I was watching Family Feud, as I typically do when I'm home around noon, and the question was: Name a famous "Joe." Answers on the board included Joe Montana, Joe Dimaggio, Joe the Plumber, and Joe Namath.
When the host was revealing the answers that the feuding families didn't guess, the last one he revealed was "Joe Biden." At that point, the camera cut to a blonde lady on one of the teams who proceeded to scrunch up her face and mouth, "Who's that??"
And I'm willing to be she voted for Obama.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Update
I'm only working 4-8 on Friday, 4/18, just in case anyone was planning on coming during the afternoon.
A Breakfast Haven
If, like me, you love good breakfast food, you need to eat at the Dor-Stop in Dormont. It's right on Potomac avenue, off of West Liberty. Parking is not as easy to find as the restaurant itself, but if you park on the street a short way down from the diner, at least you'll burn off some of the large amounts of calories you are sure to consume during your meal.
Jess and I went there for breakfast around 10:30 this morning. It was packed! We had to put our name in, and we waited about ten minutes before two seats opened up at the counter, but other people waited a lot longer than us. Tip -- if you go to the Dor-Stop, go with a small number of people or be willing to split up. They don't have a lot of seating options for groups larger than four people, and if you want to stick together, your wait will be much longer.
When we sat down at the counter, we were greeted by a friendly man in the apron who we determined was the owner because his picture was in a newspaper article on the wall. He was very nice, asking where we were from, if it was our first time there, how we had heard about it, etc. When our waitress came, I ordered oatmeal chocolate-chip pancakes, and Jess ordered one pumpkin and one oatmeal pancake. They have lots of neat options for pancake mix-ins, like bananas and walnuts, and they also have raspberry-stuffed french toast. Or, for those of you who prefer a savory breakfast, the menu has lots of options for omelets, eggs, bacon, sausage, and more.
Our food arrived within ten minutes, and, boy, was it worth the wait. The pancakes were covered in butter and powdered sugar, and we helped ourselves to a squeeze bottle of syrup that was on the counter. My meal cost 8.39 for three pancakes and a side of bacon. Not too shabby.
If you want to try out the Dor-Stop, I would highly recommend it. Check out their website and menu here. The owner told us that their least busy times are around 8:00 a.m. and 2:15 p.m., but my guess is that things never quite slow down at this gem of a diner.
Jess and I went there for breakfast around 10:30 this morning. It was packed! We had to put our name in, and we waited about ten minutes before two seats opened up at the counter, but other people waited a lot longer than us. Tip -- if you go to the Dor-Stop, go with a small number of people or be willing to split up. They don't have a lot of seating options for groups larger than four people, and if you want to stick together, your wait will be much longer.
When we sat down at the counter, we were greeted by a friendly man in the apron who we determined was the owner because his picture was in a newspaper article on the wall. He was very nice, asking where we were from, if it was our first time there, how we had heard about it, etc. When our waitress came, I ordered oatmeal chocolate-chip pancakes, and Jess ordered one pumpkin and one oatmeal pancake. They have lots of neat options for pancake mix-ins, like bananas and walnuts, and they also have raspberry-stuffed french toast. Or, for those of you who prefer a savory breakfast, the menu has lots of options for omelets, eggs, bacon, sausage, and more.
Our food arrived within ten minutes, and, boy, was it worth the wait. The pancakes were covered in butter and powdered sugar, and we helped ourselves to a squeeze bottle of syrup that was on the counter. My meal cost 8.39 for three pancakes and a side of bacon. Not too shabby.
If you want to try out the Dor-Stop, I would highly recommend it. Check out their website and menu here. The owner told us that their least busy times are around 8:00 a.m. and 2:15 p.m., but my guess is that things never quite slow down at this gem of a diner.
Monday, April 06, 2009
Help Me Help You
As some of you may know, next week is my last week as a full-time server at the Sharp Edge before I start working at Camp Bow Wow. There's a slim chance that I might keep a shift here or there at the restaurant, but I'm hoping I won't have to. Anyway, if you'd like to come visit me before I'm finished in the waitressing world, here are my shifts for the next two weeks:
Tuesday, 4/7 - 4-8 p.m.
Wednesday, 4/8 - 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Thursday, 4/9 - 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Friday, 4/10 - 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Tuesday, 4/14 - 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Wednesday, 4/15 - 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Friday, 4/17 - 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Saturday (LAST DAY!!) - 4 - 8 p.m.
As always, end times are approximate, so your best bet is to come somewhere in the middle of a shift. And I'll be able to pay more attention to you if you come on a weekday rather than a weekend. Hope to see you there!
Tuesday, 4/7 - 4-8 p.m.
Wednesday, 4/8 - 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Thursday, 4/9 - 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Friday, 4/10 - 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Tuesday, 4/14 - 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Wednesday, 4/15 - 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Friday, 4/17 - 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Saturday (LAST DAY!!) - 4 - 8 p.m.
As always, end times are approximate, so your best bet is to come somewhere in the middle of a shift. And I'll be able to pay more attention to you if you come on a weekday rather than a weekend. Hope to see you there!
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Anatomy of a Restaurant Patron, Part Four - Seating Arrangements
As with any job, being an insider allows you to be privy to certain tidbits of information that the public does not know. At a restaurant, some of these tidbits are seemingly common sense, but I've heard the same comments over and over so many times, that I feel it is necessary to explain a few things.
First, servers are usually assigned sections of the restaurant, consisting of four to five tables, in which customers are seated and then taken care of by that particular server. The quality level of service often has an inverse relationship to the number of tables a server has. However, there are not always enough servers scheduled on any given shift to cover every table in the restaurant. This is due to a predicted pattern of business volume. On a Monday afternoon (or any afternoon, for that matter) at the Sharp Edge, there is only one server. If, by a fluke occurrence, ten tables decide to sit down to eat at the same time, it's a sticky situation.
I bring up this matter because of one comment I've heard both at my restaurant and at others while I was a guest. If you go to a restaurant and there is a wait to be seated, yet you still see empty tables, chances are there are not enough servers to cover the tables. Would you rather have a seat and receive extremely terrible service because your server is overwhelmed, or would you rather wait fifteen minutes until another table clears out? So many times people come in and say, outraged, "Why is there a wait when I see all these empty tables??" Well, now you know why.
The second seating situation I'd like to address in this post is quite simple. If you see a sign on the wall that says, "Please Wait to be Seated," then please wait to be seated. It's a rare occurrence that restaurants these days have people seat themselves. When you saunter in like you own the place and grab a table, you're likely messing up the seating rotation between servers, thus subjecting yourself to an annoyed server and one who may be too busy to pay proper attention to you. Furthermore, do not go into a restaurant, tell the hostess that you are sitting at the bar, and then proceed to seat yourself at a booth NEAR the bar. It's not the same thing. If you're not sitting in a bar stool, you're not considered to be sitting at the bar.
Lastly, if you have a seating preference (near a television, in a certain server's section, etc.), feel free to voice your preference, but do it BEFORE you're taken to your seat. Don't sit down, decide you don't like the view, and ask to switch. And certainly don't ask to switch tables midway through your meal. Just finish your food and know better next time.
First, servers are usually assigned sections of the restaurant, consisting of four to five tables, in which customers are seated and then taken care of by that particular server. The quality level of service often has an inverse relationship to the number of tables a server has. However, there are not always enough servers scheduled on any given shift to cover every table in the restaurant. This is due to a predicted pattern of business volume. On a Monday afternoon (or any afternoon, for that matter) at the Sharp Edge, there is only one server. If, by a fluke occurrence, ten tables decide to sit down to eat at the same time, it's a sticky situation.
I bring up this matter because of one comment I've heard both at my restaurant and at others while I was a guest. If you go to a restaurant and there is a wait to be seated, yet you still see empty tables, chances are there are not enough servers to cover the tables. Would you rather have a seat and receive extremely terrible service because your server is overwhelmed, or would you rather wait fifteen minutes until another table clears out? So many times people come in and say, outraged, "Why is there a wait when I see all these empty tables??" Well, now you know why.
The second seating situation I'd like to address in this post is quite simple. If you see a sign on the wall that says, "Please Wait to be Seated," then please wait to be seated. It's a rare occurrence that restaurants these days have people seat themselves. When you saunter in like you own the place and grab a table, you're likely messing up the seating rotation between servers, thus subjecting yourself to an annoyed server and one who may be too busy to pay proper attention to you. Furthermore, do not go into a restaurant, tell the hostess that you are sitting at the bar, and then proceed to seat yourself at a booth NEAR the bar. It's not the same thing. If you're not sitting in a bar stool, you're not considered to be sitting at the bar.
Lastly, if you have a seating preference (near a television, in a certain server's section, etc.), feel free to voice your preference, but do it BEFORE you're taken to your seat. Don't sit down, decide you don't like the view, and ask to switch. And certainly don't ask to switch tables midway through your meal. Just finish your food and know better next time.
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