Steam burns, luggage under my eyes and eau de hot dog
What a whirlwind of two months if there was ever one. A big name celeb was caught cheating on his wife with a slew of women (big surprise), Haiti suffered a devastating earthquake and Seattle has had the most beautiful and mild winter seen in awhile. Oh, and this no-name twenty something chick up and quit her desk job thinking she could change the way Seattle sees the plain ol’ hot dog.
On November 14th, 2009 at 11am, Po Dog opened its doors to the general public.
When telling my story I seem to repeat the phrase about jumping into a shallow pool head first when it came to quitting a mundane job and doing one of the most challenging things one can do at twenty five years of age. Luckily I was on the swim team and did the shallow dives every day. So 2 LONG months after opening Po Dog, here I am sitting in the corner booth of MY restaurant reflecting on what has been the most terrifying, trying, tiring and rewarding two months of my life. The nerves still haven’t settled and it still hasn’t completely set in that I’m chopping tomatoes one minute and doing year end taxes for a business the next. I can’t even believe that I made it and that I’ve survived working 100+ hours a week for two straight months. I go home smelling like hot dogs, fall asleep for about three hours to the throbbing pain in my legs and wake up to do it all over again. With every ounce of energy left, I love this place and the life I am living.
The exciting things:
- The cheese sauce. Yeh, I complained about this and wondered what the hell I would do with cheese sauce but low and behold Dub-T. I love it and now I can’t stop eating cheese sauce. I recommend it for a fry dipping sauce. YUM. Proud of my team member, Kevin for taking the cheese sauce to the next level and making his signature “K-fat” sauce. A decadent blend of bacon, jalapenos and cheese sauce. You’d be surprised at how many requests we have for this creation!
- REGULARS – Let’s face it, I sell hot dogs. Most of us eat them as a more seasonal food; Summertime BBQ’s and Fourth of July feasting. I LOVE the fact that we have people who come back on a weekly basis to share in my love for hot dogs. I can’t thank you all enough for your continued support and interest in what I’m doing. The familiar faces I get to see each day really make me feel like I am doing something right in the midst of all this craziness. P.S. I love all our new customers equally as much. You each have a story and I am eager to listen.
- Customer Suggestions – I’ve gotten so many dog creations holy snap. Thank you.
- Blue Painters tape – I freaking love this stuff and if you ever come behind the counter you will see just how much I love it!
- UPCOMING PRESS AND MENU CHANGES – Stay Tuned!!!
The Hardies:
- Garbage and recycling. So seriously, I don’t know why I kept having missed pick-ups but man was it horrible. We were overflowing for a few weeks here and every morning I would pull up on the sidewalk to a flock of asshole crows choking on the latex gloves they had so nicely ripped out of the neatly stacked and tied up garbage bags. I like birds, but I wish they didn’t peck holes in the garbage bags and try to harm themselves with our used indigestible items. I think we’re on track to more normal pick up times now.
- STANDING FOR 15-18 hours a day. (this is the only personal complaining I will do for now)
- Losing team members is never fun. Losing more than one team member during one of our busiest weeks is double time no fun. My team is great and those that we lost we were sad to see go, but family and medical circumstances had to be tended to. In the past month I’ve hired on 6 new people and almost doubled the staff I had initially started out with. Hey, this is a great thing!
- People who have no appreciation for the hard work of others.
Some Stories That Might Interest You –
1. COUNTERTOP – I never claimed to be great at anything involving numbers (pray for me come tax season). After getting all the equipment, chairs and countertops installed it should have been no surprise that I completely mis-measured the height of pretty much everything. Resulting from this seemingly minor mishap comes a great conversation piece. Consensus says that about 40% of our customers don’t seem to mind it while the other 80% mumble WTF phrases under their breath and end up relocating to a “normal” proportioned table/chair combo. Look, I apologize to those of you who have issues with the height. I have shopped thousands of taller barstools to accommodate, but f’ugly is just not the way I want to go. It is what it is. I’ve got an arsenal full of excuses for anyone wishing to comment on the height. Come in and I will share.
2. THE DOGS – YES, I have tried every single one of those dogs on the menu AND THEN SOME. And to be quite honest, I do eat a hot dog pretty much every day (if not two). Contact me in 5 years and I’ll let you know how many thigh dimples I’ve been blessed with as a result.
3. THE BLUE TAPE EVERYWHERE – I bought in bulk. So what. As a result, I was using it to label things in the restaurant and after I ran out I had to buy more… it just became a habit and now I am hooked on blue tape and its multiple uses.
4. I’m NOT PERFECT – I called my restaurant supplier the day before I got my first food delivery because I was absolutely freaking out that my brand new freezer wasn’t working. He was nice enough to schedule a last minute early morning maintenance guy to come out and check on what the problem was. That morning before the maintenance man arrived, I noticed there was a switch on the top. Need I say more?
TO BE CONTINUED.