Thought or Rant of the day!!!

[destinysWalrus]

I can't help but notice... It's a rather strange feeling for one of my characters to be told about an event that another of my characters was present for. Especially since the tale-teller and my character who was there before had somewhat different ideas about it.

[Snickie]

Actually sort of wanted to play this morning and I get sad raccoon instead.

[Snowdrop]

I had sad piggy first, then sad bunny.

[nateflory]

mobile didn't show any pic of Sad Anything. I'm ranting. lol (not really, cantr seems back up, but still, had to chime in)

[Mafia Salad]

5 days to home internet again, Cantr off of my phone? Real keyboard? Scrollover text on buttons and magic notes? Speelchuck?Whaaaaat?

[Rebma]

I feel really bad that I've been so inactive lately. I recently switched jobs and realized just how much of my play time was while I was at work lol.

Also I'm on a completely different shift so gahh in just sleeping all my time off away. I feel like a burden to everyone around me because I can only log in here and there and tend to just log into the most important char for a bit and basically I'm sorry everyone who is relying on my characters.

[SekoETC]

Not that anyone cares but I feel frustrated. I haven't accomplished anything all day. I only woke up after 11 am and took a nap around 3 pm. Yesterday I did several chores but today I don't feel like doing anything.

I also feel like my ability to work is severely impaired. I could never imagine myself cooking ala carte food. I feel like a failure. I suck at multitasking. I like to concentrate on one thing at a time. I can cook for about 25 people if I get to plan the menu myself, or for 50 to 70 people with one assistant, given enough time and pots, but generally any professional kitchen requires cooking for at least 80 people, otherwise it's not financially profitable. And generally small places only have one cook, who has to make at least three different foods: the regular with meat or fish, the vegetarian and the soup. If there is another worker, they take care of the cash register while the cook takes care of refilling the buffet table and might also do the dishes. Even though if there are 100 customers, doing the dishes binds one person for about two hours without any chance of doing other things. Small places generally have a dish return spot instead of customers directly placing their dishes in racks, so someone has to fetch the dirty dishes. You can fit maybe the dishes of 30 people at the dish return. You generally have three kind of plates or bowls, four if you have dessert. Then there's the glasses. Finnish glasses are 2 deciliters so people generally take more than one. If they return the glasses into a rack, if there are two layers of glasses, it might be too heavy for me to lift. So I have to move them to a different rack one by one. If the dishwasher isn't very effective, you have to rinse everything you put in. Generally you have to clean the plates with a brush, so you're technically hand-washing them, only without soap. Then you go to a location with a more efficient dishwasher where you just throw stuff in. In the end of the day you have to clean the filters. Sometimes in the middle of the day too if you have over a thousand customers.

Big places generally wash over 300 racks in a day. One rack has 16 plates or dozens of glasses. I did dish washing for three years and still some places find me too slow. I've rarely seen places where the thing is well organized and everybody works together seamlessly. There was one place where it worked in general, then it changed companies and it all went to shit. Instead of stacking racks of glasses, each glass has to be individually lifted to a shelf and stacked in stacks of 4. "Because it looks better." Most places have plates on springs that have the pile descend inside a hole so it's never too high. But if you stack too much weight on it, the springs get stretched out of shape, meaning if you only have less than 20 plates in there, they will be inside the hole which has sharp edges. This is probably why the new restaurants instead stack plates in stacks of 20, which means they need multiple shelves for them. Likewise no spring loaded holders for stacks of trays, instead trays are also on shelves. Meaning instead of leaving the spring system there and taking the empty one with you, you need to manually unload stacks of trays onto the shelf.

If you have a system where plates are returned into stacks, you generally need a separate stack for each different kind of plate or bowl. Some dish designers don't take into account the stackability, making dishes so wobbly that at most you can stack four of them and that's all. Also if someone returns a bowl on top of a stack of plates, no one is going to move the bowl, instead they will start a new pile of plates, or even worse, put plates on top of the bowl. Sometimes the dish return is right next to the dishwasher. Sometimes it's in the other end of the dining area and you have to switch out the carts or even worse, manually move stacks onto a cart from another cart or an unmoving table. Of course someone will come return their dishes right as you're swapping the carts. If you let them go first, someone else will follow. If you decide to swap the carts anyway, the customers will stand in line waiting for you to get finished and make you feel awkward. Especially if the stacks are too high and you need to make them lower before you can safely move the cart.

My first job that lasted longer than three days was a cafe where people leave their dishes on the tables and I carry them into the dish washing area with a tray. In a small place that works. Customers don't generally sit in a table that has the previous customer's dishes in it, unless all the tables are full. At some times we had a row of full trays on a shelf, waiting to be washed. But sometimes there were quiet times when I got sent home early and got to take along a bag of buns, or my pick of sandwiches that would otherwise go in the trash. I'm not sure how legal that is but I liked it. All the soft ice you could eat. We would put soft ice in coffee, once even in tea to see if it would work.

[MonkeyPants4736]

There was a tiny diner run in a way that I think you might like to do yourself if you ever got a chance.

This place served only burgers with fries, and one woman ran the whole thing with no need for assistance.

There was a waiting room, and then a diner counter with about ten seats. People could not sit down when they wanted. Rather, the whole row at the counter was allowed to sit down at the same time.

Everyone down the row was asked what drink they wanted. Then ten cups were filled with ice, and french fries were put into the fryer to cook while drinks were poured, and beef patties were put on the grill.

Everyone was given their drink, followed immediately by hot fries while the burgers finished. Burgers were given out almost at the same time, with a little variation based on how well done people wanted the meat cooked.

Once everyone had their burger, they were given refills if needed. All condiments, napkins, and things were on the counter so the lady didn’t have to get anything. While people ate their burgers, the grill was cleaned up to be ready for the next group, the ice maker was checked, things were restocked if needed, and plates from the previous ten people were cleaned. (I think she had enough dishes for two rounds of people).

When each person finished, they weren’t given long to sit around before she sent them on their way. And she didn’t take anyone’s nonsense about it. It only took a moment to pull off the finished dishes, wipe the counter, then call in the next group.

Even though only ten people could eat at a time, she could serve many people throughout the rush times since her process was so efficient. She chose to not serve dinner there, because her lunch time earnings compared to her costs were enough for her to be content. (Of course how much money is "enough" is different for everyone.

I know even a small diner like that would require some startup funds and paperwork/permits, etc., but it would be something you could do by yourself, your way, and make a decent living. Maybe your thing would be different than burgers and fries, but the concept of simplicity could be replicated.

Anyway, I’m sorry things aren’t going so well for you right now

[Vega]

"Things" happened, (that added to that I still don't know where are we going to move next year, I don't have a job and my husband will be in another country for more than another month), and now I'm super nervous and extremely anxious.
Breathing is quite a task, now...
But yay.

[Mafia Salad]

Well, no home internet. I hooked everything up correctly only to discover that my modem was not connecting to the internet. Then yesterday I called customer service and spent an hour on the phone to determine yet again that I have hooked everything up correctly but my modem is not connecting to the internet. I suspect the technician missed something when he hooked the line up or there is a problem with the phone lines in the house.

I guess its more phone Cantr for me.

[HFrance]

I hope you all appreciate very much the Olympics in my happy country. For next week our legitimately elected President will be deposed by a coup. This is Brazil....

[Mafia Salad]

Typed. On a keyboard. From a laptop. At home.

[Wolfsong]

I hope you all appreciate very much the Olympics in my happy country. For next week our legitimately elected President will be deposed by a coup. This is Brazil....

At least you won Gold in soccer. Imagine the riots if Brazil had lost in a penalty shootout to Germany...

[Rmak]

Unless the Elitists take the gold medal to wear like they did the government so easily.

[Wolfsong]

Yeah, that game alone probably saved the new government's reputation.