Yeah, restaurant work is blah. 

I need  to finish Limbo and Legend of Korra. 

I think I'll watch the rest of Snowpiercer tonight on netflix. Speaking of which, holy crap Netflix has a lot of movies I wanna watch this month. 

I should read Kitchen Confidential, as it apparently inspired the Jon Favreau movie Chef, which I love. Rented it last week. I'm hoping to score some Avatar comics in the near future. 

I ate a bunch of hot dogs and nachos today at my college's basketball game. We won 75-49 over Mississippi College. We were ranked no. 1 in the Southland Conference before the game even started, and I guess we keep that since we just became 1-0 for the season. Hoping SFA goes to the NCAA tournament again this year. 

Have you ever worked in a restaurant? 

I wouldnt mind cooking on the line. Im just tired of doing dishes.  I think im going to be in the managers ear every day letting him know I want to advance.   Even if I dont plan to stay.

Four different positions across three years at Outback Steakhouse. Before that, my first job at 16 was Boston Market. Restaurant work might get stressful, but I have to say, fast food is the worst. I at least had fun at Outback sometimes and felt appreciated. 

you're a vet for sure then.  My biggest hurdle to overcome I think is the mix of personalities in the place.  

Any tips o advice you have on offer are much appreciated.

Honestly, I'd say keep repeating your concerns about the boxes in front of the door, bring it up at meetings, and if all else fails, yelling and a string of curse words once guests have left may be a good route, but mileage may vary. I assume you've voiced your complaints to management as well as staff?

As for different personality types, that's something I still struggle with. I enjoy my closed off cubicle at present. lol I guess just try to be calm around the crazy ones to an extent. Fot the mostpart I think front-of-house and back-of-house keep separate cultures, but if front-of-house (servers etc.) is throwing shit your way, maybe try to build a relationship with them as well as BOH so they know who you are and respect you enough not to make your job harder ... mileage will vary person-to-person, but at least the not-douchebags may get the point. Expect some verbal back-and-forth though. People who are lazy tend to get pretty angry about doing even the smallest of extra things. 

Ive made mention of the boxes to management once or twice, but honestly...I think those guys are more concerned with other areas right now, like getting the corporate trainers out of the way so they can have full control of their restaurant.  On that note, I truly don't blame them; it's time for the training wheels to come off.  Today is actually the last day that corporate is in our restaurant, so thank god for that.  We're going to feel it without them there for sure, but at the same time the work environment won't be quite as stressful as it has been.

As far as the staff doing their part....I can't even really count on them to make it out to the dumpsters with the trash bags from their own areas.  The people in prep strike me as a bit lazy, as they're the chief offenders in leaving piles of boxes and trash in the sally port area and in front of the door.

Anyhow, i'll keep bringing it to the powers-that-be, and hopefully we can all get on the same page before it becomes a problem as opposed to the gripe/issue is currently is.

Oh God, corporate. Always puts people on edge.

They'll take their lunch breaks and be content to watch the rest of us work 9-10 hours without any of our breaks.  I've lost respect for our corpo-trainers due to this.  

I thought you were about to say your bosses and was actually about to get defensive since they're there before staff. lol 

Nah...our bosses are good people. Stand up guys the lot of them.  They dont take breaks either.

I worked graveyard shifts doing dishwasher/janitor work during weekends at IHOP when I was in highschool, with the sole purpose of saving up money to buy my first xbox 360, which I did. That ended up being the first time I ever bought a console with my own money so I have fond memories of that part of it, but everything else sucked. I hated being on my feet for so many hours, going home at sunrise, and most of all the soaps irritated my skin and made me break out in rashes and sores. Everything about that job sucked but I still got what I wanted. Sweet video games.

Damn...the worst I've had happen to my skin is it go stark white from being in latex gloves for too long.  If I broke out in rashes and/or boils, I'd probably end up quitting.

Currently watching Highlander (the movie, not the series). I think The Kurgan may be my second-favorite movie villain of all time (Hans Gruber is #1). Jason and I are celebrating his birthday - I made him dinner and an awesome apple crisp for dessert, and I gave him his birthday present that I've had sitting next to the door since June - a replica Scottish sword (hence Highlander for the movie pic). He thought I bought it for myself.

I've gotten back into Sleeping Dogs. I'm pretty close to the end, I think. I'm having fun with the open world stuff, so not in too much of a hurry to finish.

As for my weekend - going to the shanty sing in Portsmouth, NH tomorrow. It's the memorial sing for my friend Tom who started the sessions and who died a year ago today.

A shanty-sing, eh?

Pirate.

No pirates. Shanties were worksongs sung by all sailors to keep the working rhythm. I like to think of myself as more of a hardworking ABS than a criminal, thank you very much.

Pirates worked hard.  

And the people they robbed worked hard, too. I fail to find them as cool as everyone else does, but that's just me.

I don't really find pirates cool at all. I might if they were a sort of Robin Hood pirates but I don't suppose most real life pirates were like that. 

i think you may be taking this a tad bit too serious.  

I've been playing Mordor, Borderlands PreSequel and finished Evil Within. I'm currently playing Binding of Isaac Rebirth on PC.

Watching Constantine series on TV and Twitch.tv

Readiing Resident Evil Novels

Sorry to hear about your work woes. I hope you treat yourself to that PS4 and your kids to their portables. You are working too hard. At least you found a positive and are getting some fitness out of your work. I do love to wind down with a good ale every now and then. 

Do you recommend Mordor?  

I haven't played enough of Mordor yet to get a good impression. You should check out the review on the front page. If you like Assassins Creed combat and Arkham Batman stealth then you'll like it. I don't particularly enjoy AC so there is that.

I've been kind of out of my routine since returning from Cali.  I haven't been watching my shows, and they're adding up on the DVR.  I need to catch up.  

Like you I haven't been playing anything either.  I don't know why.  I've been kind of obsessed with making music lately, and I HAVE been working on that.

It's getting cooler here, almost cold but not quite.  Looking forward to the holidaze for sure, and have been doing preliminary online browsing for presents for my family.  

Glad to hear from you.  Was wondering where u were.  

I was MIA there for two weeks or so for sure...I'm just getting back to the point where I actually have energy left after my shift.

I pour on 100%, for sure.

Well while it doesn't sound like the job is going as you would like it to, it's good that you are getting the hours so just keep on keepin' on.

I'm playing Child of Light. I'm up to chapter 6 now and I'm really loving it. I still have Tales of Vesperia to beat but since my PS3 came back I have been neglecting it. Every time I turn on my PS3 I'm paranoid of seeing the YLOD again. My son is also playing the PS1 version of Chrono Trigger on it so it's seeing a lot of use and that makes me nervous.

I'm trying to catch up on several TV shows which is hard when I don't like plunking myself down in front of the telly for more than an hour a day. I'm watching Person of Interest, Haven, Bones and Murdoch Mysteries mostly. I'm still in October on a couple of those.

I've been reading The Strain (graphic novel) I've just started vol. 2. I also started Locke and Key because I got it from Humble and Blake endorsed it. It's really good.

In actual books I'm trying to move on through Curse of Chalion but I keep getting distracted. I buy a few books a week now when Kobo or Kindle is offering them for a buck or two. I also pick up a few freebies every week. I picked up Matheson's I am Legend and I'm looking forward to reading that and comparing it to the movie.

I just finished a toasted everything bagel wil hot pepper jam and my famous scrambled eggs with ham, cheese, onions and hot peppers. I slept until 10:30 this morning so it was like brunch or something. 

Anyway, I like the weekender, hence me bugging you on PSN. You sound like you've been working hard so I can almost forgive your absence. But only almost. :P

my boss gave me a 50 cent raise today.  It helps lol.

Still not quite where I want to be, but it's hard to complain....a raise after 3 weeks?  I've never had another job that did that.

Don't stop believin'. Oh god did I just say that? Think I'm gonna be sick. Ok, never mind, it was just gas.

Seriously any kind of raise after 3 weeks is proof that you're making an impression. Keep going and see where it takes you. 

Playing Ys: The Oath in Felghana on PSP. . . which reminds me I have to look up how to get out of the Zone of Lava. . . (reading) SERIOUSLY!!! "Take the path to
the left. There is a bridge here. Just jump down. You'll end up in a complete
new room." Just jump down?! Really, how was I supposed to know that. Darn these RPGs.

I have the worst luck in following guides that were written up as plain text files, myself.  Last guide I used that was an offender was a plain text guide for Persona 2 Eternal Punishment.

Trying to read the demon negotiation stuff in that guide was an exercise in futility.

Those guides should be written in PDF format so you can index them. It's a pain to scroll down trying to find the exact spot you need to read.

While I was in college, I worked in the kitchen for the dorms as a dishwaster, pots/pans washer and prep cook, so I can definitely understand your pain. We would have hundreds of students coming in a once so it was always a madhouse around there. I didn't mind too much as I needed the money very badly in college and I got quite a few free meals there, definitely worth it.

I just recently bought Shadow of Mordor and COD: Advanced Warfare for PS4, they are both pretty awesome. I definitely recommend them for PS4; I believe Shadow of Mordor for PS3 doesn't have the Nemesis system in it, I think I heard that on Giant Bombcast and if that is the case, it's not worth it to buy it there. That is the highlight of that game in my opinion.

from what I've read, the Nemesis system is there, just not as in-depth as it is for the ps4.  Am I wrong>?

I googled it and you're correct. Maybe the guys on Giant Bomb didn't do their research, lol. I still think it's worth getting on PS4, it's gorgeous on there. Either way, it's fun.

I feel you when it comes to working in the food business. I just love how employers will use that "all other duties assigned" to justify having you do more and more work. when I run into employers that pull that BS I walk for the door. Steady the course and screw em come after the new year!

Been thinking about restarting my Fallout 3 gameplay given my PS3's crash. I lost all my Jayne Cobb game play data. Perhaps it's time to restart my "Jayne Cobb-init" playthrough of fallout 3!

Odd. I am looking foreard to getting even more bargin bin titles for my last gen systems. My local game stores are even having a 4 for $5 each deal on some games. Good luck with the xmas seasons though, even with the game deals out tehre, we gotta make that green stretch!

I hear you about stretching that skrilla.  I'm probably only getting one game for xmas for the ps3, Shadow Of Mordor.  I'm good with that though...the gf and I are getting a 2ds to share, which is to say that I'm getting a 2ds lol.  

Plenty of rpg goodness to be had there, from what I gather.

I don't know if you saw it, but I saw on Today's Slickdeals (11/19) Target has a 2DS with Mario Kart 7 for $100. 

Sorry about the job man. It seems like the rest of the staff takes you for granted, and that's complete BS, especially when everyone is supposed to act like a team and get the restaurant going. 

I'm watching the usual stuff that I mention on Quick Hits, Kitchen Confidential is a good book. Bourdain is interesting, and funny. In fact I have one of his random shows streaming as I type this. 

As for games I want to try out the newest Call of Duty but I'll wait a bit, and I can't wait for the Black Friday deals. I got a peek at what Target is offering from one of the employees. 

good looking out on that tip from Slick Deals....I actually ended up ordering one of those Mario Kart 7 2DS handhelds and cancelling that portion of my Wal Mart order....saved me 70 bucks at least.

Thank you much Chris!!

Awesome stuff man, glad I could help or at least point you to Slick Deals!