Hello!!!

Hi!

My name is Bryan and I since CCY is sound asleep I shall take the liberty to update some of his adventures/misadventures in the States!

Whoopee!!

As you all have or may not have known, me, CCY and AhPang are currently working at HARD ROCK CAFE @ Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

For your information, Gatlinburg isn't a bustling city like New York, Manhattan or Detroit. In fact, it is but a small town surrounded by mountain ranges, most notably the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Known as one of the ideal summer retreat spots, Gatlinburg gets about as many as 1 million visitors during the hot 3-month summer period.

We were joined at Gatlinburg by fellow countryman and university pals Jasper and Valex. Me, AhPang, Jasper and Valex are servers while CCY is the lone bus-boy (among us Malaysians of course).

I honestly have to say it is actually my first time waiting tables. Who would've thought that being a server could be tough? To help us get in the Hard Rock mentality, we were each given a 6-day server training period, which each focusing on different aspects of becoming a kick-ass Hard Rocker! As a server, we had to do bookwork, memorize the menus (extremely confusing) and be familiar with the micros (those touchscreen computers you see at those casual-dining restaurants if you had not already noticed)! On a brighter note, we're all well-fed for each day of training. Let me clarify that the American portion of...lets say...fries....is double of what you get in Malaysia. Same goes for entrees, appetizers and desserts. AhPang mentioned that he has never before been afraid of eating something he like (that was an Apple Cobbler dessert he was talking about; apple pie + Haagen Daaz ice-cream). lol.

One thing we've noticed about people in the States is that they are extremely WASTEFUL. I have no pictures to support this, but you can ask my other colleagues.

In spite of that, business still goes well. Customers are flowing in rapidly with each passing day of summer. Thankfully us servers are getting the average hours of work as promis, ed by our sponsor.

Tipping is customary. So contrary to popular belief, the hourly salary of $2.13/hr for servers isn't necessarily that controversial.

So far, we had just entered our 2nd week. It has been a promising start. We've started cooking in our room with an improvised electric skillet. First there were microwave TV dinners, then we had sandwiches, toast and now we're making pasta!

Till then...

P/S: Pictures will come thick and fast as soon as we have them!