As most people know, I worked at Cracker Barrel for almost 5 years. The first 6 months or so I worked in Bloomington when I went to IU. I started there as a hostess because I didn't have any serving experience but I slowly earned my way to the server line. I transferred to the Plainfield CB when I transferred to IUPUI. Let me just say that it was a culture experience. There were maybe a handful of girls working there that were under the age of 35 and only 1 boy server at the time. Of course there were male cooks and managers but the restaraunt has around 50 servers. Talk about estrogen and menopause.
After the first night I wanted to quit...but I slowly grew to love it there. I actually liked working there more because everyone as a whole was a lot more dependable than the college kids that ran the Bloomington CB.
In case you are wondering, and this was the most popular question, "What do those stars mean?" Well, you earn 1 star after your 1st month and 1st passing evaluation. You earn your 2nd star after another 3 months and another passing evaluation. You earn your 3rd star after another six months and passing evaluation. You can earn the coveted 4th star after a grand total of about 2 years and multiple evaluations scoring 98%. Of course, I never missed an evaluation and earned 4 stars in both hostessing and serving. So in all, I had 8 stars. Impressive, I know.
After almost 5 years, even I had regulars! Of course they could all be my grandparents but they tipped well and I really enjoyed waiting on them. It was so nice to be requested and to have them look forward to you waiting on them.
Well the end of this magnificent journey had to come sometime...last January to be exact. I have only eaten there twice since then, which seems crazy since it was my favorite restaurant before I started working there. Before working there I only ever got the french toast. Well, I learned that I liked the chicken strips both grilled and fried, the pancakes, the pork bbq, and of course just a cheeseburger. All of a sudden I feel hungry. I miss a lot of the people I worked with, although I still see some every so often. One thing I don't miss is the grease you wear home; it's on your skin, your clothes, your hear, everywhere! Grosses me out just thinking about it.
The best part of serving is that it is one job I know I can do that the rest of my family could never do! :)
Hahaha. CBarrell. Good times. You should write some blogs about some of your funny experiences there. Straw wrapper pick up, OCD guy, etc.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe you've only been there twice since January!
And you're totally right, none of the rest of us could do it!
My favorite was your OCD guy. And I agree, I couldn't do it. I'd totally forget people and I'd fall over with trays and all kinds of mayhem would prevail.
ReplyDeleteI love this picture of you in your 4star apron!