That sucks, guess I don’t rank a link from “The Box” anymore (nor does anyone else, it seems).

Howdy,

I’ve been eating places downtown sometimes, so I figure I’ll do some posts on what I’ve found out.

I asked Jordan once what the resturaunt, “Let Them Eat Cake” was like. He said they did breakfasts and stuff (similar to another local store, Features) but the big difference was that the staff there was “rediculously nice”.

Here’s my experience there.

I had a dentist’s appointment today before work. So I didn’t have time for breakfast, and I was sitting in the cooper site parking lot at 8:10 Am. My job at the United Way starts at 9:00. This gave me some time to fill.

So I hiked over to “Let Them Eat Cake” for some breakfast.

I walked in and was immediately greeted by this nice woman, I (sounding like someone from Idiotville or Texas) indicated the right-hand side of the store and said, “I’m here for breakfast”.  The point probably made it look like I was here for an appointment with the wall, which was named “Breakfast”

She lets me know, “Just take a seat anywhere!” so I stake out a nice-looking table in the corner and pull out a book. I barely get the book on the table when that woman from before is back again, “oh, just let me wipe that down” (wipes table) “and here’s a menu, would you like a coffee?” So I tell her sure, coffee would be nice.

I open up the menu and she’s back with a coffee and three creams with a spoon. If I had indicated how much milk and sugar I liked in my coffee, I’m confident I would’ve found the cup “pre-stocked” with it.

So, I take another minute with the menu, and right on schedule she’s back to take my order. I let her know I’d like the toasted western. She goes through telling me what’s in it (green peppers, ham, and onion, if you must know) and some more details on it, and then she’s off after asking a few more essential questions.

So, I take out my book and start reading.

Long story short, I ate my food, it was good, she kept refilling my coffee cup before I even managed to empty it.

Around 8:50, I’m finished eating, just sitting reading a bit, and she comes by, “oh, I’ll get you a refill on that coffee,” I let her know, “No, its OK, I’ve got to be out soon, don’t worry about it,” She gives me a hurt look, “are you sure?”

I’ve been in resturaunts where I feel guilty bugging the waitress. That’s the first time I felt guilty for NOT letting a waitress do something. But I stuck to my guns, “Yeah, I’m fine, thanks”

So I pack up my book, pick at my plate a bit more, then I head up to pay.

Total for the meal came to $8.72, so I gave her a $10. She starts making change, I say “that’s OK,” letting her know that the change is her tip. She gives me what really seemed to me to be a heartfelt “Thank you”, so I walk out and say, “have a good day!” She enthusiastically returns with, “You have a better one!”.

Now, for those of you keeping score at home, that’s a tip of $1.28. Hardly more than a standard “you didn’t kill me” 15% tip, but she seemed quite thankful for it. I thought that was nice. Most of the time you seem to tip, it doesn’t matter what you give you either get a canned “thank you” with the only smile you’ve seen from the waitress all night, or an exasperated “have a good night” as though your tip of 15% so pained her that her very life was sucked from her body. It was refreshing to get something different. So, food was good, service was excellent - I think Features has some competition.

Well, things are finally starting to approach a state of boredom.

Got through my exams relatively unscathed (I think… still two marks to come in).

Other than that, it’s been a whirlwind for a while. I got back, unpacked, set up my computer again, and got my room into some semblence of order.

One thing I had to deal with was that my sleep schedule was, in a word, fucked. I was staying up until 4 or 5 (or, a few times, 6:30) in the morning and sleeping in until three or so in the afternoon. I had little luck getting up in the mornring, so one day I decided I just wouldn’t go to sleep. Got up at 3 in the afternoon, and just stayed awake until 7:30 THE NEXT DAY. Heck of a day, I gotta say that… Nowadays I generally try and be up by 8:00 AM every day, so as to keep my sleep happening at decent times.

The other big thing that’s been taking some time out of my life is trying to get a job. A few weeks before the exam period, I sent a cover letter and resume to every lawyer in stratford, and nearly all of them responded with a politely worded rejection letter. So, my job search had to continue, but I got into exams and had no time and little will to pound the pavement in Stratford and give out those resumes. The first big “success” I had was the Zellers job fair. You know, if I were to have a “job fair” I would probably assume people would show up. I strongly feel that Zellers disagrees with me there, they probably think that no one would want to work at Zellers, and that having a job fair is just a yearly thing for them that they don’t really care about, like secretary’s day. The first thing to support my beliefs that they feel no people would come is the fair’s location. I was expecting there to be a few desks by the door of Zellers in that front lobby, or at least some big signs to a section in the back. Nope, us potential employees were expected to locate the location of the fair ourselves only through intuition and luck (perhaps this was the first test…) - the wating area was in the STAFF ROOM at Zellers, and the interview room was in one of the offices. That was where I found it, after asking a Zellers employee (Granite). I was there, probably around 5:10 PM (It opened at 5:00 PM), and what to my wondering eyes should appear, but 25 or so interviewees.  I took a seat on one of the couches.  Here’s reason two as to why I think that Zellers firmly believed that no one would show up - there was only ONE interviewer.  Just ONE.  I was sitting there waiting for TWO HOURS until I could get in.  Once I did get in, after she realized I knew Granite, that was pretty well the interview right there.  I mean, I’m glad that I got to interview stage 2, I just wish that we’d even talked about my past career experience or SOMETHING, lol.

So, I go for my “follow up” interview tomorrow; if that goes well I think I’ve got myself a job.  I’m still keeping an eye out for other positions where I may get more hours though, anyone know anyone who’s hiring?

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The first Daily Report

 Now fixed!

We’ll be propogating our posts to the main page from now on.

In the future, we’ll be setting it up so only tech-related ones end up on the main site, but it’s a work in progress.