Being a former law enforcement officer, I’d have to say I admire police officers the most. For one, it takes a special person to work in law enforcement. It’s a calling, not everyone is cut out for the job. I admire it because there’s a sense of self-gratification in doing the job. Serving is the reason I did it. I wanted to be a part of my community and do my part in helping the town I grew up in. However, it is a thankless job, no one respects you, there is not any money in the job and the majority of the time it’s pretty boring. Occasionally, the call comes in and you have to risk your life to protect complete strangers. Forget about the bad seeds, every job has them, you have to look past it and see the good in the profession.
It’s fascinating how chicken wings have become such a cultural phenomenon, sparking debates over preferences like baked, breaded, or deep-fried and even the ongoing drums versus flats rivalry. The popularity of flats might be due to their ease of eating and the perception of more meat, but personal preference definitely plays a significant role. The competition among restaurants and bars for the title of “Best of the Best” adds to the excitement of the wing craze. It seems like this trend has captured people’s taste buds and competitive spirit alike!!
My life in my alternate universe would be a cross between silent hill and the shining. A run down world with death and destruction all around. Black & white where survival is based on constant movement and staying out of sight. My alternate universe is a nightmare and the challenge is staying alive long enough to see if it’ll ever get better.
Back in 1994, after a long 10 hour drive from South Carolina, I found myself cruising into my home town sometime in the early evening. A town I left right after high school. I didn’t know much about the bar scene at the time, but what I saw as I was driving along the main street was a childhood friend standing on the side of the road. Naturally I pulled over due to the large crown and my friend. I was quickly introduced to a guy who just opened up a little pub. When asked, I jumped on the opportunity of a job. At 22 years old, I was pumped to find employment one hour back in town. My job was to be a doorman, which turned into a bouncer/bar back/do anything the owner asked job! This pub taught me how to work and how to deal with every and any issue that would or could arise in a bar. From checking ID’s to kicking people out, I found myself soon getting promoted to cook/dishwasher. Here is where I spent the next couple years. Cooking wings & burgers and a boat load of fries, I realized behind the bar is where the magic happens. On my free time, I put myself through bartending school and eventually approached the owner about the new job opportunity. With some reluctancy he finally accepted and this is where my true colors shined! This owner was my mentor, who became one of my best friends and eventually married into the family and, being from a small town, you know it! Family is everything! “La Famiglia e Tutto” I learned a ton from this man! I learned accountability, I accepted failure, I understood what the job was and to never let the boss do the work of an employee. I was the factotum! This business was eventually sold and I found myself working at a much larger restaurant. This restaurant ran by a childhood friend and his wife, I took the only position that was available and that was to be the morning prep and lunch cook. I worked here for several years before moving on. While working this restaurant, I again became the factotum! Due to a debilitating injury, the owner was unable to perform daily tasks. This is when I stepped up and became the do anything and everything guy for my friend and his business. I understood what it took to make the business successful and what was needed to build this business. While doing my best to help out I quickly realized I’ve made it to a point in life where it’s my turn to be the boss, owner & proprietor. After years, of fighting, carding youngsters, cooking, bartending, changing deep fryers & grease traps and mopping up puke and being a repairman and a call me anytime guy, I wanted my own business. I wanted my own factotum! I know own my own restaurant and I built something fantastic! I’ve taken all that I have learned over the years and put into one place and made it great. The problem is, I don’t have a “me” that works for me. What happened to the hard working, dedicated people? What happened to the work ethic and the caring about the job? Now, 50 years old I again find myself doing the work of the employees! Times, they sure have changed and I honestly don’t think in todays world people exist to be there for you and your business. I hope that I’m wrong and I keep my fingers crossed that one day I will have the employees who, like myself, will understand that job and what is required of them, opposed to leaving early or not caring that the boss or owners are doing their work!!! As always, happy reading and until next time, ciao!
What is society’s obsession with drama and unhappiness? We all have bad days and we all have issues in life, whether relationship troubles, problems with a job or just down on our luck. But none of those reason are an excuse to be mean to others, especially people who do not have anything to do with your problems. A simple hello, or how are you will go a long way with most people. We only get one shot of making a good impression on others. For me, I will go out of my way to be kind. Kindness is all we have in a world of constant problems. Make someone smile, do something nice for someone. Trust me, you will fell like a million bucks when you see that you caused another’s uncontrollable smile! I don’t know about any of you, but when my time is up, I’d rather the people who know me or the people who’ve crossed paths with me have great things to say rather than saying he wasn’t very nice. None of us know what os going on on someone else’s life, so no matter what, be kind! Kindness is what we all need and we will all live a much happier life with decency, graciousness, patience, understanding and humanity! Change for the better and make the rest a better place to live and love!! Until next time, happy reading!
Are you a small business owner? Contractor, Plumber, Cleaning Service, Restaurant? Whether successful or struggling to keep your head above water we all suffer from the same problem. Lack of employees or lack of reliable employees. For me, a restaurant owner, ever since covid, finding and retaining employees has been very difficult. Going on 6 months and we’ve only had one applicant apply for any of our positions. So what to do? Business is good, actually great! We pay very well and we treat our employees like family, so what’s the issue? I haven’t figured it out, but what I do know, there isn’t anyone applying for any jobs! As an owner, I won’t let the business suffer, so I practically run myself to exhaustion trying to keep up with everything. Doing my job responsibilities daily, covering line cook shifts because they never want to come to work, and jumping in to bail the kitchen workers out regularly because they can’t handle the volume. When do we as owners ever get to relax or sit down? When or should I say how, do we find those faithful trustworthy employees who will rock out the job with no issues or complaints? Laziness and non-compliance has become the new norm and the work ethic is complete shit! Not only does it become frustrating for owners and management, but it is just as frustrating for the employees who do care and go above and beyond to keep the business moving forward. For sanity’s sake, do you potentially sacrifice business and come up with a simpler and smaller menu while eliminating the employees who can’t handle the job, or shorten the staff to those who want to work and open daily at a later time loosing the lunch crowd? Double edged sword!! Either way it’s a no win situation and potentially career suicide…. so we just continue to be frustrated and work ourselves to death and pick up the slack of the ones who do nothing! I will keep moving forward, because that is what I do! However, I can not keep that pace up forever and a sacrifice will happen… the food truck style kitchen may be closer than just an idea! Until next time, happy reading!
Ever wonder if you matter? If anyone thinks about you? Needs you? Relies on you? These are questions I ask myself daily. You see, other than being at work, I often wonder what my life actually means to anyone. Work relationships are exactly that, a relationship based around work. What about your actual life away from the job? A true test, take a week vacation and don’t go anywhere. Will anyone call? Will anyone visit? Will anyone invite you somewhere? Bigger question is, will anyone respond or show up to your invites? Other than my wife, my life is void of any real true friends. Yes, I have several acquaintances, but that one or two ride or die friends just are not there anymore. Sure life changes, but that’s just it, friendships shouldn’t! I had it once, but he left us all too early in life and it all changed after that. I suppose you can say this friend was the center piece that held all the other friendships together. Without him, the circle vanished and the people who were friends are now just passing figures in a busy life. So, who else walks through life as a ghost? Now, don’t get me wrong, I absolutely enjoy solitude, but the weight of not having that one true friend gets heavy at times. If you have it, hold on to it! If you don’t have it, I understand and will walk quietly along side you, invisible of course. Until next time, happy reading!
Common sense, the working force that should make decision making and life easier! What ever happened to independent thinking or common sense. The people of todays world, are 100% lost and in need of desperate help. The simplest of tasks are made to be so difficult it makes others scratch their heads. I’m not sure where it all went wrong, but the stress it creates when you are surrounded by such unintelligent people is draining and overwhelming. The constant back and forth pull between people who need to either have validation of their work or assistance because they lack that confidence to just do it is more than I asked for when I woke up this morning. Sometimes I wonder how I made it this far? I’m not the smartest and im definitely not the best at making good vs bad choices, but I look like a damn genius compared to the people of todays world… instructions are all a waste of time and ink, because no one reads those and if they do read them, they don’t understand what is being asked or explained. The new normal is to walk around like some invalid stoner with zero brain cells. The general public has become brain dead and this is affecting the day to day operations of everything. I have my own job to do and the responsibility to maintain other peoples job has become such an issue I’d rather destroy my business and get rid of every employee rather than the continuous revolving door of the unwilling. I’ll push forward because unlike the zombies of the world, I don’t have it in me to quit. However, I will hold you accountable and I will degrade your unintelligence because I’m to busy for your stupidity! Good luck out there and until next time, happy reading!
Being fairly new to the world of book reading, I have found myself utilizing margin notes while reading. Whether I am listing some words I need to look up and define, notes for a re-read or a quote to remember I have become quite the note taker while reading. Anyone else take advantage of the margin notes? What a great way to enhance your reading and for me, 100% helps engage in the read and better understand what I’m reading. Note taking will help make connections you may have otherwise missed and allows you to return later to see what insights you had during the read. Marking a section to revisit is one of my favorite margin notes. This allows me to fall back to better understand something I may have missed in farther ahead chapters. Read, take notes and keep building that brain power!
Hard Lessons & Honest Thoughts 