Another New Years Eve.......

New Year’s Eve just ain’t the like it used to be. Back in the 90’s, when the auto plants were still running full steam and people had money to spend, it seemed like everyone went out on New Year’s Eve. The crowds have been waning over the last decade. I can remember being in full tilt boogie mode from 6:00 to 11:00, the reservation book would be filled, there were still a lot of walk-ins, lines at the door for hours. Very frantic, yet very festive.

The reservations started at 5:00. Just a handful, more at 5:30.….then at 6:00, the real rush began….or so we thought. There were quite a few cancellations (at least they called and let us know.) Every half hour, when new groups would arrive for their reservation, I’d be busy for about 10 minutes, then it would slack off until the next group arrived. By 9:00, I was doing my clean up. We had one couple arrive at 9:30 for a late dinner, pretty much everyone else was gone….EXCEPT, for a small wedding reception that was taking place downstairs.

First of all, who the hell gets married on New Year’s Eve?!? This is just as bad as the Christmas Eve wedding! These days don’t belong to you! They’re for everyone! There are 362 other days to choose from!

By 10:30, the kitchen crew was done, the two servers stuck working this reception were spitting nails, the manager wasn’t too happy, and neither was the bartender, (me.) Oh, did I mention the wedding party arrived over an hour late? Then, just to pour a little salt in the wound, they weren’t really drinking. Just a handful of drinks were served, which adds even more insult to injury, (for the servers,) since this was low budget and they weren’t gonna make much money.

We found out the reason they weren’t drinking, is that they all met at AA. By 11:50, we realized that bartender services weren’t really needed, so the manger said I could go. Ten minutes wasn’t enough time for me to get home to watch the ball drop in Times square, and since I’ve NEVER missed that, I stuck around and had a champagne toast with my fellow workers. Yup, we left the party to their own devices for 10 minutes, six of us gathered in the lounge and had our own mini celebration. At least we salvaged that.