Knights and Ladies

Yesterday's Buddhist inspiration (yes, I get that email too) said, "Expect nothing and the little you get will feel like millions." As a waitress, I have learned to expect some really sucky tips from customers. I have repeatedly gone to clean off a table only to find no tip. And no credit card tips (which is kind of strange sometimes). I sigh, mumble some choice words in other languages (I know lots of those), and start stacking plates. I'm also used to not being treated badly by customers, but encountering people who have no respect for me or my fellow servers. These people are arrogant, demand you do nothing but pay attention to their every tiny little need, even when you have three other tables with food coming out. I try my best to be attentive, but sometimes you get busy. That should be forgivable in most cases, don't you think?
So when I encounter a table like three young men yesterday who left me a 30% tip, I'm happy. Or the family with two small girls, one of whom looked at me as I brought her drink and said, "You're gorgeous!" with her adorable little-girl-smile. I smiled back. I love it when I seat a table and then, upon returning to take their order, find out that they're laid-back, normal people with senses of humor. It makes my day to run into a table you can stop and chat with.
One of the things that I've run into a lot at Pizza Hut is that people expect fast food. Pizza Hut is not a fast-food chain. It is a restaraunt chain. Would you go to a diner, order a steak and expect it five minutes later? I don't believe so. Also, the Pizza Hut I work at hasn't delivered in years. Several years. More than five. And yet, people still call and say, "I ordered this pizza, where is it?" Here's an example or just such a conversation, as accurately as I can remember it:
"Thank you for calling Pizza Hut, this is Kate, would you like to hear our specials?"
"No, my name is Bob, I placed an order about half an hour ago?"
I brought his order up on the screen in front of me "Two large stuffed crusts?"
"Yes. I was wondering where they are."
"They're done and waiting for you."
"What, the guy hasn't left yet?"
"Excuse me?"
"The delivery guy."
"Sir, we don't deliver."
"What? Yes you do. All pizza huts deliver."
I smile sweetly into the phone as a doodle on my note pad"Sir, we haven't had delivery in several years."
"But the guy who took my order said it would be ready in 20 minutes."
"Did he take your address, sir?"
"No, but he got my phone number and my name."
"That is how we enter your information for your pick-up order, sir." My manager comes up next to me and gives me the, "let me handle it" look. He had been watching my side of the conversation from the beginning. "Here, please speak to my manager."
Adon took care of it. It turns out the guy couldn't come pick up his pizzas, so the brought them to the back and the other servers and I devoured them. We aren't allowed to re-sell pizzas, so rejects usually get given to the ravenous horde our store calls staff.
On the plus side, while we haven't gotten the new shirts yet, jeans have been okayed as uniform pants. I am made happy by this. I hate those black pants...

Well, the camping trip has been set for July 14th-16th. I need to call and reserve a camp site soon. Colleen, Corey, Brandon, and Caryn are all coming. This should be interesting.

There is in my old picture book
A page at which I like to look,
Where knights and squires come riding down
The cobbles of some steep old town,
And ladies from beneath the eaves
Flutter their bravest handkerchiefs,
Or, smiling proudly, throw down gages...
But that was in the Middle Ages.
It wouldn't happen now; but still,
Whenever I look up at the hill
Where, dark against the green and blue,
The firs come marching, two by two,
I wonder if perhaps I might
See suddenly a shining knight
Winding his way from blue to green--
Exactly as it would have been
Those many, many years ago...
Perhaps I might. You never know
~A. A. Milne "Knights and Ladies"