Last Day

Well its official. I am finished at TGI Fridays, Knott's Berry Farm. My last day was pretty uneventful, no final crazies or insane complaints. Greg Piccon, the top dude at Knott's came in and thanked me, which was cool. After we closed between 20-30 employees and myself went to Dennys and hung out into the wee hours of the morning. Sad but fun. The picture is a cake they bought me.

So this will be my last blog until I come back from Brazil on June 25th. Please pray for our travels and that the hearts of the people we come in contact with would be softened as we try and explain what a wonderful gift God can give them.

3 Days Left

Funny how when I have all the time in the world to blog, I have nothing to say. Yet once the exciting things happen...there is never time. So my birthday was Thursday. It began with Breakfast with Grandma Hale and Cruz. Next Katie and Maddie stopped by with a gift. Then Cruz and I were off to the beach to catch some rays for a few hours. We came home just in time for dinner with the grandparents at Marissa's (mexican food). After dinner Amberlee came over and we opened presents, which were finished just in time for Tom and Tammy to stop by with donuts! Then we had cake :). The first picture is what Amberlee got me-the picture and the mug.

I also got some sweet AE clothes from my parents along with a gift card and some maps of the Seattle area (King County).

On Tuesday night Cruz and I joined a few employees for "girls night out" Lee is allowed to come because he is gay. The other girl in the picture is Michelle. They got me this basket of stuff as a going away/bday present! (I love pledge and they know it!)

Yet another crazy

Monday night are always the slowest nights of my week so last monday my parents came in and ate with Meghan. Since normally I just hang out after the "rush" Meghan decided to stay and hang out with me. Well of course this was the busiest Monday EVER thanks to 2 bball playoff games including the Clippers. At around 7pm a man came and sat at the bar and began to read his Bible. I didn't think anything of it other then thinking it was an odd place to "quietly" read your Bible. Well 5 hours later at 12am he was still sitting there and the bartender, Sara came into the office and asked me to help her get rid of him because he kept saying something about going to LA. I figure he is just hitting on her so I go into the bar to ask him to leave (we close at 11pm and he was the last one). I approach him and ask if he is ready to go because we are trying to lock up. He turns to me and says "your going right" and I said "where are we going?" he says "to LA, everyone is going to be there." Sara pipes in from behind the bar "I dont think anyone is going to LA with you its time for you to go home." Of course she isn't afarid to be bold at this point, she has the bar top inbetween them! So then he asks if we have change. At this point I am starting to feel like he is about to rob us and perhaps he was scopeing it out all night. Sara immediatly says she has no money anymore its already been taken away. Then of course a server behind me says he has change and pulls out a big wad of cash...smart. The man retrieves the money from his Bible and we make the exchange. Finally he begins to make his way to the door. We have two sets of double doors in the front, he walks through one of them and stops with his face inches away from the other one staring out. He stands like this for a few minutes. I then ask one of the guys to watch him and make sure he leaves. I went on to work on closing duties and after 10min called from the office up to the host stand where Pedram was watching the guy. He confirmed that the guy was still there and when I asked if he wanted me to call security he told me he already had. I went to the front and when security arrived I explained he hadn't caused any problems, we just wanted him to go and he was creeping everyone out. I then got back to work and an hour later we were ready to finally go home. As Cruz and I were walking to the front we see a police car fly into a parking space in front of the resturant and jump out. We then notice another one and 2 knotts security officers. As we set the alarm and walk out one cop is yelling at the guy who has just stood up, to take his hands out of his pockets. Then they are yelling at him to sit down as they have their hands on their guns! At this point we just quickley walk away.

I will miss these stories!

Excited for the future

Last night we were having some problems with a particular employee. Since I am the favorite manager and the one everyone feels they can talk to I usually hear all the rumors or stories about what is going on with everyone. Well with this employee I heard a month ago that his parents had kicked him out of the house for hitting his brother (at age 17) and he had lived on the streets (in hotels when he had money) for 2 weeks before they let him back in. Well last night he disappeared for a couple of hours and was late so after Meghan and I got his story we sent him home. He then went in the back and was waiting for his cousin for some reason. Well at this point Meghan and I decided we needed to talk to him about life. So I took him out back in the parking lot and ended up chatting with him for 45min about his life and struggles. He has had a really hard home life with parents who could never understand nor try to understand what he is going through. He was into hardcore drugs but says he hasn't used in the last month. So during our conversation he tearfully told me all about growing up and how his dad used to beat him until he was bloody. Right now he is at the point where is wants to get his life together but has all odds against him. He has 5 tickets including 1 DUI and a possession of Marijuana. He pays off all these tickets with every pay check he gets to the point where basically the only clothes he has consist of his fridays uniform. Apparently he has a court date to decide whether he will go to jail for all these tickets (he must have missed some payments) in the next couple of weeks. I guess if he is found guilty he will go which will stop him from graduating high school (he is on some sort of a homestudies program that he will be done with in a couple of months...probably not a good idea to homeschool your kids if you dont care if they go or not). Also if he goes to jail he could lose his job which he only got (due to his record) because his uncle is our kitchen manager. He is exactly the kind of kid I can't wait to help. Meghan and I are getting him some phone numbers to some counseling centers and rehab centers and also getting him more hours at Jonny Rockets at Knott's. Its kinda the only thing we can do in our position which is frusturating. (Meghan is ready to adopt him haha). So basically this kid needs our prayer. His name is Jose. Also pray that I can continue to encourage him over the next week that I have left at work.

Another Crazy!

On Wednesday night at work I was hanging out in the kitchen chatting with the expo when our bartender, Sara runs in and says Cindy we have another crazy person! After confirming it was a crazy crazy...and not a crazy Im gonna scream at you crazy....I quickley made my way to the bar for a look. At first nothing was really going on she was just sitting sipping on a long island and starring at another table. That's when I realized she was in pajammas! yep....matching flannel pants and top pajammas. Well I quickley became bored and left the scene. Next thing I know her server is asking if people can take the wine bottle with them if they have purchased a bottle of wine. I tell her no and she says well you might want to talk to the crazy lady because she is packing it up! I make my way to her table and ask her how everything is going. She says fine (she has been very nice from the begining apparently). As I look into her eyes I see that there is nothing there. Definatly strung out and definatly in her 20s although her life seems to have aged her looks about 15 years. I tell her to hang out for a while and finish up her wine because she cannot take it with her. She gladly says ok and switches to a new table. Next thing I know Sara comes over to me and says she is sitting at the bartop now and Im scared she is going to grab the bottles! I told her I would go chat with her because these people really do intrigue me. Well as I get to the bar she is moving to a table and actaully joins two men who quickley pay their bill and leave. I see my opportunity to have a chat and make my way to the table. Well turns out she is from Arizona and just came to California a few weeks ago becase her x-boyfriend who is the lead singer in System of a Down, left her for Gwenn Staffani (I forget how to spell her name) I dont know how the tabloids missed that one....so anyway now she is here in California dating the leader of the Mafia and also she is a member of the Crips (I couldn't tell she was black under all that white skin but whatever). So as were chatting I notice she is eating ribs in a togo box. Apparently someone from the resturant gave her their leftovers. So I grabbed her some bread sticks and she had a meal. She ended up sharing that she was homeless and wasn't sure where she was going to stay (I dont know why her mafia boyfriend didn't help her with this one...perhaps he was on a job or something. She ended up leaving with the bottle when no one was looking and I figured we wouldn't see her again. Well I was off Thursday but yesterday at work I hear that she was in again and was arrested for prostitution right outside the resturant!!!!
Funny but sad. I will miss the interesting people you meet at TGI Fridays, Buena Park.

I almost forgot!

I almost forgot! Monday nights at work always have some silly story tell! So later in the evening we had a party of 10 come in for a last dinner before one of their friends headed off to somewhere else...it was a going away party. So there server gathered us all up and instead of the traditional "happy happy birthday from the fridays crew......" we all sang "na na naa naaah na na na naaah hey hey hey gooooodbye...na na naa naah na na na naaah hey hey hey gooooodbye" followed by the server yelling "Everybody dance now!" and everyone making the beat in their head and doing the robot "bump bump....bump bump..bump bump...." These kids never cease to amaze me.

One more thing I forgot to mention. In the last week I have gotten 2-week notices from 4 bartenders! quitting because I will be :O. I must have done something right!

Random stuff Ive been doing

Well lets see...Monday was another slow and boring work day spent eating white-chocolate, butterscotch, chocolate chip cookies (or something like that) and chatting with employees. I officially put in my 2 week notice, which I decided to move up a day seeing as I am already starting to feel a little stress about getting everything ready to go. So my last day is 2 weeks from yesterday....the 30th of May.

On Tuesday Cruz and I slept until 12pm and then of course were 10min late to meet the grandparents for lunch at the home or whatever you call it. We were there until 2pm and it was actually really good. And when I say that I am not implying that its ever bad...its just sometimes my grandma says silly things that don't make sense (alzheimers) and it makes me sad. But she was good yesterday and even laughing with us.

After lunch we went to the post office and the bank and finally ended at the house to watch a little Dawson's Creek (We are on season 6 now). After an episode I dragged Cruz to the track where she talked me out of doing the 110's I had planned and we jogged a mile instead. (This meant I would do the sprints today...while she was at work!). After our run we had some dinner with the parentals and headed off to Albertsons for some thank-you cards and bobby-pins. This of course was followed by more Dawson and of course some American Idol. I hope you all put your votes in for Catherine. Catch McFeaver!

Compton Community College

So yesterday Meghan (Cruz) finally arrived from Portland to stay for the summer. After picking her up from the airport and of course grabbing some In-N-Out we came home to watch last weeks episode of The OC that Amberlee had missed. After this I did some studying for my last final at CSUDH!!!!!!!! and we headed out. We left a little early because I wanted to stop at Compton Community College check out the bookstore and possibly pick up a shirt. So after driving through the campus, which reminded me of my high school only more run down and bigger fences, we spotted the administration office. So we parked and immediatly I felt like I was the first white girl these people had ever seen. We can seriously say that we know what it must have felt like to be a black person 40 years ago. I have never been starred at like I don't belong like that before it was quite nerve-racking. So anyway we head to the admin office and as this lady is walking by and whisper do you have a bookstore? and in a tone that would be one of someone who has just lost a loved one, she whispers back "ohhhh no....we don't have one" so just like that we speed walked back to the car and took off.

So I am officially done with my program at CSUDH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Productive Day!

I almost forgot to write about my productive day today! I got up at 11am to have my begal and coffee. Then at about 1145am I went to the track, did a warm-up lap and then ran 7 110s! After this I came back for the dogs and took them on our daily walk, which is finished off with a sprint up the hill and around the corner to the house. I then quickely showerd and headed to the Dr.'s office for my 1pm check-up. I was finished by 145pm so I headed to Fantastic Sams for a hair trim. From here I came home and vaccumed all the dog hair left in my car from the trip to the vet last week. Then I was off to Target to get some cards and browse for mothers day gifts (no luck sorry mom haha). I then came home for a quick study, some email and dinner before heading to class for my final at 630pm.

Now its time for American Idol!!! Go Catherine!

Another One Bites The Dust

I lost another bartender this past weekend. Unfortunatly he was one of the better bartenders and has been with us since the begining so he will be missed. But what we won't miss about him is all the free drinks he was giving out ;) to himself and others. My liquer cost will be happy. The picture is him doing one of his flair tricks. I am just trying to hang in there for my last 3 weeks.

On a side note...I am finished with my Drug Addiction class. Tonight was the final. I won't miss everything about the class but it had its positive notes. One down one to go!

I am trying not to stereotype but I gotta admit I was concerned when I was driving to school just outside of Compton and saw a young black man with gloves on running across the street (when it wasn't his turn to cross) carrying a duffel bag! and looking over his shoulder.

More fun at work

Its not fun to be yelled at by 2 crazy guests in one night but somehow its all ok when you can pay a server $1 to lick Jack Daniel's glaze off the nasty desk in the office.

Only 3 more Saturdays to go!

Employee Birthday

I have been a little disappointed with our last two Fridays at Fridays. There haven't been any crazy people! So in order to spice up the night we told our shift lead Kyo that we had a birthday on the patio. Little did she know it was her own (it was the day before) and after singing the traditional happy birthday song she was whip-creamed by 5 fellow employees. Also in the picture is the only other original manager besides myself, Meghan.

AE

So I finally got to spoil myself a little bit today. I had some extra money from the car survey and it really has been a while since Ive actually spent money on something for myself.
Not that I wont be going on a few trips this summer but you know...sometimes its just fun to shop. So Amberlee and I headed to the Brea Mall and hit up American Eagle, Hollister, and did a walk through in Abercrombie & Fitch.

Oh Mondays

I wish I would have had my camera at work today.

We have 2 break areas at work. One in the back, which is where all the cooks take their breaks, its near the dumpster and a rather disgusting place. The other we made off to the side of the patio. This is for the front of the house employees. Well this area has been a disaster from the beginning. It goes something like this...Employees leave it a disgusting mess...Managers threaten to take it away from them and make them eat by nasty dumpster with wired cooks....Break area stays clean for 2 weeks.....Break area becomes the disgusting mess it always used to be...So today Javier and I listened to Tim and took away the tables...We put them back on the patio.

A few minutes later I look towards the patio door to see 5 servers mourning over the loss of their tables as they stare at the empty cement.

I then walk to the kitchen to find 3 servers walking in a line with mini signs made from paper with a pen as the post, chanting "no no we wont go....Give us back our break area!" I forget what the signs said but they were quite funny. Needed the camera.

An hour later the restaurant is dead so I head to the kitchen to make a snack. I then head back to the office, a room no bigger then a bathroom fits 2 comfortable perhaps even 3. The desk boarders 2 of the sides of this tiny rectangle, which also holds 2 computers. Well I walk in to find 6 employees jammed in! 4 of them eating and 2 standing and chatting. Then I glance at the door where there is a sign that reads "TGIF Break Area." As I stand in shock the only comment I get is "I hope Tim doesn't take away this break area too."

I will miss Mondays. We got Snickerdoodles!