Diary of The Food Whore: Vote

Vote

September 07, 2007

Last week we put out a voter's box for The Staff to have their say in whether or not we would be open for Labor Day. We've had a crazy in-your-face Summer and everyone is walking around with That Look on their faces. That Look being the look of despair coupled with exhaustion coupled with the face Jack Nicholson makes in The Shining.

We're all just tapped out.

So we took a vote - Open or Closed. I wanted them to decide, not wanting to take a day of income away from someone if they really wanted it. And the results were a unanimous "NO!" In fact, there were quite a few "Oh Hell No" votes cast in the box. Which was just fine by us - we all needed a day.

Little did I know that by giving The Staff a great holiday off that we would be offending so dang many people. I actually had one lady stop me in the street just to tell me what an inconvenience it was for us to be closed because she had to cook on her holiday off. When I tried to be nice and apologize and tell her that we all needed a day off she made that disgusted throaty sound and kind of rolled her eyes. Trying to be really nice I smiled and told her to have a nice day. I walked as fast as I could to my car as to fight the overwhelming urge to punch her in the face right there in the middle of the street. Can you imagine that, really? There we stand - POW - I smack her, and down she goes. I am ashamed to say the idea made me giggle when I got in my car, and I had a good giggle out of it the entire ride home. And I guess I should admit that it wasn't so much a giggle as it was a maniacal, throaty laugh.

I've completely crossed over to the other side, no more just dipping my toe in the Crazy Pool in the CrazY-M-C-A in Crazy Town. I am fully submerged without a life jacket.

But we did have the day off, and it was lovely. It was nice to see how the other side lived by lounging on a deck with ridiculous amount of bbq'd food and fruity beverages.

But that feeling didn't last long as the very next day I found myself freaking out over a group of spiders chasing me (no exaggeration) out of a park lodge as I tried to set up a table full of food for a client. Seing an adult woman clad in an apron screeching as she runs in circles could not have been very encouraging for The Guests - but I simply cannot handle anything from the arachnid family - makes me shudder to think about it.

Complaining patrons in the street I envision punching, but 8-legged hairy creatures smaller than my thumb make me scream like a baby and run for the hills.

All part of the Yin and Yang that is me.

And a good bulk of the reason I like the cocktails...

Posted by Foodwhore at September 7, 2007 11:03 AM

You should have made an oversized Lemon Drop and crushed the itsy bitsy spider.

Posted by: BabkaNosher at September 7, 2007 11:38 AM

There's nothing a good (really, any kind) cocktail can't solve.

It has been of those crazy summers . . .

Posted by: Margarita at September 7, 2007 01:48 PM

Kinda reminds me of the people that used to b*tch at me b/c the restaurant I worked at closed early on Christmas Eve. I wanted to scream "Don't you think I would like to be at home right now instead of waiting on your annoying ass?" I'm glad you had a great day off!

Posted by: Merry at September 7, 2007 03:15 PM

I'm so glad that there are people around whom the universe revolves! I just don't know what I would do if I ever discovered I was the center of the universe instead. Oh, wait! I supposed I COULD think of a few things to do while I was queen of the world...

I'm glad to hear you had a nice day on the deck.

Posted by: sister AE at September 7, 2007 03:34 PM

Just when I start getting nostalgic for the chef coat, you wonderfully remind me to stay far far away--lest I end up in the pokey for aggravated assault.

Posted by: RagingLunatic at September 7, 2007 07:24 PM

Oh, I see that your clientele are identical to mine in the uptight burbs of Washington DC... I think if our boss polled us like that, we'd never be open though! (Of course, I would drop dead of shock if he ever showed any personal interest in us, so it's not at all comparable.) Needless to say, anyone who is in the food industry doesn't judge you for your love of the lemondrops.

Just found your blog and am working my way through the archives, you are a GENIUS writer and I'm so glad to see women who don't apologize for having high standards and expecting the same out of everyone else : )

Posted by: Poor Hostess at September 7, 2007 10:03 PM

It's just not civilized to be open all the time! Restaurants in Italy close at least one day a week, in the afternoon between lunch and supper AND they close completely for a few weeks for holidays. No one starves but boy, we sure appreciate an open restaurant.

Posted by: BC at September 7, 2007 11:08 PM