Self-Entertainment at the Restaurant

      It's that time of year- the end of summer when families are soaking in the sunshine for the last few times before school starts, when downtown Holland street performers and Hope Summer Theater shows come to an end, and business at the restaurant slows to a crawl. Tonight was no exception. On nights like tonight, it's difficult to stay mentally focused. The irony is, the slower the night, the more likely mistakes will be made. When it gets slow, we get dumb.
      To stave off this mental absenteeism, we often play games. Several weeks ago, it was the ABC game. We decided to keep it more social, we would work in pairs. Each pair had to come up with something in the restaurant (think I-Spy ABC) that starts with a letter from the alphabet. To make it more fun, at the end of the night, the lists were turned into the manager, who served as the judge. She read through the lists, decided which one was the funniest, and declared the winner. Lauren and I won. The prize? A hotdog from Froggy's.
      Tonight was bad. At 5:30 the dining room was 50% full at best, and being fully staffed for a weekend, it meant a lot of standing around. So we decided to create a new game. 84 East BINGO. We made a list of common things that happen, are seen, or are ordered at the restaurant. For example, one space was "Regular Butter." Our bread is served with a homemade garlic butter. Occasionally people will ask for regular butter. If a table in your section asks, you get to cross off that space. We had other spaces such as a beverage with no ice, asking for extra napkins, a screaming crying baby, a guest spilling a beverage, caesar salad with anchovies (yuck), and many others. Of course the "free space" in the center was "Tuxedo chicken, no tomato" (the most commonly ordered item on the menu).
      While the nights actually got progressively slower, we did have a great time. We even brainstormed a LOT more possible spaces for future games. Hopefully next weekend will be better since Hope College is moving in. If not, we're ready to play.