"The Summer Crowd" Has Come and Gone

I don't have many photos of me working. Only taken by others. This is taken by my auntie of my mom and I when they came to get lunch while she was visiting.

Working in the service industry in Maui, you see a trend of the people that come in the summer versus the people that visit in the winter. Off hand one would believe that as a worker in the srevice industry, I must prefer summer because that is probably when there are more people here, a busier restaurant, so more money. But we MUCH rather the winter crowd. 

Now just like anything, there are exceptions to this generalization. We get it, it's not that we are judgemental towards those here in the summer but this certain crowd are overwhelmingly similar to the rest of the people in the summer crowd, and because of that, summer is generally not looked forward to as a waitress.

Serving my friends on their day off

You see, in the summer, come the families. All the kids are out of school. Plane ticket prices drop (a little bit?). And generally they are on a major budget because they have many mouths to feed. Parents want to give their kids the awesome Hawaii experience (which any kid would love) but vacationing with a family is stressful. A LOT of planning needs to be done for everything to go smoothly, exhausting the parents. Kids will bicker and fight wherever they are, exhausting the parents. Family dynamics exhaust the parents. And guess who the parents take it out on.... me :D I get it, obviously, I'm explaining in depth what goes into a family vacation, I know it's hard. But it's never fun to get the mean attitudes and impatient adults and families.

Also in summer come the bargain shoppers who found a last minute deal to Hawaii that they could barely afford but STOKED they got the ticket...
-Now I can't spend A THING while I'm there.... but I want the full Maui experience. I wanna go to the restaurants and stick my feet in the sand and try the Hawaiian cuisine. But heck, I can barely cover the bill with my money, I don't have money to tip! "Waitress! look at the price on the sandwich! I could get that for 3 bucks in Idaho! Geez! Everything is so overpriced and expensive! Must be a tourist trap!" 
-"Well sir, you're in Maui, not in Idaho. We import many of our goods onto our secluded island, that includes everything that goes into cooking and making this food, properly storing it, tools to make your entree, transportation to get everything here, import costs on that liquor you are drinking, shipping cost on that nice furniture you are sitting in... The dairy is shipped, the meat shipped and reshipped, the local farms we buy from to support our local economy can barely afford to stay afloat because of how expensive it is to properly take care of the their farm, so their prices are high as well. Real estate is outstandingly expensive and you have a front row seat to the ocean right there. Gas and electricity is out of this world expensive, and as one of the biggest, most well known restaurants on the island, how much do you think we spend on that?"  .....That's what I wish I could say :-/

Serving my sister-in-law's parents on their visit to Maui

Along with that tourist population, we get the weirdos. The weirdos who have always dreamt of visiting Maui and finally found a deal to. And I'm stoked for them. But generally they don't seem to have any idea how to act in a restaurant. Like they've been living under a rock, or have only frequented the same diner their entire life. The most awkward situations and moments arise from these main landers.
Their pronunciation on some of the food or no understanding on what things are is appalling. Examples: 

• Foccacia Chicken sandwich. (italian word Foh-cah-cha) I get fa-ka-key? fa-kay-kay? Fa-cookie? 
• Kapulu Joe (Hawaiian word Ka-poo-loo) Cape-a-lua? Cay-loo-loo? Ka-poo-poo?
• Aoli (Mayo based sauce ay-oh-lee) A-lee-lee? A-lily? A-ee-ee?
• Baja Fish Taco (Spanish word ba-ha) Ba-jah?
• Monchong (Hawaiian fish Mon-chong) Muh-jong?
• Paniolo (Hawaiian word for cowboy pan-ee-olo) Pun-olo, pan-ee-nee, "pan...whatever this is)
• What is a quesadilla? (other than the quesa-diLLa pronunciation) Jon said he blanked on how to describe it because it was so easy and obvious...
• On the Shrimp, Spinach, Asian Pear salad on the menu I have been asked what the spinach was, and what lettuce comes in this salad...?

Photo my aunt took while dining at Pineapple Grill (her favorite restaurant) 

Impatience. They'll order and 5 minutes later ask where it is. '

Self-entitlement. While I'm in the middle of taking an order at a different table they'll stop me to ask for a refill on their 3/4 full water cup...?

No understanding of being an inconvenience. "Aloha, we have 10 open beautiful tables with sand floor in the shade, great view, which would you prefer?.... Oh the only dirty table on the entire floor, okay let us clear that off for you...." They'll ask for a plate. When you bring that they ask for a napkin. When you bring that they ask you for extra dressing. You say is there anything else I can get you? ::silence:: When you bring that they ask for a side of ice for the their drink. When you bring that they ask to see a menu. OMG

Ignorance. With a bustling restaurant full of lines in front of the 2 greet stands, they come in from the exit and sit at a table and demand service. "I'm sorry sir we are on an hour long wait for that table right now..."

No Common Courtesy. Yelling on their phone in the middle of the restaurant. Cussing up a storm next to a table full of children. "Aloha folks, how are you doing today?" ::they stare at you:: "How are your entrees? Everything tasting okay?" ::silent blank stares:: "Can I get you anything else right now?" ::confused looks::
Rudeness. The questions we receive as servers about our life here can be so demeaning and rude. Sometimes they don't realize how their statement or question came out, and sometimes they just don't care. I have gotten "You don't look like you belong here." My other friend got that a lot to . He replied "well, where do I belong?" They said to me, "What, so, college didn't work out so you moved here..?" ahemmm "actually I have an Associates Degree in Psychology..." and I just didn't feel the need to explain that I'll be going back to finish school eventually because obviously she had already passed judgement on with without even clarifying with me first. My friend was asked, "So, you're just a waitress?" she wanted to say, no I'm also an actress, while I sat here and smiled through our conversation after you just said something like that...
Absent minded. And then you there's the fact that tourists tend to leave their brains on the airplane... Here are a few questions I, Jon, or my friends have gotten from tourists

"That Island is in the way!"

• "So are the islands here year round?" .... -_-
• "Can I swim under the island and come out the other side?" .... -_-
• "Do you take  the American dollar?" ... yes we are apart of the United States
• "So do you live here?"... no I take the red eye flight EVERY day to California then turn right back around, that's how much I love my job here
• "How do I get to the ocean?" ... Well you just keep walking towards it, until you get to it..?
• I have been greeted with an overly loud "HOLA" --as if we were apart of Mexico?
• A story that I'm not sure I completely believe but my friend told me. He was walking around the Hyatt and saw a lady with 4 different huge jars. He was very interested in what she was doing so he asked her "what are you doing with those jars?" She said "I am going swimming and I'm going to capture each color of the ocean in them"  -_- huh?
• Some main landers cannot appreciate nature's beauty no matter how surrounded they are by it in Maui. A bartender said to a lady guest, "so are you enjoying the beautiful sunset tonight?" She replied, "well I would but that other island is in the way!" he oh-so wanted to say, "oh well let me make a call to the big guy and he'll move that island out of your way to you can see the sun touch the ocean.... as if not seeing that ball of fire the entire time makes the sunset worthless??" (see picture above)

The island Molokai on the right and "Japan" on the left....

• My bartender friend was joking around when a couple asked what the names of the islands were that we could see in Ka'ananpali. He replied, " that's Molokai on the right and Japan on the left." And they believed him. HAHA
• At Hula Grill, folks have asked me for a table on the water. Unless they want me to serve them some drinks while swimming the ocean, they just need to take a look up at the perimeter of the restaurant that ends a full boardwalk, green bush, and sand beach in front of the ocean. "Can't get you ON the water, sorry." 
• Jon has some good examples. At his old restaurant, The Plantation House, a lady made a reservation for 8pm and once she arrived she freaked out and yelled at the staff about not having a good view of the ocean or sunset.... because it was dark outside? 
• And at Pineapple Grill, people come in at 8 or later and they ask for a good view of the ocean. When they should realize while walking in... that you can't see the ocean when it's pitch black outside...
• When given the option at Pineapple Grill whether they'd like to sit outside or inside, they ask "how is the weather outside?" Didn't they just walk in from being outside to get from their car to the restaurant?? What did you think of the weather?

Obviously there are tables like this at any point in the year, but the worst are in the summer and some days it feels like it is every other table you serve.

Jonny told me he had overheard a service industry's meeting that was held at Pineapple Grill. They were talking about some statistics. This summer, all of the hotel's numbers are at pre-economy fail numbers like 2007. Meaning the people are definitely on island. But they are not spending like pre-2007. Instead of going out every night they only go out a few nights on their vacation and make food at home most meals. Instead of golfing every day, they only golf once or twice. Same thing with excursions (snorkeling, whale watching, booze cruises, tours, etc.) That completely validates the trend we saw in our restaurant for this summer. It was NOT a crazy busy summer like usual. Last year we actually had our sales like pre-2007 in the winter and summer, but not so much this year. Although, a "slow" day at Hula Grill is a blessed day at most other restaurants on the island, so I have nothing to complain about. Just a definite trend we have seen from last year's summer time.

There are so many sarcastic responses that we wish we could actually say back to our customers but.... then we would be out of a job. We suck it up, smile, and tip toe around the perfect way to say such an obvious answer. 

Having an office on the ocean, in the sand, with two islands and a clear blue sky in front of me through a 6-7 hour shift is heavenly compared to most. Obviously it has it's set backs and annoyances. Honestly the longer I am in the service, the more the little things bug me about a table. But I am extremely lucky to have a job with a booming popularity, excellent company, and one of the two most popular restaurants on the island. I still love my job and would never want to work anywhere else.

We leave for Italy and France in now 3 days time. Pray for our safety, a good time, smooth travels, and for us to fully enjoy every minute we are there. Here are some photos of just a few places we will be seeing :)

I've got a journal to keep track of our wonderful adventures, so you'll be sure to hear about the highlights in the next few blogs :)

 Hope this post made you laugh a little (or "small kine" in pidgin). These cirumstances can only make us luagh instead of beat us down. If every little thing frustrated us easily, we would turn into very bitter unhappy people. Not on my watch!! :D