The Change is Back!

I am the consummate frugal one. I buy most of my clothes from 50-85% off racks or the Goodwill/St Vincent De Paul stores. I love shoes and jeans, especially because they are worn in and ready to wear! I buy my groceries according to what's on sale, and don't buy what's too expensive. I routinely keep my eye out on every gas station from here to work to choose the cheapest gas at any given time. (They really change a lot, and no one gas station is really always the lowest). I use coupons when I can. I have saver cards for several grocery stores and other retailers I frequent. And I stock up on items when they are on sale so I'm good to go when I run out so there's no overpaying for those shampoos and hand creams. I also save my change in a big old gallon Carlos Rossi wine jug that I got from an Easter celebration eons ago when my father-in-law brought the wine.

Working for corporate requires that we tow the line in many facets of our business. The one area where they were lax was rounding up or down on dollar amounts. I think this is because at corporate, we are required to provide our own bank. A reading at the end of the night tells us what to remit to the banker. What we have left after that is what we made for our shift. The result of this procedure is that most of my coworkers give their customers a rounded up amount of change, since they carry no change. I was also trained to round up for over fifty cents and down for under fifty cents when turning in my remittance to the banker. Being the detail person I am, this always bothered me, but it's the way we do it there. This left no treat for the wine jug.

The new place has us take our tickets with payment to our bartender to cash out. Sometimes people say, "Keep the change." The change is back! It's such a silly thing, but it makes me happy. Consider this. Filling the Rossi jug netted me and my ex an added $400 for our Bahama vacation. I went para-sailing and we had several outings away from our all-inclusive resort with this extra money. I've turned in my jug of change for extra Christmas cash. I left the ex-boyfriend $225 and had that much myself to put toward my long trip home when leaving California. The change has provided for some much needed cash in low times when I'm barely squeaking by, and has given me extra spending money when I vacationed. The green gallon holds about $500 when full. It takes me about a year to fill. That's a nice little treasure. You can see why I'm so excited that the change is back! Working as a waitress usually means lots of dollar bills and quarters, dimes, nickels. It's funny to me that corporate even took away that little joy. Proof positive that I'm not cut out for that way of serving. Give me the old, give me the traditional.

There was another nice change last night. The boss was finishing his shift as the evening was starting. Waiting at the bar for some drinks, he was standing next to the service station. He looked at me and said these words:

"I watched you last week, and I wanted to tell you that you really do a nice job. Your tableside manner is really great. You're very conscientious about filling waters and taking plates--taking good care of your customers. I really appreciate that." I told him thank you, and that I've been doing this a long time, and I try to treat my tables like I'd like to be treated, blah, blah, blah. He continued with, "Yeah, that shows. You're very good at this." I was feeling pretty good at that point. Before he left he asked me if I worked tomorrow (this morning). As I started to say no, he said, "Oh, no you're not on Sundays. I'll take care of that for you." Sundays are one of the best days at the new place. :) I'm impressed that he noticed I'm not on the schedule and that he thinks enough of me to want me on the "good" days. The change is back!