Week's work

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Monday (04/04/2011)
Work at De-V was cut short due to an over-stocking of personnel. I offered to go home and had an evening to myself; a welcome rarity.

Tuesday (05/04/2011)
I had scheduled to have supper with Wout (N.F.F.). He’d recently moved into a new flat, and since I couldn’t attend the house-warming on Saturday, I thought I’d pay a visit Tuesday evening. It was an intimidating cycle far further into the back-end of Eindhoven than I’d ever been (into Woensel). I found his road eventually, but had to give him a ring to wave his arms in the street before I got lost in the mangle of flats. He lives with a German, Frenchman and Indian; so English is actually the language of choice at home. Wout is busy paying off student debts and figuring out what exactly he’d like to do with his life. Travelling to Africa is a big dream, as he is tired of the Dutch lifestyle. His quiver of Wilbur Smith books is massive, but I hope he doesn’t think he’s going to step out of the plane , into the bush, ride a rhino and make love to some Swede who just happens to be hiding in the same Acacia tree.

We abused his deep-frying machine and had a super-healthy meal of fried chips and a fry-mix consisting of “bitterballen”, chicken nuggets, cheese-filled things and other tasty goodies. I now understood his confused look in the supermarket when I offered to cook. I think his size is partially owed to the fact he pulled the mayo and ketchup out of his clothing cupboard. We sat and watched Blood Diamond whilst sipping on Grolsch and having a good laugh at the funny stories we both had to tell. I cycled home just after midnight and realized just how bloody far it actually was.

Wednesday (06/04/2011)
I had a shift at De-V again, serving the lunchtime hoards who soaked up as much sun as possible on the terrace. I thought it was my worst day of work. Miss-communication with a colleague led to me not placing a customer’s food order and they ended up waiting an hour for food that wasn’t coming. Admittedly the intensity of work got to me for once and it’s a mistake I hope never to make again. I was allowed to take off a couple drinks from their bill and the only other thing I could do was apologise. This incident naturally didn’t do me any favours and I worked the rest of my shift in quiet determination. Surprisingly, at the end of the day, the manager told me how well I’d done to diffuse the situation and he was really impressed with my level of work that day. It turned out to actually be the best day of work I’ve done.

At the end of my shift I sat down for some well-deserved beers with the other colleagues who’d finished their duties. Me, Dennis, Josh and Luke decided to wrap up the evening by grabbing some beers and food and heading to the benches by the side of the canal. Whilst Josh, Luke and I fetched pizza, shoarma and chips Dennis cycled home to grab the last few beers. We arrived at the canal to find Dennis spreading out a blanket on the grass and lighting candles. The situation was too funny, and it appeared he could not hold his tendencies back. The candles were just a ‘must’. Lucky for us, the beers made an appearance too and it was a nice way to end off what I thought was going to be a pretty kak day.

Thursday (07/04/2011)
I worked on the Philips campus for the day at the staff-restaurant/ cycle-café. It was pretty hectic and I had to pour all my own drinks (except the beer). I’ve realised just how much confidence working at De-V has given me. Anything but working at De-V seems now a bit trivial. Compared to what I thought at the start of catering work, I’ve now progressed into treating days of catering as relaxed days off. This is not to say it’s not hard work, but just with a lot less pressure.

On my way out of the Philips complex I spotted a parking-garage with a wicked slope. I might just make an afternoon –visit and feel some wind through this gelled-hair!

Friday (08/04/2011)
Another late-shift at De-V was on the cards. The rest of the day leading up to work was consumed by skating and making my little video.

I’m still able to surprise myself on a daily basis, which is always a good thing. Me, Jop and Toon had the Island to take care of and we managed just fine. Near the end of my shift, I had a customer tap me on the ribs whilst I was holding a full-tray. Upon questioning his finger’s entrance into the delicate space between the bones on the side of my body he replied by asked to place an order. I’d had it. I managed to stay calm, but asked him, “if it was his beer I was holding would he want me to take an order on the other side of the terrace and allow it to go flat?” He sheepishly told me to go on with my duties. I promptly returned, told him to place an order with my colleague and within 3 minutes was outside again with his beer. The island always has two/three runners and waiter with a pin-pad who can take orders and send it directly to the machine inside. So by the time I’ve placed drinks, loaded a tray of empties and off-loaded them back inside, there’s plenty of orders to take again. It’s fast, at first harrowing and eventually just something you “gotta do”.

I met Wout and Co. in Stratum after work for a beer before I headed home. I didn’t stay long as I had a shift Saturday again at De-V and had a feeling it would be Island all night long.


Saturday (09/04/2011)
I was spot-on. I’ve never worked so hard in my life. Nice weather combined with a good café led to an evening of bicep-building. I can now carry tray on both left and right as I walk out with right and bring empties back in on left. Otherwise I can barely grip my bike’s right handlebar on the way home.

A fairly relaxed evening concerning incidents was topped off by one of the barmen getting inexplicably drunk. He was sent home pretty quickly, as his cleaning skills were more hazardous than helpful. It put my mistakes to shame and placed a different worker in the limelight for a bit.

Sunday (10/04/2011)
I woke up nice and late and watched Cast Away. A nice lazy-day was topped-off by working at PSV for an uber-bitch. I’d never worked in her department before and she was just one of those annoying people who told you to do something you were, at that exact moment in time, already busy with. I eventually just worked around her, doing what I had to do without having to stop and listen to her. I also had to help out in the SpelersHome bar. This is where the family and players meet after the game; I got to see Phillip Cocu and others from the PSV team. Nice.

After bidding adieu to “little miss sunshine” I worked my way to the East-wing where I’d previously worked and where my friends had served their PSV-time. Apparently this was an illegal manoeuvre and I was told I was only allowed to have post-works snacks and drinks with the people I’d worked with that evening. I’m such a rebel. Luckily I was allowed to stay and enjoy some strawberry cake and Bavaria beer. Wout still had drinks left after his house-warming the previous night and so a few of us headed to his place for a night-cap. I was clever and had brought my I-pod along for the ride home. I have Led Zepplin to thank in shortening the distance and keeping me pedalling.

Monday (11/04/2011)
Rest.

Tuesday (12/04/2011)
Feeling the diminished strength in my fingers as I shook the manager’s hand ‘hello’ I think he realised it was my turn for a relaxed afternoon. I took the right wing of the terrace for the afternoon and as the evening sun shone through the blinds two new faces made an appearance in the waiter’s corner. I was then apparently supposed to keep an eye on them whilst they ran left and right terrace. Me, mentor! Haha. Obviously I’ve improved a bit…

Wednesday (13/04/2011)
I had the lunchtime-to-supper shift at De-V and somehow ended up running the island solo. Heavy days. I thought Saturday was hard work, but my word I ran my socks off! No major incidents and the evening was such a welcome sight. I even met a fellow longboarder on the way home with an awesome board. She’s a tomboy (a.k.a., her girlfriend lives in Amsterdam) and has been riding for a year. Obviously it’s slow progression here in Holland with no hills as she was amazed by the carving I showed her. She asked if I might be able to give her lessons sometime which might be some fun!

Thursday (14/04/2011)
Spent the morning typing this record of past events and awaited the arrival of Philipp – my German buddy who lived next to me for 6 months last year. He arrived just after lunch with his mate Fabian and the three of us are going to spend a weekend-away in Goes/ Brunisse. We’ve rented a house for the weekend and are going to drink, watch DVD’s, play PlayStation and cycle across the orchards and dams in the region. What a brilliant way to relax for a few days! I’ll be back with plenty of stories, that’s for sure!

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