Oh, You Really Do Need To Check That Blackberry. Or, An Apology to Those I've Judged.

I get it. I didn't used to get it. Now I do.

I've never had a job where I needed to be available when I wasn't on the clock. It never made sense to me why I would need to be. What could I do from home anyway, I'd think to myself back when I was working in an arts administration office, I'll be back in the office on Monday morning and if it was really important they'd call me. And every once in a while my boss would call and I'd go to the office or do something time sensitive. I didn't have or need internet on my phone.

At the new (restaurant) office job, they gave me a blackberry. This blackberry is synced to the 5 email accounts I manage: my own, the 2 reservation email accounts and the 2 general questions accounts. I also get voicemails delivered into my email inbox. Awesome. Although the front of house managers deal with them during the weekend hours, I learned last night (saturday) at cocktail hour why I need to check the fucking blackberry, even though its supposedly my day off. The reason is- it's a restaurant! Weekends = busy time!

In my inbox was a time sensitive email request- someone wanted us to call her so she could buy someone else some appetizers as an apology for not being able to make it to the dinner. The recipient was to dine at 5. She emailed at 4. I checked the blackberry at 5:30. I immediately forwarded the request to the foh manager with a quick "I just read this. I'm out of the office thought you should take a look." I also bccd the PR director/chef's p.a. because they want to monitor all my emails to see if I'm up to par. I got a prompt response saying that the manager had spoken with the customer earlier- it must have been one of the million voicemails I haven't listened to yet.

I did absolutely nothing wrong. I was told foh monitors this stuff when I'm out of the office. It's not my responsibility to do this stuff over the weekend. But, this is so confusing to me. I didn't look bad for missing the email, did I? If so, really?

Question: If you have a work blackberry, how often do you have to check it over the weekend? I say every 3-4 hours should do. NYC Big Law Firm Quinn Emanuel has a once an hour and always before bed policy.

Readers, tell me what to do!

When Work Gets You Down, Watch Cartoons.

Pinky And The Brain, "Am I the only one who makes coffee around here?"




Rocko's Modern Life, "I could do that!"



Family Guy, "I get involved?"



Hey Arnold!, "Ok, if you insist."

Oh, The Places You'll Actually Go! A Fucking Masterpiece by the CollegeHumor Crew.

These are two pages of the amazing collaboration of Susana Wolff, Jeff Rubin, and Caldwell Tanner. You can see the whole UNBLURRY piece at CollegeHumor.com

Not Having A Job Sucks. So Does Thinking About The Jobs You Could Get.

San Francisco-based cartoonist Levni Yilmaz has been animating some of my favorite shorts for years now. His series "Tales of Mere Existence" is at turns insightful, inane, funny, depressing, poignant and always creatively illustrated. Here's one from the fall, called "Various Jobs I Could Get."

A Movie Night For An Icky Sicky Restaurant Worker.

I, like many Gen Yers, find Disney movies deeply comforting. When I am sick (like now with my stuffed sinuses and various allergic reactions to the entire world), there is nothing better than lying in bed, equipped with a mug of tea and a box of tissues, watching some fantastic movie designed for 8 year olds.

It won't surprise anybody that I love Ratatouille. From the basic but oh so satisfying low-status protagonist saves the day and becomes an important figure in the community through-line and the affirmation of the legitimacy of cultural critics to the themes of unabashed love of good food and adventure and just plain being yourself, I love everything about it. I also love how accurate the kitchen is- from the job descriptions to the copper pots, from the various personalities to the layout of the space, Ratatouille is spot-on. This startlingly clear glimpse into fine dining is definitely the product of good research- really, the best. Amazing, national cuisine-changing, "Top Chef" guest judging, French Laundry geniusing Chef Thomas Keller was their consultant. Geek out with me, people!



But why, oh why, would I want to watch a movie about a restaurant kitchen when today was a miserably gruelling day of work and I don't feel good?

My guess is it's good, old-fashioned wish-fulfillment. In this film I see a world I already inhabit. But in this glorious version, I never get yelled at, ignored, burned, bumped, ripped off, or pissed off. And rats can cook.

If Only Being A Waiter Were As Easy.

Check out this drawing lesson from long time cartooning teacher Bruce Blitz.



Another way to draw a waiter? Give him food halfway through dinner service when he's busy and starving and he'll follow you to the ends of the earth.

V.I.P. Reflection Effect

Many restaurant kitchens jump through hoops to give a VIP exactly what he wants. Like Yosemite Sam cooking in the king's kitchen.




But just because someone is powerful doesn't mean they know about food. VIPs out there- stick to the menu. Or, since money is no object for you and yet some of your meal will be comped so you feel good and come back, tell the kitchen they can send you whatever they want and they'll love you for letting them show off their finest dishes. Live a little.

Of course, those of us front of house deal with strange requests as well. Bizarre VIP request story of the week: The son of a beloved American actor known for playing a kind of slow but remarkably zeitgeist-y southerner and various generic romantic leads came into the restaurant with friends several months ago. His request? That we put his Americano in a different, larger cup that was "easier to hold." Seeing as we only stock one size of coffee cup, we had to run around like crazy looking for a different mug. But we find one we did. And I hope he found the mug suitably easy on his delicate fingers.