work work work

I regret that I have not taken the time to write an entry before now, but with wireless internet down in the EDR, it takes an extra effort to go online.

The last couple weeks I have been working hard (or is it hardly working?) so that on my few days off I wasn’t quite as adventurous as I would have liked to be.

The entrance to the Dining Room from the lobby (note the host stand and the stairs).

As a host, there are three different shifts that we can be scheduled to work: BL, D1, D2. As a BL, I arrive at the dining room at 6:30 am to start seating for breakfast. I get a break from 10:00 to 11:00 to eat lunch back at the EDR and then start again and seat for lunch and do my side work (wiping down menus, wiping the railings and host stand, sweeping the stairs, switching the menus to the next meal, etc) until 2:30 pm.

As a D1, I come into work at 2:00 pm to allow the BL shift to start her side work. D1 is the “Maître d’” shift because for 2 hours D1 takes calls and answers questions for guests while the dining room is prepared for dinner. I have a dinner break from 4:00 to 4:45, barely able to make it back to the EDR to toss food back. Then from 4:45 to the last seating around 9:30, D1 gives guests pagers, answers the phone, and directs the other host where to seat the guests if needed.

As a D2, I show up to work at 4:00 pm to allow D1 to take her dinner break. When D1 is back, I stand at the bottom of the stairs and show quests to their seats. At the end of the seating, D2 does the closing side work and prepares the menus for breakfast.

Last week I worked a D2 and then turned around to work five BL shifts in a row. Having worked closing shifts at Coffee Tree Roasters, I was not used to waking up early and heading into work immediately. By my fourth BL shift, I was a bit loopy and all of the servers and bussers got a kick out of it. However, by the fifth, I was completely exhausted.

I slept most of the day after my last BL shift and headed out car camping on Monday, my only day off this week. Most anyone from the Dining Room staff who had the day off drove out to a point in the Kaibab National Forest and set up hammocks and tents. We had a campfire and kicked back with some beers and burgers and snacks. It felt great to sleep in a tent, and I got more sleep that night than I had with all of my crazy shifts the previous week.

The view from our campsite in the Kaibab National Forest.

This week I have four D1 shifts and then a BL before having two (very needed) days off.