A little update for the masses/handful of bored friends at work who give me a minute of their day:
TimmyJ is now a proud and professional crumber at Bobby Van's Grill in Washington, DC. The title of crumber is one that must be earned not expected. The crumbing class is a more distinguished echelon of servers in the restaurant industry that reminds me that the years I spent waiting on tables was not in vain. A crumber is never bought, but handed down from generation of servers to generation. It takes the most astute, charming, and driven individual to have the honor of "Crumber" bestowed upon thy title. One must earn the sacred piece of metal that is bent at a crisp 150 degree angle to ensure any and all crumbs can be removed from a guest's 2X1 foot area of eating space.
What this means to the lamen is if a restaurant requires their waiters to pack the coveted crumber, it automatically constitutes for getting tipped out a hell of a lot more for the mere ambience of the restaurant and some overpriced steaks. Don't get me wrong the steaks are hell-a good, but as the more tenured and self-proclaimed "professional waiters" have told me...the days of waiting tables as a profession in the States are over. I love listening to these veteran waiters' war stories.."I remember when I could look at a shmuck who walked into the restaurant who didnt have the proper attire on and tell him to go down the street where he might feel more comfortable" or "If a customer gave me lip, we'd make sure they wouldnt be dining with us again."
Judging from these comments, you can tell these guys take their jobs very seriously and are passionate about what they do, which is awesome. The only problem is their "time" is essentially over...like most aspects of American culture... we are time starved, we don't know how to relax and enjoy a slow dining experience, and the standards of service have declined proportionatly to the standards of the experienced restauranteur. American dining culture is almost non-existant, hence why a small shift towards slo-dining has begun to emerge. Just like any business, the restaurant mentality has been to "turn and burn" tables, and even the upper class of customers have forgotten "how to go out to dinner" because of the saturation of these T&B establishments.
I just think this is an interesting microcosm of American culture because the small restaurants (just like any small business) are not able to offer a wine and dine experience where the "crumber" is well respected. No one is to blame; not the time-starved uneducated diner, the corporate restaurants that offer the same great meal across the nation, nor the mentality of profit driving owners. It is just a shift of the times; A look at how America has replaced the emphasis on the experience, memories and dignity of fine dining, with a cheapened, packaged, and forgotten culture.
But to me, this means I don't have to work as hard, I carry around a crumber to uphold the image of a prestigious establishment, and make more money for it. I live in the now, and feel for the elder waiter vets, but if their golden age has passed then maybe their crumbers have seen their last scrape.
A little Catch-up if you are interested:
Yes, after embarking on my timeless road to self-actualization, four months of unemployment, cruising through 15 states, countless sour patch kids who kept me awake on the long nightdrives (ie Nebraska) and lesson-learning on my never-ending road to self-actualization, I have come somewhat full circle in my figure-eight of life. My first circle of the figure-eight can be transcribed as follows:
- My last job before I set off for college was slinging pizza pies and pasta at Macaroni Grill
- Go to USC for four years
- Land a sales job with NCR for 1.5 years
- Quit my job and travel for a quarter of a year
- Come back home and get my "crumb" on
- Preparation for cycle #2
Now, I am gearing up for the transition into the next fabrication of my next cycle that visually, can be compared to completing one circle and following the line into the upward momentum that will be the beginning of the next epic cycle. For the next few months I will be using snippets of my restaurant life, DC debauchery, and out of state excursions to tie in some of the lessons I learned on the road and to Tim's Four Pillars to Success (More to Come) that I believe any individual can keep in mind to make you life easier, happier, and wholesome...ENJOY!
