Big Night

I don't like talking too much about work in any journals I keep, because it tends toward a cavalcade of odd customers, rude customers, employee in-jokes and the like. But last night deserves mention as one of the craziest I've had since I started at the Cafe.

First off, we got pretty steady business all night. There were a few lulls during which I had a chance to sit down with a cuppa and "White Noise" and catch a breather, but maybe two all night. Certainly busier than I've come to expect from a Saturday night. On top of this, I discovered pretty early on that the day shift had been pretty lax in setting us up. Coffee pots were empty, trashcans were full, grinders hadn't been refilled with beans, the milk fridge hadn't been cleaned or stocked... not things one wants to deal with in the midst of a steady flow of customers seeking coffee and sandwiches.

But this was only the beginning.

To take this away from my lowgrade whining and into the realm of actual serious atrocity, there was an incredibly unpleasant incident down the street from the Cafe a few weeks back. Saturday there was a rally in response to it, against rape and hate crimes. About 40 people used our place as a staging point for it, arriving with posterboard and markers and stencils and making signs. I had never seen the place so crowded in all my months working there, and they all wanted coffee, chai, sandwiches... lucky thing for us the manager had known this would be happening beforehand and showed up to give us a hand, or else we'd've been completely swamped.

Later that evening, some out-of-town friends of mine showed up semi-unexpected. I got a chance to talk briefly, but then a flurry of drink orders came in and next thing I knew they'd left. They showed up again about a half-hour before closing, by which time business had slowed considerably, but I was still running around trying to get things cleaned up. Such are the perils of working all weekend...

Tomorrow I have off, so I'm planning to take my new bike for a ride.
- posted by Bob @ 11:54 AM