Thursday, June 25, 2009
Return to INNOCENCE
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
13 Things Your Waiter Won't Tell You
4. Never say "I'm friends with the owner." Restaurant owners don't have friends. This marks you as a clueless poseur the moment you walk in the door.
5. Treat others as you want to be treated. (Yes, people need to be reminded of this.)
6. Don't snap your fingers to get our attention. Remember, we have shears that cut through bone in the kitchen.
7. Don't order meals that aren't on the menu. You're forcing the chef to cook something he doesn't make on a regular basis. If he makes the same entrée 10,000 times a month, the odds are good that the dish will be a home run every time.
8. Splitting entrées is okay, but don't ask for water, lemon, and sugar so you can make your own lemonade. What's next, grapes so you can press your own wine?
9. If you find a waiter you like, always ask to be seated in his or her section. Tell all your friends so they'll start asking for that server as well. You've just made that waiter look indispensable to the owner. The server will be grateful and take good care of you.
10. If you can't afford to leave a tip, you can't afford to eat in the restaurant. Servers could be giving 20 to 40 percent to the busboys, bartenders, maître d', or hostess.
11. Always examine the check. Sometimes large parties are unaware that a gratuity has been added to the bill, so they tip on top of it. Waiters "facilitate" this error. It's dishonest, it's wrong-and I did it all the time.
12. If you want to hang out, that's fine. But increase the tip to make up for money the server would have made if he or she had had another seating at that table.
13. Never, ever come in 15 minutes before closing time. The cooks are tired and will cook your dinner right away. So while you're chitchatting over salads, your entrées will be languishing under the heat lamp while the dishwasher is spraying industrial-strength, carcinogenic cleaning solvents in their immediate vicinity.
From Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip-Confessions of a Cynical Waiter by The Waiter (Ecco/HarperCollins)
Monday, June 22, 2009
C'est La Vie
c'est la vie is a french word, which means that's life!!
Sunday, June 21, 2009
having a near empty wallet
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
pissed off
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Swine Flu vaccine developed
GENEVA – Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis AG said yesterday it has successfully produced a first batch of swine flu vaccine weeks ahead of expectations.
The vaccine was made in cells, rather than grown in eggs as is usually the case with vaccines, the company said.
The announcement comes a day after the World Health Organization declared swine flu a pandemic. WHO says drugmakers will likely have vaccines approved and ready for sale after September.
Swine flu, also known as Influenza A(H1N1), is now formally a pandemic – a declaration by UN health officials that is expected to speed vaccine production and spur government spending to combat the first global flu epidemic in 41 years.
Since it was first detected in late April in Mexico and the US, swine flu has reached 74 countries, infecting nearly 29,000 people. Most who catch the bug have only mild symptoms and don’t need medical treatment.
WHO chief Dr. Margaret Chan made the long-awaited declaration after the UN agency held an emergency meeting with flu experts and said she was moving to phase 6 – the agency’s highest alert level – which means a pandemic is under way.