Second time someone tried to poach me to work for them.
After double-checking the route to drive to work last night, I was confident about it this morn and I did drive to work. Might try another route as this one which passes through Bedok and Tanah Merah MRTs simply has way too many traffic lights. I took about 23 mins to get to Laguna National and told the security guard I was a part-timer. I got changed quickly and went upstairs to help at 10.45 instead of the usual 11.10 but fortunately they had enough staff for morning shift and there wasn't much left to do.
During the usual staff briefing with William at 11.15 he said that if any staff wasn't performing well he would not hesitate to remove them. Most of us had the Myanmar part-timer in mind as his Eng isn't good enough to handle orders at all, least to say answer customers' demands.
I had forgotten to remove the dessert receipt and when Li Xue served the longan w/ shaved ice (which another chef made thinking it had not been done yet) it was rejected as the customer already had one (which I served). I haven't apologise to her yet, will do on Mon when I work again.
The fruits for juices were stocked for a few good days as Li Xue had prepared a lot of fruits for juices before Fiona took over as bartender. Fiona seemed unresponsive when I talked to her and I asked her whether she was unhappy or tried. Her reply was that "ren dou you cheng mo de shi hou", meaning that there are times when people are quiet (she was emo-ing).
When the lunch crowd started coming in I went to help clear some plates and accidentally spilled some chicken rice chilli sauce on the table. 1 of the 3 customer's cap placed on the chair was splashed with a bit and the situation wasn't good. I informed the seniors (Bernard, Debbie, Suhaime, William) and went to wash it. The customer said that he wanted a replacement but the F&B manager who was around said that unless it directly stained his belongings we wouldn't compensate him. After some washing with plain water the stain remained and Suhaime advised me to use some soda water but it still didn't work. In the end I resorted to lots of washing detergent and the stains were gone, almost as good as new and I heaved a sigh of relief. After updating the seniors I offered to hang dry the cap until they returned from their golf and it was resolved.
Thanks to the sudden rain and the fact that it was a weekend, the lunch crowd was crazy and I was barely able to handle the drink orders with random people helping. William had to go into the bar to make drinks and let Fiona (who was supposed to be bartender) go out to help. Two staff from Pebble Beach came up to help also, one washed the glasses while another cleared plates.
Time passed quickly as we were very very busy. As I was clearing up plates I overheard Li Xue talking to William, she was almost in tears. What I heard was that she got scolded again and it was the second time. Afterwards I asked Bernard what happened (convinced him I was trustworthy of telling as Hadi and Debbie had told me about their little secret too), I learnt that Suhaime (da fan shu) had told her off for helping the stations when she was positioned up the stairs to receive customers. Then when she replied that she didn't know where the ash trays were when Suhaime asked, she was told off again.
Li Xue and William disappeared soon after and when she came back, her face showed that she cried quite a bit. I find what Suhaime did unreasonable. It was only right that Li Xue helped out in the stations after the lunch crowd came in as she couldn't simply stand upstairs. She, as well as all the other staff could still watch out for incoming customers and receive them. Then we were all so busy that no one could even clear unused ash trays from tables.
I was talking to Michelle and Debbie about this, when I said that Li Xue felt "yuan wang" (wronged in Eng) they both replied at the same time that it wasn't that, she felt "wei qu". After being back for almost a week, I know who the hardworking ones are and who aren't. Like I mentioned in my previous post, Li Xue was the only one who could be bothered to clean the fruit blenders to that extent. She has been nothing short of hardworking either.
Feel like talking to Suhaime about this and getting him to apologise, "bang Li Xue chu kou qi". He can pick on me all he wants after that, I can always find another job. However it may cause more discomfort between them or affect other people so I'll stick to comforting Li Xue.
Even after lunch hours there was a steady flow of customers due to an incoming second round of rain. When it did rain, the cafe almost filled up instantly and people from banquet (3) and pebble beach (2) came up to help again. In my haste I accidentally dropped a fruit juice glass containing hot barley when I knocked my tray into the chicken rice/laksa stall and it shattered into tiny bits. Imagine, a big glass broken into pieces about 5mm each. Ironically the sound of it breaking was soft due to its thickness. I took a while to sweep what I could see up while the rest served drinks.
As I seemed concerned about a particular table's ice cream orders, one of them from banquet (who seemed like a senior) asked me whether I was a captain. I told him no and he said I should go downstairs to work for him instead. This was the second time someone tried to poach me from Lakes Cafe. The first was by a Fuurin Japanese Restaurant (just beside) senior.
Anyway I was concerned as the Caucasians from that table had been very polite and had ordered 2 bottles of white wine (near $100). Hadi poured the 1st bottle and Bernard taught me how to pour the 2nd bottle. White wine bottles is the one which needs ice in the wine stand, red wine doesn't. White wine bottles can be opened simply by turning, red wine has a cork.
Dinner at 5.30+ (instead of 5.15 as there were still a lot of orders) was good. There were whole fishes and friend chicken, other than the usual fruit (watermelon), water (diluted bandung) and vege. I went back up quickly without resting further but they could have managed fine by themselves as the crowd had left.
There was a customer who knew his membership number but didn't bring his card. After checking with the cashier I asked for his IC to verify that the membership belonged to him in order to enjoy discounts. It reminded me that I had lots to know about the restaurant such as customers' cutlery setting for food and condiments when serving.
Then there was a table of 2 male Caucasians, a lady who seemed local but had an accent and their 3 kids (2 boys 1 girl). The kids were running around and I was afraid they would trip and fall, but when the lady wanted them to sit down, they did. This is a good example of still being able to handle kids although they're given the chance to explore and "fa zhan". When the little girl hesitated at walking down the stairs, the F&B manager who had appeared from nowhere and carried her down.
The rest of the night was ordinary and we cleared up quickly. Bernard told Li Xue and Fiona to rest inside the back office as they worked split shifts for the day (6-3, 5-9) and still had split shifts tomorrow. When the clocked was near 9 we all left, me and John were so happy that we weren't working tomorrow, although I'm still supposed to study for my project management exam on Tues.
I had a good drive home and took a little over 20 mins, reaching home at 9.30+ instead of the usual 10.10+.
(1391 words)
During the usual staff briefing with William at 11.15 he said that if any staff wasn't performing well he would not hesitate to remove them. Most of us had the Myanmar part-timer in mind as his Eng isn't good enough to handle orders at all, least to say answer customers' demands.
I had forgotten to remove the dessert receipt and when Li Xue served the longan w/ shaved ice (which another chef made thinking it had not been done yet) it was rejected as the customer already had one (which I served). I haven't apologise to her yet, will do on Mon when I work again.
The fruits for juices were stocked for a few good days as Li Xue had prepared a lot of fruits for juices before Fiona took over as bartender. Fiona seemed unresponsive when I talked to her and I asked her whether she was unhappy or tried. Her reply was that "ren dou you cheng mo de shi hou", meaning that there are times when people are quiet (she was emo-ing).
When the lunch crowd started coming in I went to help clear some plates and accidentally spilled some chicken rice chilli sauce on the table. 1 of the 3 customer's cap placed on the chair was splashed with a bit and the situation wasn't good. I informed the seniors (Bernard, Debbie, Suhaime, William) and went to wash it. The customer said that he wanted a replacement but the F&B manager who was around said that unless it directly stained his belongings we wouldn't compensate him. After some washing with plain water the stain remained and Suhaime advised me to use some soda water but it still didn't work. In the end I resorted to lots of washing detergent and the stains were gone, almost as good as new and I heaved a sigh of relief. After updating the seniors I offered to hang dry the cap until they returned from their golf and it was resolved.
Thanks to the sudden rain and the fact that it was a weekend, the lunch crowd was crazy and I was barely able to handle the drink orders with random people helping. William had to go into the bar to make drinks and let Fiona (who was supposed to be bartender) go out to help. Two staff from Pebble Beach came up to help also, one washed the glasses while another cleared plates.
Time passed quickly as we were very very busy. As I was clearing up plates I overheard Li Xue talking to William, she was almost in tears. What I heard was that she got scolded again and it was the second time. Afterwards I asked Bernard what happened (convinced him I was trustworthy of telling as Hadi and Debbie had told me about their little secret too), I learnt that Suhaime (da fan shu) had told her off for helping the stations when she was positioned up the stairs to receive customers. Then when she replied that she didn't know where the ash trays were when Suhaime asked, she was told off again.
Li Xue and William disappeared soon after and when she came back, her face showed that she cried quite a bit. I find what Suhaime did unreasonable. It was only right that Li Xue helped out in the stations after the lunch crowd came in as she couldn't simply stand upstairs. She, as well as all the other staff could still watch out for incoming customers and receive them. Then we were all so busy that no one could even clear unused ash trays from tables.
I was talking to Michelle and Debbie about this, when I said that Li Xue felt "yuan wang" (wronged in Eng) they both replied at the same time that it wasn't that, she felt "wei qu". After being back for almost a week, I know who the hardworking ones are and who aren't. Like I mentioned in my previous post, Li Xue was the only one who could be bothered to clean the fruit blenders to that extent. She has been nothing short of hardworking either.
Feel like talking to Suhaime about this and getting him to apologise, "bang Li Xue chu kou qi". He can pick on me all he wants after that, I can always find another job. However it may cause more discomfort between them or affect other people so I'll stick to comforting Li Xue.
Even after lunch hours there was a steady flow of customers due to an incoming second round of rain. When it did rain, the cafe almost filled up instantly and people from banquet (3) and pebble beach (2) came up to help again. In my haste I accidentally dropped a fruit juice glass containing hot barley when I knocked my tray into the chicken rice/laksa stall and it shattered into tiny bits. Imagine, a big glass broken into pieces about 5mm each. Ironically the sound of it breaking was soft due to its thickness. I took a while to sweep what I could see up while the rest served drinks.
As I seemed concerned about a particular table's ice cream orders, one of them from banquet (who seemed like a senior) asked me whether I was a captain. I told him no and he said I should go downstairs to work for him instead. This was the second time someone tried to poach me from Lakes Cafe. The first was by a Fuurin Japanese Restaurant (just beside) senior.
Anyway I was concerned as the Caucasians from that table had been very polite and had ordered 2 bottles of white wine (near $100). Hadi poured the 1st bottle and Bernard taught me how to pour the 2nd bottle. White wine bottles is the one which needs ice in the wine stand, red wine doesn't. White wine bottles can be opened simply by turning, red wine has a cork.
Dinner at 5.30+ (instead of 5.15 as there were still a lot of orders) was good. There were whole fishes and friend chicken, other than the usual fruit (watermelon), water (diluted bandung) and vege. I went back up quickly without resting further but they could have managed fine by themselves as the crowd had left.
There was a customer who knew his membership number but didn't bring his card. After checking with the cashier I asked for his IC to verify that the membership belonged to him in order to enjoy discounts. It reminded me that I had lots to know about the restaurant such as customers' cutlery setting for food and condiments when serving.
Then there was a table of 2 male Caucasians, a lady who seemed local but had an accent and their 3 kids (2 boys 1 girl). The kids were running around and I was afraid they would trip and fall, but when the lady wanted them to sit down, they did. This is a good example of still being able to handle kids although they're given the chance to explore and "fa zhan". When the little girl hesitated at walking down the stairs, the F&B manager who had appeared from nowhere and carried her down.
The rest of the night was ordinary and we cleared up quickly. Bernard told Li Xue and Fiona to rest inside the back office as they worked split shifts for the day (6-3, 5-9) and still had split shifts tomorrow. When the clocked was near 9 we all left, me and John were so happy that we weren't working tomorrow, although I'm still supposed to study for my project management exam on Tues.
I had a good drive home and took a little over 20 mins, reaching home at 9.30+ instead of the usual 10.10+.
(1391 words)