round shaped hole.

As a manager:
You watch as servers continue to stubbornly stack 10 inch plates on top of
The 4 inch ones.

As a parent:
You celebrate and take pride when you see them figure out the star really
DOES go into the star shaped hole.

As a manager:
You order more dishes to replace the 12 plates that finally toppled over
And crashed to the floor from being stacked on top of a four inch one.




In fairness, I must say that I don’t have any children so most of the child references were to me. Mom really WAS proud of me for getting that star shaped thing down, even if it was only last week that I did so.

See? Managing/ Babysitting

Not all that different.

Until next time, take care

BD


tags:Seinfeld,aging,Sunday Scribblings,waitress,smartass,
tags:waiter,baby sitting,alarms,humor