Waitress @ MindSay 
The great thing about being an actress in NY is that there are always so many auditions. The rough thing is that there are always so many auditions.
Whenever I'm not working and not about to die (for one reason or another), I check the AEA website and go to whatever's going that day. Actually, for about a month now, I plan it all out ahead on Sunday--which is also my day for sending gratuitous postcards--on a big piece of printer paper.
I have been doing the regular audition circuit for about. . .four or five months.
Free time? What's that? Free time, unless it's the wee hours of the morning or I've already been to the auditions that day, is WORK time.
People do quit. People move back to Kansas. People become lifer-waiters and make plenty of money and don't spend it all on postage and audition hoohah. People go to grad school and become something else.
Why do I hang on? Well, callbacks keep coming, and that makes me feel like I'm getting somewhere. The Equity monitors all know me now. Some of the casting directors are showing a flicker or recognition in their eyes.
I guess I haven't lost hope yet. BUT I GET WHY PEOPLE DO.
When you walk out of your last audition of the day, even if the first two were business as usual, and you get the wrong look from the casting director. . .well, it's no way to live. Sitting in a waiting room all day on my off-days is no way to live. Taking good care of yourself ALL THE TIME so you don't chip the paint, so to speak, or wreck your voice or figure or face, when you are sans specialists like chefs and trainers and such is. . .well. . .that's probably how one ought to live, but I'm sick of it!! I'd like to not feel guilty about throwing my voice out at a party or sleeping through possible auditions because I had a night of beautiful insomnia.
Oh, this is so boring and I am spoiled. Rant over. I just need more sleep. Nothing insurmountable here. I'd better go to bed; two auditions tomorrow.
I'm just going to keep on trucking until the law of averages tips the scale in my favor. I mean, I'm reasonably talented; talented enough for practical purposes, certainly, so there must be a finite number of auditions I can go to before ACCIDENTALLY landing a role. Right? Or something? I mean, the number might be in the 10,000's, but the finite-ness is encouraging.
"I'm never gonna be what you wanna see. Always gonna be me, and free, right or wrong."
Well, well, well--it seems that life, as always, is moving forward with time and I am not allowed to sit and mope.... What a bummer. Oh well--I suppose that's a good thing.
I didnt' get to see Spencer yesterday. That wouldn't be such a sad (and oh-so-short) story if it weren't our two month anniversary. Girls--back me up here: The month marks are not necessarily to be celebrated (except for the multiples of 3--3, 6, and 9), but they should also not be tossed aside like they are nothing. I was on the phone with Spank (Spencer's family's nickname for him--hahahaha) last night and I was like -I'm sad.- "Why?" -Because it's our two month mark and I didn't/won't get to see you today...*insert sad face*- "So? What's the big deal about two months? Woo--we'll do something for three months." -Yeah, but it still would have been nice to at least SEE you today...- "O...kay.... I don't think it's as big a deal as you're making it out to be. Let's just do something Saturday, okay?" -Okay.- blah blah blah But am I right girls? I was telling Mitch about that today and he was like "Uhhh...I'm with Spencer on this one..." But Jackie (Mitch's gf) agreed with me.
Anyway, work has been tiring. I'm SO tired of standing or being on my feet in any way, shape or form. I took my server test today though! Woot! It was soooo nerve wracking! My big boss--the big one, yes him--comes up to me and tells me he thinks I'm ready, right? That's really cool because, normally, people don't take the test until they've been there for like two weeks--I've only been there one. So anyway, I have to treat him like a customer and seat him and do the whole shpeel, right? I forgot a few things, but he said I did a really good job over all--I PASSED!! Yay!! I get my server card! I'm stoked. So I'm going to a movie with Mitch tonight to celebrate. I think I wanna go see Stealth. I've seen everything else in the box office except The Island, Must Love Dogs, and Sky High, but I don't want to see MLD or SH. Oh yeah--I haven't seen that dumb Penguin movie either, but I don't think I EVER will.
So I have to work tomorrow from 3-11--ick. That sucks. Period. What makes it suck even more, though, is that Michelle wanted us (Me, Spencer, and this guy, Ryan, that I'm tryin to hook her up with) to go up to Woodland Hills and hang out Friday evening - do a little swimming, hot tub, play some pool, watch a movie on the big screen.... But NO--I have to work. La Dee Da I'm upset.....
I decided that I'm going to cook dinner for Spencer Saturday night--garlic chicken stuff with noodles and veggies. It's soooo good. Then we're gonna make rice crispy treats (the old fashion way where you have to actually melt the marshmallows--not that marshmallow goo crap in a jar). I also bought chocolate to melt and strawberries, so that should be fun. After all of that, we're gonna watch my favorite Disney movie--Aladin--while playing with Model Magic (have you ever played with that stuff? It's SO cool! It's like play doh only it's foam....kinda...and it air dries so you don't have to bake it to keep the creation. Go, my friends, to your neighborhood WalMart's craft section and buy some today!). Kissing will ensue....oh, my dear VLed friends--it is a thing of beauty. Anyway, it should turn out to be a fun night. At least I hope so.
I'll keep you posted.
Ashley - The Keeper of The Flame
| Three nights a week, for some extra cash, I wait tables at a local mom and pops on the Delaware River. I love being a waitress. It's quick cash and it's challenging - my favorite combination. Even though I started waitressing back in February, I'm still considered the new girl. The other waitressed have never been able to break away from the close family-tight staff and customers and have been there for years and years. I have a feeling I will always be the new girl. As the new girl, everything is fresh to me. The stories of stalking customers, and running out of chicken (when 25% of our menu is chicken), and battles between cooks and waitresses, and the marriages between customers and waitresses and cooks and waitresses are usually delightful additions to my shifts. However, last night, I got to hear some new stories and I drove home with the shivers. |
Philadelphia was hit with a horrific thunderstorm last night. Thousands of electricity customers were out of electricity, even this morning. Although we experienced some dimming lights and power surges, we thankfully remained plugged in during our open hours. However, around 9:00, a half hour after we were closed, the restaurant went dark.
Immediately, us waitresses were creeped out. Thrilled not to have to clean, but chilled. The only light in the entire restaurant came from two floodlights, which popped on during emergencies such as this. Us five girls huddled together for comfort, while we listened to the cook grumbled in the pitch-dark kitchen downstairs.
Then, one of the waitresses mentioned the ghosts. Ghosts? I wondered. What ghosts?? I knew the restaurant was old - dating back to the 30's when it was a hot dog stand (Dirty Bill's Hot Dogs it was called. We have customers who remember it). But I knew of no ghosts.
One night, the owner's son who is a head chef, and one of the other cooks, were the only ones left cleaning up at the end of the night. All the doors were locked upstairs in the dining area (Us girls lock them and leave through the back downstairs kitchen door every night). All of a sudden, they heard the upstairs back door, slam open.
"What the hell?" they said together, staring at each other. Who could that be? Did the girls forget to lock the doors and some customer thought they were open? It was pretty late and most of our customers were regular customers and knew we closed at 8:30, however, we sometimes had a few new stragglers try to come in after 8:30, thinking we were still open.
They looked up through the window where we waitresses picked up our food, which looks onto the counter area of the restaurant. They both saw a man sitting at the counter.
"Damnit! The girls must've left one of the doors open!" the owner's son said.
They immediately ran up to the dining area to tell the man they were closed. The restaurant was empty. All 18 tables and seven counter chairs were vacant.
"Maybe he saw you and realized we were closed," the one cook said to the owner's son.
They checked the doors. They were locked.
Often times, when the restaurant is silent except for the two cooks leftover at the end of the night cleaning up, they were hear doors opening and closing upstairs. Bathrooms doors especially, and occasionally the door to go down into the kitchen, will open and close. Walk-in refrigerators, which are never locked, sometimes lock on their own. Before a major flood back in September, one of the cooks testified to seeing five children in the dining area, really late at night when he was the only one there, getting ready to turn everything off and leave. After the restaurant was closed and renovated, he no longer saw the children. He has also seen the man. |
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Maybe it's Dirty Bill coming to check up on his old place. Who knows... All I know is that I drove home very freaked out and very glad that waitresses get to go home first. :-)
Chris Webber is the newest Philadelphia Sixer (basketball). He is the highest paid athlete in Philadelphia. He made $17 million this year (and played less than a third of the season). Next year he will be the first Philadelphia athlete to make over $20 million in one year. He took a private jet the other day, he made the skycab guy carry eight heavy bags and his dirty sneakers on to the plane, and then tipped him one dollar.
ONE DOLLAR!!!! That's one out of 17 million he made for playing less than a third of a season of basketball.
Now, while I think this is absolutly ridiculous and atrocious and he should be publicly stoned, I don't think that we should expect all celebrities to always be generous tippers. You hear stories all the time about a waiter who had a famous person at the table and got tipped $200 or something, but think about this, if a celebrity tipped every waiter or waitress $200 after every meal, that person would become broke in a heartbeat. If the service is phenominal and the person doesn't make a big deal about a celebrity being in front of them, maybe they deserve a little extra tip, but otherwise why can't a celebrity give the typical 20%? If the president of McDonald's walked into your restaurant would you expect a huge tip? Probably not. Probably because you would have no idea it was the president of McDonald's. So why should these celebrities be punished because their salaries are made public? That doesn't seem very fair.
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