Greg the Magnificent!
“We’ll be right with you.” Sundays are definitely our busiest mornings and a flow of non-stop customers barge the doorway. All I have to do is drop the bottle of ketchup off at table twelve, refill table fours coffee, and set up a table of three. “Rita, would you mind taking over the till and seating chart for five minutes, I’m dying for a smoke.” It had been almost five hours since my six o’clock shift had started and I was starving for some breakfast and a chance to relax my feet. “I can’t think of anything else I’d rather do than let you have a break.” After all he had strolled in around nine, started commanding orders as usual, and then been in the back reading the newspaper at the break table. He does not take his responsibilities lightly.
“Is he going for another cigarette?” Kathleen asked as she rolled her eyes and dropped off the food at the counter. With a nod and the closing of the cash drawer, she could see the look on my face. It had been two weeks since Big John had been transferred to the store on Aurora and two weeks of torturous agony from the grand idiot. Previously, Greg, or Greg the Magnificent as we now call him, had worked at Kinko’s as a manager for the last five years since he graduated high school. For some intelligent reason, our district manager decided to higher him to fulfill his power trip enjoyment at our restaurant. With no prior experience, he thoroughly enjoyed barging in and telling the experienced server of 15 years how to better provide the customers, whom came in every weekend and specifically asked to sit at table number 5 in Geraldine’s section.
After a short half an hour break and a plate full of scrambled eggs and fresh fruit, I was really to roll again on the play field. The door was still full of hungry guests, as I checked my average sell-ons per customer, I could here table 3 asking for attention. “Hi How can I help you this morning?” After speaking to the couple for a little over a minute, I felt their anger and hunger growing by the second. “I’ll go talk to my manager and cooks and see what the deal is.” To the workers in the back I shouted, “Where is table threes food? They have been waiting for over 35 minutes.” As I explained the scenario to Greg, who was yet again taking another cigarette break out the back door, his suggestion was to apologize and give them a free cinnamon roll. As I was worried about losing valuable customers I responded, “Well, they seem pretty angry, after all they had to wait for over twenty minutes to get a table, a few minutes to get coffee, and now an unreasonable amount of time to receive there food. But I’m sure one cinnamon roll will be just the trick to get them to return next weekend.”
I shut the back door and retreated to the table. “My manager sends his apologies, he is extremely busy in the back, and wishes to give you a cinnamon roll while you wait for the rest of your food to appear.” After learning that the elderly couple both have low blood sugar and cannot have sugar, I was forced to reply the news to Greg. His suggestion was to offer them a sugar free pie to take home and he returned to his online black jack game. Big John would have immediately went to talk to the unhappy table and taken care of the guests as expected from a manager, but Greg the Magnificent was too preoccupied at work to take care of the customers, hosts and servers.
“A pie might not fulfill the bad experience they had at our restaurant today, but maybe a visit from the expert might cheer them up.” The suggestion to Greg was not what he had in mind, but after a few minutes he left his computer and went to greet the unhappy visitors. By this time they had received there food but the eggs were scrambled instead of over-easy and the lady order bacon and received ham. The couples told him the circumstances and were extremely upset. Greg apologized for their experience and gave them each a free coffee cup card. He offered to send the food back but the two were too frustrated and did not accept the invitation.
When the bill was dropped at the table, the couple was surprised to see both meals were still on the table. Greg said he was not taking the meal off because they did not want to send it back and they still consumed it. I was in shock, but he is the manager, so he knows best. At the register, the Magnificent and table three were arguing over the bill situation and the customers left in more of a tiffy-fit than they were in at the table. I overheard Greg say that he dared them to come back again because they were sure to get a better experience, if not the meal was on us.
As I watched them head out the door and knowing it was likely never to see them again, Greg mentioned how some people have their panties in a wad and they need to take a chill pill. The only thing I could do was laugh and say, “Well I’m sure you charmed them with your immense social skills and helpfulness, I’m sure they will join us for breakfast next Sunday.”
Why did you choose the character(s) you did for this assignment? What was the most challenging part of writing a satirical piece? Is your character “round” or “flat”? Did you return to Twain’s excerpt while developing your own satirical piece?
I chose this character for my assignment because I remembered a manager I had while working at Shari’s that absolutely drove me nuts. He was a know-it-all but actually knew nothing about the business and about the importance of customers relationships. The most challenging part of this assignment was knowing how to start it and making it sound satirical without “telling” too much. I would say my character is more on the flat side because he doen’t have too many good characteristics it’s mostly portrayed in a negative way. I did not return to Twain’s excerpt while developing my own satirical piece, but I did return to our assignment journal to refresh on some the characteristics Mark Twain used when constructing his satirical piece.
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2 comments:
I can picture this little diner perfectly. All of the regulars, the waitresses, the manager, etc. You really created a vivid moment, and well formulated story.
I really didn't see what you were satirizing. Was it the manager who thinks he knows everything but doesn't really? I really don't know. I think you could work a little more on showing and not telling. Like "I was in shock" should be changed to something like "a blank expression filled my face, I was at a loss for words" or something better than that.
I liked the senario you crerated. It was humurous, and I think you did a good job of satarizing incompetent bosses. I liked the way you described the different things he was busy with in the back room, from smoking to online blackjack, and I enjoyed his immature comments at the end of the story. They really show that the manager is not capable of dealing with the situations he is entrusted with.
There were a few typos that detracted from the reading experiance, but a quick edit could clear those up. Other than that the story flowed well and gramatically you did a good job. The only thing I would suggest would be to name Greg the first time you had him ask for a break, that was a bit confusing. Otherwise, excellent job!
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