Why I (sometimes) miss the restaurant industry

It has been 2 years since I worked in a kitchen, and well over a decade since I worked at my first restaurant job at Montana's.  As much as I (rightfully) complain and call out the industry on how it treats its cooks and servers, there is one thing I neglectfully forget to mention what I gained from it; friendships.  I still keep in touch with a lot of my former colleagues and bosses that I worked with at my first job and see some of them from time to time.



I'm sort of a regular at a restaurant where a couple of them work at.  Last week, I found out that one of their Managers had died suddenly.  I offered my condolences on a friend's Facebook wall, not realizing who the person was at first.  It was when I saw the page link a few days later, I realized who it actually was.  My heart was broken for everyone there.  I felt especially bad because I was there for lunch earlier that day, and I had no idea what had happened.  Details were soon posted about a "celebration of his life", which was earlier this week.  Even though I didn't really know the person (I'm sure I spoke to him a few times), I just knew I had to go to it.  A combination of me going through similar experiences through my food service career and knowing a couple of people who work, or worked, there made me want to be there.



As soon as I walked through the door, it just felt like "old times" so to say.  It was like it brought me back 15-20 years when we used to have staff parties (not to mention the stories and embarrassing stuff that I witnessed/experienced, but that’s for another day!).  Just seeing all of staff socializing, laughing, and remembering the good times that they shared.  That is what I miss the most.  I miss working with people who, for the most part, I could trust.  I was really lucky to have started my work experience there.  My high school years weren't particularly pleasant for the most part.  I was quiet, introverted, withdrawn, and didn't talk or socialize much. 



When I started at Montana’s, I was a skinny and shy 18-year-old with no real work experience.  I don’t know how I made it through that first year.  Before almost every shift I would be so nervous and anxious just dreading the late night ahead.  But they all believed in me and saw something in me that I didn’t know was there.  I worked my way up to prep and the line and became one of the go-to people; sort of a jack-of-all-trades (okay, more like a jack-of).  I came out of my shell and helped train new staff and management trainees.  The thing about restaurant work is that hours can be long, and crazy.  Mind you, working under these stressful circumstances in small spaces lead to it feeling like family and becoming one.  No other job I have had did I ever keep in touch with so many people and still consider them my friends.  I was lucky to work with and for a lot of them.  You know you had a good boss when she offers to beat the shit out of a (then) current Manager who screwed you over financially and made your life a living hell (that is also for another day!). 



I’m more than happy to be there for people who I care about and who have or would have done the same for me.  I can’t think of any other place that would’ve supported me the way they did and the number of times they did.  A lot of them were like big sisters, or mothers in some cases!  I may not have said it enough when I was there, but now I can say that I am truly thankful for the experience.  And if there’s one thing left to say, it’s that hopefully I come across more people like them in the future.

Boxing Day!!

Miraj Trading had their annual Tax Included Boxing Day Sale, and I got some money for Christmas, so I figured, what the hell.  I got a hobby box of O-Pee-Chee and Upper Deck, and a tin of Upper Deck as well.  I thought I would make it all complete by getting a blaster box of O-Pee-Chee at Toys R Us as well.  I had one of each!

2018-19 O-Pee-Chee

Blaster Rookies/SPs

Hobby Rookies/SPs

Blaster Retro

Hobby Retro

Hobby Retro Black Border (#/100)

Hobby Minis

Hobby Player Cards

Hobby Silver

Hobby Blank Back & Gold

Blaster Various Inserts

2018-19 Upper Deck

Tin Oversize

Tin Young Guns

Hobby Young Guns

Tin Canvas

Hobby Canvas

Tin Portraits

Hobby Portraits (and a couple of other inserts)

Tin Insert

Hobby Stonewalled

Hobby Inserts

I wasn't expecting much from the O-Pee-Chee Blaster Box, and that's exactly what I got!  The hobby is always fun to open and the design is decent too.  A bit of a pisser that they shrunk down the number of cards in a box.  Not a huge fan of the retro design (I hate horizontal cards) but the design on the retro rookies looks good.  Didn't get a patch, but got a blank back instead.

Really love the design on the Upper Deck base cards.  It's also nice to pull two Young Guns of that Cock-A-Leekie kid from Montreal.  I might get one of them graded, if not both.  Didn't get any exclusives, mind you that's not why I bought it.  Game jerseys seem to be rarer this year, which is kind of a double edged sword.  Before you could get two per box and now it's 3 per case.  At least the market isn't over saturated, but they haven't lowered the price on the box!  I can't find any info on that Petersson card.  Maybe some will pop up on Beckett.

Overall, not bad.

Black Friday!!!

I went to Out of the Box Sports Cards on my lunch break and took advantage of the Black Friday sale.  They had hobby boxes of 2017-18 MVP for $25, but I bought enough of that crap, and I pretty much pulled the same cards out of the two boxes I bought.  I decided on 2018-19 Team Canada that was on for $60 since I hadn't bought any yet.

Here's what I pulled:

5 Red Parallels #/225

4 Program of Excellence

2 Provincial Prowess

1 Base Jersey

3 Premium Swatch Autographs #/199

Wow.  I'm not going to complain about pulling 3 Premium Swatch autos.  The Raddysh and Fortino are definitely patches.  I'm unsure about the Ellis.  It looks like the puck from the Team Canada logo, but it feels like part of the jersey.  My favourite card is the Drake Batherson Provincial Prowess.  He looks very impressive since his call up to the Sens, and I hope to get it signed.

$20 off and 3 big pulls.  Definitely a win.

The "Other" Card Show

I went to the local card show last week to see what was there.  It kind of sucks, because it takes place during the same weekend as the Toronto Expo.  I still found some stuff.  I got a base set of 2017-18 Upper Deck Series One for $3 and a set of 2014-15 OPC Platinum for $30.  Last show, the guy selling the Platinum set wanted $40 for it.  The show before that, he wanted $50.  I guess if I waited for 3 shows, I could've gotten it for free.  Someone had a jumbo box of 2014-15 OPC Platinum for $90, so I figured it was worth a shot.

Rainbow Parallels

Retro Parallels

Retro Rainbow Parallel

Black is numbered /100

Traxxxxx, or whatever the hell these are called.

White Ice #/199 (though it looks more greyish to me)

Blue Trax #/65

Black Ice #/25 (again, looks more grey or silver)

A couple of nice looking die-cut inserts.

A couple of rookie signatures (Blue Duclair is #/25)

This box was a lot more fun to open than I thought it would be.  I was actually excited to see what was in each pack.  Love the base and retro design, as well as the die cut inserts.  2 hard signed autographs per box is a nice touch.  Not sure how rare the blue trax are, but considering I pulled 5 and they're numbered to just 65, I'm a little surprised I pulled that many.  I was just glad I didn't pull any redemptions.

I Hate Deco Pens

Last week, I went for the Sabres as they were leaving town.  It turned out there were "handlers" for Casey Mittlestadt and Rasmus Dahlin, so they were a no go.  They all left at once so I had to pick and choose.  Phil Housley and Jason Pominville were the first two I recognized, so I went for them.  And that was pretty much it.  It was more than what some guys got.  Could've been worse, and I appreciated them taking the time to sign, but not really worth the time.

Phil Housley x 1 (Jets puck)
Jason Pominville x 2

Sorry, no picture, but you're not missing out on much.

On Saturday, I went for Rouyn-Noranda.  It was windy as hell, so I waited in my car.  The bus pulled up early so Krista and I scrambled out of our respective vehicles to get inside.  Beth wasn't there, and Krista and I don't follow the Juniors as much so we weren't sure who was who.  Two guys came over and signed the stuff we had.  Then Dany Sabourin came around and asked who had stuff for him.  I was surprised because the Goalie Coach typically doesn't travel with the team, though he does other things.  Beth eventually arrived and got all of her stuff done.  I don't really do this often, and I need to brush up on recognizing Junior players.

Peter Abbandonato x 2
Felix Bibeau x 2
Tyler Hinam x 2
Rafael Harvey-Pinard x 1
Dany Sabourin x 5 (Gave one to Krista for her goalie collection)

After that, we drove to the Briere-Somethingorother Complex in the east end as a Junior A team that Felix Potvin coached was in town for the weekend.  We arrived fairly early and had about an hour to kill.  He signed all of my items, but three didn't turn out because I didn't know how to properly prepare a deco pen.  I went back the next day to have the three cards re-done, and he ragged me a bit until he saw the erased gold markings on one of the cards and remembered.

The Remparts were in town on the weekend too, so a chance to get Patrick Roy was available.  I wanted to wait until after the game, but the power went out at the arena with two minutes to go in the second period.  There were about 15-20 people waiting, which is a lot less than normal.  They called the game at 7pm, and the power came back on 10 minutes later.  Patrick came out and signed one for everybody.  I was hoping to get Drew's set card done, but he was signing in black so I got my magazine done instead.  It actually looks good in black.  Now to relax for a few days.

More Junior Hounding

Froze my ass off waiting for the London Knights after the game.

Adam Boqvist x 3
Liam Foudy x 1
Dale Hunter x 7
Matthew Timms x 1

Eventually found the hotel for the Sudbury Wolves too, after 8 tries!

Macauley Carson x 1
David Levin x 1
Jake McGrath x 2
Cory Stillman x 5
Peter Stratis x 1