Week Three, day 2 and 3....new and improved plan!

Day Two was pretty uneventful....did my usual pilates and weights and it was feeling kinda harder than normal which I attribute to being later in the day, but I got through it. Let's say that's a B for that.

Diet wise I did pretty well....though I did go out to lunch and had some amazing shrimp tacos....saved some for dinner later. Then I went to a movie and passed up the popcorn and all that jazz. Such discipline!! I LOVE popcorn. So I was pretty proud of myself. All in all nothing fabulous, but not so bad either. I'm gonna give it a B as well.

Day Three....today I had my first training session with a trainer at the gym who happens to train with my mom (and she really likes her, talks about her all the time...also teaches yoga/pilates/strength training classes there). Basically all we did today was talk about nutrition and take my measurements, etc. Which was REALLY great because that was the area where I was feeling a little lost in the woods so to speak.

So she asked me what I normally eat in a typical day, and I try to describe it but it's hard with my server's schedule to really have a "typical" day. Which is a double edged sword....it's one of the reasons I like my job, but it can also be hard to plan life around. But she said she has worked with servers and nurses (who have similar wacky hours) before and was really cool about coming up with a specific-to-me plan that would accommodate my hours and give me the right kind of nutrition at the right times in the day to give me energy to work the long hours w/o breaks. She actually looked at what I normally eat in a day and was like, "do you ever feel FULL in the course of a day??" So I guess I haven't been eating ENOUGH (which I definitely know is the case on days I have long shifts) and could do a lot better at eating specific "good stuff" to give me the correct energy and nutrition without a lot of fats and carbs. So we came up with a plan, and I went and bought a bunch of groceries this afternoon and made a yummy low-fat, high protein dinner for myself! So in this area, A for the day!! And hopefully more As to come now that I'm well stocked and have a plan to follow.

She also did some measurements and calculated my BMI with some instrument designed for that purpose and it is 25. Which for my height and age, is just on the verge of being overweight (!) I also found out that I have around 30 lbs. of fat. YIKES. Let's get rid of that, shall we?

You can find your own BMI with this calculator. This one is actually pretty good because it adjusts not only for weight and height but for age and gender as well.

So we also talked a little about exercising (but will get into more of that stuff when we meet next on Friday) and she suggested that for my cardio today I run sprint intervals on the treadmill with a pretty steep incline (5). Which I did and it kicked my butt! I only did around 25 minutes which included a little warm up/cool down. But I went about a mile and a half and it definitely got my heart rate way up! So I guess that's a B+ for the day.

I'm excited to really get going on my new nutrition plan because it should help me see results in combination with all the other stuff I'm doing.

Coincidentally, I was originally scheduled to meet with someone else to train today but he couldn't make it and asked my (now) trainer to take the appt...which is awesome, because I know my mom really likes her and after working with her I think she will be really good for me. Strangely enough, her husband is in the service as well (National Guard) and was deployed to Iraq in 2004 so we had a lot to talk about there. She's been the "military wife" and already gone through deployments and all that stuff so it's good to have someone like that in my life!

The kindness of strangers....also the ass-hole-ness of strangers....

Today I was closing lunch at the restaurant, which means that I was the last person on until the dinner crew comes in at 4. Lunch started off pretty slow so they cut the rest of the servers and left it to me and the other closing server around 1:00. It ended up getting pretty busy with just the two of us and no more bussers or expo (the person at the window who preps and in some cases brings the food to the table) and the managers AWOL (probably hanging out in the office on their iPhones because it was "slow").
Anyway, one of my first tables of the day was extremely rude to me for no apparent reason. When I greeted them they were very unfriendly, and when I asked them clarifying questions about their order they were very short and dismissive with me. At this point in the day all the servers were on and I probably only had one other table at the time, so they were getting my FULL attention and were being well taken care of. I could tell right away that they just weren't very pleasant people. So I made a mental note to get them taken care of quickly and expediently with as little interference as possible. I printed off their check straight away and kept it on me so I could deliver it at precisely the right moment, which I did. I stood it up at the end of the table and told them it was ready whenever they were, to let me know if there was anything else I could do for them, and thanked them.
I had gotten sat another table in the booth next to them (separated by a small divider but you can still see over it) and was greeting these new ladies (who were very chatty and pleasant and fun) and showing them through the menu and answering their questions when I noticed my cranky table glaring at me over the median as I was doing my job at this other table. I quick glanced to where I had put their check presenter...it hadn't been touched. I wrapped up with my nice ladies and went over..all in all probably 5-10 minutes from when I first set the check down and after I had walked by at least three times to see if they had put a card in or even picked it up (we set the presenters upright so that when you look at your bill we can tell it's been moved. Usually people set it back down flat with the card sticking out or put their card in the little slot at the top so it's sticking out and then prop the presenter up. Either way, we can tell from a glance if it's been moved from across the restaurant. That's why we do it, so we can see when you have readied your payment without having to come bother you).
I walk over to them and the woman barks at me, "We need our bill??!?" I pointed to the check presenter and said, "It's right there". It's pretty obvious that when I dropped it off before and SPOKE to them they hadn't even acknowledged my presence. "Well, we need to pay NOW then," she commanded, all flustered and annoyed. The man was holding his credit card in his hand and the check still hadn't been touched. Yes, I can see how I should have gathered from that that they were ready to pay me. I grabbed their card and as I was processing it another server who had overheard that little exchange came up and commented on how incredibly rude my table was. Yes, indeed, and for no reason.
For some reason, it really shook me up and I had to take a second to calm down. I usually don't let rude people affect me (and by and large, you really don't see that many. The majority of customers are nice, decent people) but I was really insulted that she talked down to me like that. I can understand if you are short with a bad server, or if your food was wrong, or even if it is busy and you are not getting the service you expect because it is just not possible...but NONE of these applied. I have seen some pretty strange/cheap/ungrateful customers, but none like this. I had to come to the conclusion that some people are just kind of awful, which was depressing.
I dropped off their card and politely informed the woman of the little signal I mentioned above with putting your card in the slot so it is visible to us when we walk by (3 times!!!) I did not mention to her that I thought she was an asshole and thank her for ruining my day.
So from there, things got pretty busy and I felt like none of my customers were really very nice to deal with.
Later on in the day I had a table that was an Air Force serviceman in uniform with his girlfriend or wife. I was putting in their drinks and appetizers in the computer when the bartender came over and informed me that he had a customer at the bar that wanted to pay for my tables' meal. I told him I would give him the ticket when it was all rung in.
As I was running drinks and stuff, the customer at the bar flagged me down. She said she wanted to take care of their meal, to just bring her the tab. She made it clear that she didn't want to make a big deal of it or be recognized. So I thanked her on their behalf and mentioned that I really appreciated it personally as well as I have a fiancee who is training for the Marine Corps. She wished me the best of luck and I gave her the tab. It was around $25. She gave me three twenties and said, "the rest is for you", and left. I was close to tears, touched by her selfless kindness and generosity toward two different sets of strangers.
When the couple neared the end of their meal I noticed the gentleman had put his credit card on the table. I went over and informed them that another customer had noticed them and took care of their meal today. They asked where this person was so they could thank them but I told them she had left. They were so shocked and the girl said, "that just doesn't happen!" and I said, "people surprise you...." They asked if they could leave me a tip and I told them that had been taken care of as well.
I thanked the man myself for his service and wished them both the best. It's weird how I looked at this other girl with completely different eyes now...I know how strong she probably has to be inside. I hope I can get there someday.
A few minutes after they left I went to clear off their table and saw that they had left me a tip anyway.
I work the rest of my shift, thoughtful about the events of the day and thinking of my own serviceman who I have yet to hear from, and I'm feeling pretty heavy. As I take my half hour break before I begin the dinner shift, my fellow closer (who I hadn't actually seen much at all since we were so busy and she was on the other side of the restaurant) comes over and offers out of the blue to stay and work my night shift for me. She says I look like I could use the night off and she wasn't doing anything in particular anyway....she says to go home, get comfy and relax, and she gives me a big hug. Yes, people surprise you indeed.

Week Three, Day One....Mondays aren't working out so great for me.

Today, like last Monday, was a bust :(

I was wanting to get up before work to go to the gym, but when my alarm went off this AM I just wasn't feeling it. I was achy from Saturday and Sunday at work, and didn't sleep well at all. Something just wasn't right...maybe I woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

Yesterday was the first time I have cried in the two weeks since Eben left. I don't know what it was, nothing in particular happened. It just started to weigh on me, and continued to do so throughout the day. I had a long busy, interesting day at work which I wrote to in detail to Eben and might just post separately here...it explains a lot about why I was in no shape to work out, and why when I got the night off and got to go home at 5 instead of 10 I didn't go straight to the gym. I am just DRAINED today. I needed another night to relax and recoup. But I did come home to my first letter from him which was amazing!!! He is doing as well as can be expected!

So instead of hitting the gym I worked on a couple of projects and read a little, and wrote another long letter to him and printed out a bunch of wallet sized pics to send him now that I got the ok from him to send pictures.

So to recap: Workout I'm gonna give myself a D because I did run my ass off all afternoon but no technical "workout"
Diet I'm gonna say C-....I didn't feel like eating much today and what I did eat wasn't that great, and was so busy throughout the day at work that I went a really long stretch without eating anything which isn't good either.

So I have one more shift tomorrow morning and then a couple days off from the restaurant to get back on track. Tomorrow is a new day!

Week Two Results!!

Here we are at the end of Week Two! It's gone by pretty fast actually! So I weighed myself this morning before work...and....145!! So I lost two pounds last week and am still below my target! YAY!

Here's how I did for the week:
Workouts: 3.11 = B
Diet: 2.99 = B

That's better than last week!! But I'm gonna have to kick it up a notch soon if I wanna start losing those pesky inches that are left.

Week two, day seven....Rest day!

Today I took my Sunday day off....but still did really well on the diet thing so I'm gonna give myself a little extra credit :) Results tomorrow!! And then it's Week Three already!! Just to recap, I'm aiming to be at 146 tomorrow...stay tuned :)

I'm going to attempt to get up early and work out before my double shift tomorrow...cause God knows I won't want to do it after working 11 hours straight....this working out before work thing is stretching it for me. We shall see how motivated I am when my alarm goes off at eight tomorrow.

So after my rather disappointing night at work last night, I seemed to have a store of good server karma stored up....tonight I had a really great night at work and had a party of 17 that was easy, nice, and uncomplicated--and tipped me over the added gratuity. Funny how those things go together. Anyway, I can say that in my whole serving career I have never had the luck I had tonight. Everything seemed to be going RIGHT for once! In the words of Curly, "everything's goin my way"! And I was out by nine o'clock. Karma is real, folks. Remember that when you tip your servers, among other things ;)

And dammit, there'd better be a letter waiting for me tomorrow when I get home. I feel like I'm living in the stone age. Who'd have thought I'd be using snail mail as my lifeline???

Week two, days five and six....staying solidly above average :)

Week Two, Day Five:

Today I went to the gym and did my day five running routine (the one with the awkward treadmill button pushing sequences) and finished up with some crunches. Solid B+ work there.

Eating wise I did really well, I'm doing pretty good at eating frequent, smaller portions and I can tell because I never really feel full but I do feel satisfied, and then I start getting hungry more often (even though I am technically eating more or about the same) so I guess that's my metabolism staying fired up from a combination of the exercise and constant re-fueling. I did cave and have a little late night sweet snack after coming home from seeing The Scarlet Pimpernel at BCT and going out to Nye's with the cast. And I did have two drinks. So I'm gonna give my diet a B for the day...started out really well but went downhill :(

Day six.....I did another new pilates routine and it was feeling kinda challenging, in a good way. Then I did my weights...my arms are sore from all those push-ups on Wednesday! So I got through it, but it did feel a little hard. So I guess that's a B+.

Diet was good...it is just hard on days where I leave home at 2pm for work and don't get home (or get a break) until midnight. I brought a couple snacks so I could refuel quickly (and I did get real hungry several times throughout my shift which I take as a good sign) but by the end of the night I was starving and my manager bought me dinner since I had to stay real late (see previous post, ha!) so I ate some heavy-ish food a little late which is not great. But all things considered, I'm gonna give it a B+ for the day.

So tomorrow is my day off and I'm gonna have to be good because it's almost weigh-in time! So far this week I have been on track so let's hope Monday morning shows it :) Still no letter from boot camp....I think he forgot about me already :( Fourteen days now and no word!!

I'm gonna go off topic for a sec....

It's 9:45 pm on a Saturday night and I'm working the closing shift at the restaurant. We were abnormally slow-feeling but I don't think we were actually slow per-se, we just had a lot of servers on and a lot of support staff so we weren't running around like crazies. Anyway, I had had a so-so night and I had one last table finishing up their dinner, the rest of my section was clean and reset and I was starting on my closing side-work.
In walks a couple and their two small children, and guess what, they get seated in my section. I am a little annoyed at this since it's so close to closing time, but it's to be expected as a closer. You expect to get one or two late two-top tables in the last half hour before close, but they are usually pretty quick. I'm more perturbed by the fact that these people are bringing their young kids (both under 6 I am guessing) out to dinner at ten o' clock at night. Shouldn't they be in bed, or getting ready for bed?
As a co-worker and I are discussing this (she has kids of her own) in strolls a walk-in party of TEN with four adults and SIX CHILDREN under eight. At 9:55 pm, five minutes til close.
The second I see them I know it's gonna be an even longer night. I overhear the hosts say that the only place to fit them is in my section. UGH. Of course.
Let me just lay down some really basic things you should know if you ever eat out at a restaurant. Let's call it customer etiquette:

1. If your party is over 4, odds are the restaurant is going to have to make special seating accommodations for you as the majority of tables in a restaurant seat four people max. So make a reservation. Even if it's a Monday afternoon at 3 o' clock. Even if it's the same day and you can only call a few hours ahead of time. It's just common courtesy. You wouldn't want fourteen people showing up unannounced at your doorstep at dinnertime (or bedtime) would you? Neither do we.

2. I know our hours say we close at ten. That means the kitchen should shut down AT TEN. If we wanted to stay open til 10:30, or 11, we would have those be our hours. However, if you are seated before then we technically have to stay open until you order and your food is made, and until you leave so we can clean up. As a server on a busy night we are usually in the eighth straight hour (at least) of work with no break when you come waltzing in five minutes before close. To take that one last table means that we have to stay what usually amounts to an extra hour and a half. This means the kitchen staff, wait staff, cooks, bussers, managers, etc are on the clock for an extra 60 to 90 minutes. Take the hourly wage for all those people and add it up. Then compare it to your $40 tab. You are, quite simply, wasting the restaurants' money. So just don't do it. If you are desperate, order quickly and pay and get the heck out. Respect the restaurant and the server's time. More often than not your measly tip on top of their even more measly hourly wage just doesn't make it worth it for anyone involved.

3. And finally, be aware that the staff is going out of their way for you. Make it worth their while. I know a lot of servers grumble about tips, but the majority of the time it is not really the actual amount of a tip that makes or breaks the night for us. It is what it symbolizes. To us, there is a big difference between 10 and 20 percent, even if monetarily it is only a few bucks. If I give you good service and you recognize that I went out of my way for you after hours (and your six children who are driving down my check average and my gratuity) leave a couple extra dollars. Honestly, five more dollars added on to your 18% automatic gratuity (on your pathetic check because of all the kids meals and all those waters and free kids drinks you had that you made me refill three times--because really who wouldn't want their kids to have three sodas at eleven o'clock at night) isn't going to make or break my night....or YOUR wallet for that matter.....but it's the gesture and the principle of the thing.

(And you'd better believe that as pissed as I was about the situation, I gave them excellent and prompt service with a big old smile because that's how good an actor I am :))

So, at the end of the night, around 11:30 pm, after they have left and I have bussed and cleaned and reset the tables I go to cash out my remaining open checks. The party of ten? Their tab came out to under 90 dollars making my %18 gratuity a mere $16. Did they leave A CENT over 18%? You'd better believe they didn't. And the kicker? The family of four, who didn't have automatic gratuity added, left me $5 on a $50 dollar check. But, I guess it's to be expected...the fact that you are even there at all in that situation tells me you are socially retarded. And congratulations, you just proved it to me.

It's like how every server knows that on "special occasions" like V-Day and New Year's they are going to have lots of tables of crazy people who are bad tippers. People who only come out from under their rock once or twice a year and clearly don't know how things work. That's how we know that when you walk in the door five minutes before close our night just got a whole lot longer and a whole lot crappier. I knew it, all the other servers who were shooting me pity looks knew it, and my manager who graciously bought my dinner because he felt bad for me knew it.

So yeah, next time you get hungry and your favorite place's dining room is closing in fifteen minutes? Skip it and go to McDonalds.