Still in Business

So I've finally (and successfully) got the guy to add "Chiang Mai curry noodle soup" (Kao-Soy)into his restaurant menu. I am so proud. The thing is that this Kao Soy dish is so great and one of a few favorite of mine while living in Chiang Mai (record: I am not a big fan of northern cuisine. how sad.) I told him that this dish is already good itself with the right ingredient BUT you will have to make it good though. "Good" is a very broad word, so I made him one.

Lots of people I know have asked me in the past few weeks if I still work in a restaurant. The answer is yes, I still do (along with my daytime work,) and bet I am getting good at it. I actually wait tables for the first time in my life last Saturday due to employee shortage. It wasn't bad. As you all know, waitresses make a living off tips. So my take here is that: waiting table is like a customer services/ sales job. If you are nice, but no nothing about what you are selling, that won't take you very far. Even though some customers feel that they are 'kinda' obligated to pay at least 15% tips, but hell, they can do better than that. I arrive at the restaurant at 6pm and work till 9:30pm, which is great--I wanna be there during their busiest hours anyway. There are 4 waitresses total and they normally do 'pool tips' when they put all their tips together and later on equally splitted. Since I was new, nobody wanna do so-called 'pool' tips out of the sudden. They expected me to suck so bad (which really, that was what I expected as well at the time.) So they agreed to own their own table and received tips only off their tables. Well that was fine to me. I also agreed to wait not-so-many table that night since I didnt really know what I was doing yet. I didnt wanna overwhelm myself...basically.

Turning out, I wait probably third less than other three that work there. But that gave me a BIG chance to care for customers I have. Since I have enough time to run around and socialize, I could serve them better. I got to spend quality time explaining/ suggesting/ asking those customer, which leaded to bigger tips. The funny thing is that: most of my customer wanted to open bottles if wine, which boosted the sale. They were so loyal and so easy to be convinced. I remember counting my tab later on and I am sure making so much money than those who waited so many more tables than me. I am not doing this for money at all, but after seeing how much I can pull during those three hours, hell, I am here for money,hahaha. Today, I stopped by the restaurant for food. I saw the same waitresses and they asked me if I'd work this weekend. I said maybe. Now they want the split tips. Do you remember what I've said earlier? Yah...these are the same people who DIDN'T wanna split tips with me. The same exact one.