Izzy's....

Last night was my second night training at Izzy's and it went off without a hitch. Sadly, I have to train for 3 more nights before I get on the floor and start making money. No big deal I guess, the new management wants to make sure the new people are up to scratch. Since I am the only new person, I guess that means me. No worries, I already have shifts the next two weekends, Friday and Saturday nights I am the closer. Fantastic! It was pretty dead last night and we still sold around $1600. I can't even imagine if it's busy. The food runner, Enrique, is a bulldog...literally. The dude can carry 5 plates at once. Insane. The kitchen guys are awesome, the line runs smoothly, they don't yell at us or try to make us feel retarded, like at some other places. (The Peasant and the Pear comes to mind...) This place is like Piatti in that regard, the line guys are heroes. The guy who trained me, Michael, couldn't have been sweeter. So patient, interesting, complimentary and mostly he trusted me to take care of his tables without hovering. The bartenders are totally cool, Bernie is hysterical and Adam is just a good-looking 20-something dude. Didnt' really bond with him yet. Joelle, a server who has been there for years, is so sweet, she actually talked to me when I went in for dinner and then ran up to me when I started with a hug and a "welcome." Robin, Steve and Tom round out the cast of characters for the blokes, and Emily and Lauren are sweet girls in their 20's, who actually asked me if I wanted to go out with them last night and hang. Wow. I still can't get that from Ottimista, which by the way, I get to say CIAO to today, as this brunch shift is my last. So, I will take advantage by eating a breakfast pizza at 50% off, and drinking a glass of Nicholas Feullette as my shift drink. Might as well sip the best as it's free. My plan for Izzy's is to try to stay under the radar with management, do my job, keep my sales high, my tables clean and my guests happy. The menu is so bloody easy, I have it memorized already. Another bonus is that I have tasted almost all of the wines on the list, so that is less work. By the time I start training at Betelnut, I will have finished training at Izzy's so my head won't be so chalkers full of info. Whew. I think Betelnut is going to be a little bit more intense on the training end, and the wine list is much more complex. However, since I will be working just lunches, I don't think it's going to be that much of a drama.

So, it's off to Ottimista to work with moody Lorraine today. Usually she's in a good state when she has been partying the night before and still has a buzz. If she is totally hungover, it will be a nightmare. Who cares, I'm outta there and off to where the people are nice to me. I've been scheduled to work tomorrow night and Monday night, Christmas Eve, at Izzy's so I can't make it out to my dad's for Christmas. That happened at the last minute so it looks like it will be a quite day here at the homestead for Chrissy. Not to worry, I remember living in Montreal and I was alone for Christmas and frankly it was glorious because Christmas sucks ass anyway...such a pain and bloated, stressful full-of-expectations crap-a-thon that I could skip for an eternity. I may just rent a couple of movies and go to the Bell Tower for dinner. Or better yet, buy some groceries and hunker down in my hovel, since the roomies will be off doing family crap. A nice little Christmas dinner with me and my new teddy bear sounds like a dream...because I assure you, once the new year rolls around there will be no more peace on my earth...only good will towards my bank account!