It's Been A While

Again, days and days went by without me posting anything on here. I might want to adjust my objectives to posting things every week instead right now. Got another week to go through, somewhat. Wednesday was the last day I shared. My day off. In between I've had one other day off, Friday, but I thought that would be too early to write a blog entry. Two days just don't seem to get me anywhere, and I lack the motivation to sit down and spend time on the two days only. Tomorrow I'll work from 7 to 3:30PM but if I don't do it now, I might not do it tomorrow either.

The thursday morning I woke up to some bad news. My bike had been stolen from the garage! We had our gate locked, but not the garage door (as it can only be closed from the inside, so going out and leaving for work etc. make it hard, and it's just a weird construction). My bike in the garage, however, was locked. The lock was placed through the frame and wheel, making it impossible to move/drive the bike around.
Whoever took it (and I assume it were multiple people) apparently went over the garden gate, went in to the garage, took the bike, placed one of our bar chairs against the garden gate and tilted it over like that. I wonder how they got the lock through... All pretty screwed up anyway! Right now we're going with two bikes. One of us makes a walk to the hotel (about 35 to 45 minutes) and one takes a walk back. It works for now, as long as the weather remains nice and friendly. In the mean time I'll be looking for second bike through some online channels. That thursday I worked from 12 to 8:30 and I mainly focused on getting the cashier under control, which I think I picked up nicely that day. Guest contact was still a bit weird, being insecure about how, what and where everything was.

Friday was my day off, and I had made an appointment for an AT&T Tech Support guy to install our phonelines. Spent my time at home, looking around, watching movies (School of Rock and Tenacious D; Pick of Destiny) with Bart, before I had to go a meeting at work for a bit. Enjoyed a crepe and some ice cream in Le Marche itself before we had the meeting. Met my new colleague, an intern named Tina (she's actually Chinese, and is named Xiaoyan if I recall correctly, but they all pick English names to make it easier on us). After 40 minutes the meeting was done and I walked back home, after Georgi brought me there by car, as he needed to get things done at the hotel himself.
Upon return I found that there still hadn't been any sign of AT&T around and I took over the watch again. Checked my phone to see if I had missed any calls by any chance, but nothing. The rest of the day, noone came to fix the internet and I got upset with things as they were. Spent a full day hoping and waiting for nothing. That night Marten was around again, but I can't remember much of what happened (and neither does Bart, I just asked) so we'll leave it at that.

Saturday was another working day, which stretched from 12 to 8:30, meaning that you basically throw away your entire day, as there's not much to do before 12, and when you get back home around 9, you just eat a little snack, maybe watch a movie or play a little game, and go to sleep again. Had more training with Pierre and Tina that day and just spent the day working easily. That night there was a party in Miami, organised by one of the hotel's people, but it was held in a 21+ club, so no party for me yet. Apparently (according to Marten) it wasn't as great as parties should be, so maybe it wasn't all that bad that I got some proper sleep instead.

Yesterday, Sunday, I worked from 3PM until closing, which, in that case, was around 11:45. Closing duties include getting everything from outside back inside, cushions and such, turning off equipment and restocking all shelves (putting things in larger fridges if need be) and round off a daily report with all information needed for the management. I spent the day at work making coffees mostly, as I got the register understood completely. Pierre wants me to work on my weaker points as quick as I can to do allround shifts when he's not around to take care of everything from A to Z if I have to. By the end of the day, I knew all coffees (regular or iced) and I got a proper feeling of how to make them, and had gotten a little more speed into my overall service. When I got home around 12 I waited for Georgi to come home, spent a little time behind the computer and then went to bed shortly after 1.
I missed a concert in Culture Room (Hawthorne Heights and Emery among others) but it's not something I desperately wanted to see anything, unlike Dredg next Tuesday (28th) for which I've requested the evening off already.

Today I had to do another midshift, from 12 to 8:30, meaning you wake up slow, around 10 in this case, doing nothing much, socialising with other people awake (if applicable, as Georgi was fast asleep still) in the form of Yatha, and just watching time pass before you can go to work. I took a bike today, and made Yatha walk. I've been walking for the most part the past week, and I must say I actually like it. There's enough time if you don't have to start before 10 anyway, and it's nice having your music on, and the sun shining bright.
Pierre had performed opening duties, and left earlier, and since Blake was gone around 4 as well, I was basically in charge of Le Marche as it was, with first Dana and Shashti performing kitchen duties, and having Kara and Garvin doing bar and serving work. I helped out wherever I could, refilling everything in the store, using the requisition forms Pierre explained earlier (to get things from the general storage to the Le Marche storage).
Worked some more on the coffee skills (earlier today Pete had explained how to make "the ultimate foam" for the coffee toppings) and made a pizza bottom with Dana as well.
Made myself a Nutella Crepe for dinner, ate it quickly as things in Le Marche were busy and I'd rather had the other people take a longer break so I could be around more. In the cafeteria they had some hotdogs left which helped speeding up things.
Was a quiet evening, with a long time with nothing to do, until a group of about 20 people came in instantly, which had Shashti working on 7 pizzas at the same time, for example.
With a little improvisation and customer patience, we got through all and I could go home only a little later than planned. Been a nice, useful day as it is. Tomorrow it's rise and shine around 6, as I need to start at 7 (yes, I'm taking a bike, but will walk back).

Got days off on Thursday and Friday so I'll write a blog on Friday again. I'll be going after some AT&T people too, tomorrow. And will demand a first month rebate as I'm not going to pay for crap service and having a bill starting on the 13th, while there's no internet on the 20th at all.
With that, my phone line seems to be double crossed as I've had a few calls coming in for Sonya (or Tonya) who obviously isn't on my contract. I MIGHT get a change of number but will let you all know then.

Take care, and enjoy Staind's "It's Been A While"