Another Sunday

     

Hmmm… Another week of silence between posts. I like to think that I’m coming up for air once in awhile and letting my friends know I’m still alive, but it looks more like "Coming to Terms" is developing into a once-weekly whine-fest…

I guess it goes without saying that the past seven days have been rough. But who am I to let something go without saying?

 We had "weather" in the Pacific Northwest this week. Winter weather, to be precise. Snow, ice, frozen fog, sleet; you name it, we had it. Luckily, winter stayed at bay long enough to allow the café a decent business day on Monday; I wasn’t really expecting MLK Day to bring us a sales boost, but there it was.

The weather went sour on Tuesday. Ice and snow kept most sane Oregonians closeted safely in their homes for most of the rest of the week. And those who weren’t housebound by the weather were struck down by a couple of nasty germs that were making the rounds. I was "scheduled" to open only one day last week, but I ended up dragging my ass in there every day at 7:30 because one or the other opener was either sick or couldn’t make it down out of the hills to get to work. By the time this morning rolled around, I was desperate for one day where I didn’t have to set the damn alarm. I am NOT a morning person. Never have been. But small business owners do not get to pander to their own personal schedule preferences. And, wouldn’t you know? Since I fell into bed at 9:00 last night, I couldn’t sleep past 7:00 this morning. Sigh!

But, other than the rotten weather taking a bite out of our sales, and the circles under my eyes starting to take on the proportions of the rings of Saturn, the week was decent--

¯ Yesterday we said a fond farewell to the last useless cook left from the "previous administration." (Hey,,,he’s a nice kid. He gave me almost a month’s notice, he showed up every day between his notice and his last day… I wish him well. But I’m so glad he won’t be working forME anymore!)

¯ My most recent hire is turning out to be quite the good little worker (at last, someone who doesn’t lean on counters and stare into space when there’s "nothing" to do!)

¯ Customers are starting to complimentMY cooking.

¯ And the whole atmosphere of the place is starting to improve. What a difference it makes to have employees who enjoy their jobs (as much as one can enjoy a job) and don’t act like they’re counting the seconds until they can bolt out the door!

On the down side, one continuing annoyance has been that my wi-fi at the café, for which I pay the exorbitant sum of $60 a month, was out most of the week. In spite of two house calls by the phone tech, and his spending a total of about five hours messing with it, it still doesn’t work. Maybe it’s time to fire the phone company and look into cable, or whatever else is out there. What was meant to be a service offered to build my customer base has turned into quite the opposite. Folks tend to get pissed off when you tout your wi-fi, and then they drag out their laptops and can’t connect. L

Oh…I did manage to get one Christmas tree boxed up and put away. But the living room tree is still standing there in all its disheveled glory. I have two days this coming week when I don’t have to be at the café until noon. Lord willing and the creek don’t rise, I’ll be able to set aside a couple of those "free" hours to finish "de-Christmasifying" the indoor portion of my home. I’m thinking the outdoor lights will have to wait until…Memorial Day?