More than meets the eye......

I went in yesterday to work a memorial luncheon…we used to call them funeral luncheons, but I guess memorial luncheon has become the more politically correct term now.

Anyways…..I just wanted to point out a few things to those who think this may be really easy, or have never worked in a restaurant.

We arrive one and half to two hours early to set up, and this is no easy job. We completely understand that there is no way to give an exact number of people on these events, so we set up for the max. Yesterday we set up for 70. Annnnnd…..it was in a room on the lower level, so EVERYTHING had to be carried down the stairs, and there are 17 steps to the flight of stairs.

We set up a coffee bar, had to bring down the big coffee urns to keep it hot…but we still had to brew the coffee upstairs, one pot at a time, pour it in the urn. Then there’s the coffee cups, saucers, spoons, cream, you get the picture. None of these are particularly heavy items , but you can only carry so much at a time, so you run up the stairs, because time is of the essence…what if they arrive early?

Water glasses come 25 to a rack, so there’s 3 racks, (we also have to polish every glass) then there’s the glasses for soft drinks. We have to get a tub of ice, carafes so there can be water on every table, pitchers of iced tea and soft drinks, every time a drink is ordered from the bar, that’s another trip. The buffet table has to be set, chafing dishes, you’ve gotta fill those with water, remember the sterno, serving utensils, butter, parmesan cheese, dessert plates, and of course the dinner plates, which are pretty heavy. We can usually carry about 15 plates at a time, so there’s another 5 trips. Then all the pans of food have to carried down. Oh whoops, we forgot straws for the soft drinks, another trip.

Oh yeah, and if you arrive 40 minutes early, (like yesterday) we have to do everything in double time. By the time we have to start hauling EVERYTHING back upstairs, we’ve slowed down a little bit.

After the last guest is gone, we have to completely strip the tables and reset them all. All those nicely folded linen napkins at every place setting have to be folded. There are no little elves running around doing this for us (although we have tried to get the ghosts to help, but thus far that has been to no avail). Every piece of silverware has to be polished. (where are those darn elves) Even the garbage can has to be dragged back up the stairs. An hour and a half to two hours after the last guest has gone, we’re still there.

So if you think we don’t earn our money, walk a mile in our shoes…better yet….do 50 flights of stairs, up and down, while balancing trays or hauling heavy objects. Then tell me how your knees feel.