CHA-CHING!!!

Yesterday was my first official day of waitressing and getting my full 40% of tips for the night (while training I was only getting 10%) and talk about a difference! I mean WOW! So we had 4 guys from the New Jersey Nets come in and order a TON of sushi (they were big guys though so thats to be expected) well they also graciously left a HUGE tip! I was ecstatic. Not to mention I have never been that close to a real athlete before. I was pouring it on a little thick but I guess it worked. They ended up tipping me and the sushi bar. We later that night had three Hungarian girls come in with their two guys friends. They are the dentist to Mike so they got a free meal but they too left a great tip. Plus it was really good to chat with them. I kind of got in trouble at the end of the night because I kind of got in trouble at the end of the night because of it but I still say it was worth it. The only thing that's really been a problem for me at the restaurant is that I HATE, and I don't use that word lightly, HATE vacuuming.

For some reason I am always stuck between the two of us, being the one that vacuums. I mean the area to vacuum isn't even all that large or anything its just that I freaking hate vacuuming. All things considered though I guess its not that bad. And again the tips were freaking amazing last night. I am actually getting off of job one early so I can help out more today since we are expecting to be even more busy then we were yesterday. In total I walked out last night with $98 in cash in my purse. I am hoping I walk out with just as much tonight if not more. Granted I will only be waitressing one day a week on average unless someone calls in sick or needs a day off but still that's an extra $100 bucks in my pocket if the day is good on top of my minimum wage salary AND all pretty much tax free. ^-^ That actaully ends up coming out to more then I am making right now at job 1 which is a little scary. Though with benefits and days off job one wins hands down.

Blonde Hair Blue-eyed American Sushi Chef?!?!

 
So while washing dishes at the Sushi restaurant it occurred to me that the last time Curtis and I ate there Mike had mentioned needing another sushi chef and how he needs someone smart and does Curtis know anyone like that. Half hinting basically if Curtis wanted the job. At the time it was out of the question, Gamestop was giving Curtis plenty of hours and the sushi chef spot only paid minimum wage.

Well lately GameStop has only been giving Curtis between 16-20 hours a week which is bringing in all of about $200 dollars a paycheck which is barely enough for him to survive off of. It was okay before but since he now has a credit card he has to pay off for the dental stuff and one last months worth of rent to pay, the bills are kind of piling up big time. Not to mention that their store is about to go through being remodeled. This means that the two stores that are in the mall are going to become one and all the employees (or at least most) are going to get separated and distributed among the rest of the stores in the area. That ultimately means that Curtis is probably going to get even less hours than he is getting now. Plus with the store being closed for the remodel that means less hours again. Apparently there will be at least one week where he will be working 40 hours which is awesome (thought he is going to go nuts with school going on at the same time).

SO! with all that going on and my brain on fire because I really hate the thought of not having a steady income I spoke to Iako (Mike's wife) who works in the back with me as a cook and asked her if the position was still open. She has a hard time understanding English so I was hoping my point went through. She said she would talk to Mike about it and a little later in the night she told me that Curtis would have to quit GameStop if he wanted the position.

Now THAT is the hard part. Curtis is getting health insurance through that job and is making more than minimum wage which is what he would be paid starting out as the Sushi chef. Not to mention Curtis all around likes working there (but mainly when the numbers are good). So... here comes me and my trying to convince him. Yes he would lose the insurance if he quits the job however once he and I are married he will be going on my health insurance anyways so its not going to matter. He is getting most of his dental work done now so that part is already used up. His inhaler doesn't cost that much and he can get another one before the insurance runs out. Now comes the money part. If he does only make 7.50 an hour as a sushi chef he should still be getting tips, this means that as long as he works an 8 hour shift he only has to make 12 dollars in tips that night to make it round up to him making 9 an hour. Not to mention the tips would be tax free.

Well after explaining all that to Curtis he still doesn't want to let go of GameStop (ugh!) but he has some good reasons behind it. First off as the sushi chef Curtis will only be working part time with Mike on certain days. So that may end up as even less money then he is making now. Mike's Sushi is also closed on Mondays which means he could at least work at GameStop on that day.

Now all of this will be easy in the summer time when Curtis is out of school my big concern will be what is going to happen to his classes and his grades once he starts the Fall semester back up again with this many hours.

Mike also said something to me while I was putting dishes away, he said Curtis keeps his promise and I keep my promise. I'm not exactly sure what that means but Curtis will be talking to Mike this week Wednesday. Curtis did actually talk to him some over the weekend while a bunch of us at the restaurant were out at another sushi bar (one that serves sushi till 3am!) The problem was Mike was a little intoxicated at that point and I was hanging out with our group so I wasn't aware of much of the conversation. Mike did however offer to buy me a drink and to put my tab on his card which I greatly appreciated. Curtis got a bottle of Sake which was actually quite good and I got my usual Jagger bomb. I had to start order Curtis food because he was gone VERY quickly. Mike ended up leaving and kissed the three girls there on the cheek (one being his daughter and one being me). We ended the night with a drink called an oatmeal cookie which really did taste like an oatmeal cookie but boy did it have a kick after wards.

Curtis and I went home and both of us were pretty happy but very tired. I can't quite remember if it was that night or the day before that he said something to me along the lines of Mike's is going to have a blond hair blue eyed sushi chef, that's funny. And I think if this does work out its going to be freaking awesome.