"just make a note"

So yesterday, a water main broke, a little bit up the street. There was all of a sudden no water in the pipes. Nothing. Then it came back, then it stopped, then it came back again, and round and round it goes, where she stops, nobody knows. Of course, having never seen such a thing happen before, I go into a blinding panic. Bossman looked cool as a cucumber, and said, "Just catch the water in a bucket, and then filter it through a fine mesh strainer. It won't be drinking or cooking water, but it can be used to wash hands, as needed. Then, just make a note about it, and put it up."

There is a certain level of nerves of steel that makes it possible to own and run a business. Bossman's got that. Granted, we'd not be able to do many of the things we normally do, but it wasn't some insurmountable thing. We could still clean up after ourselves, and wash hands with the water in the buckets. We could also leave a bucket in the washroom for the customers to wash up as needed. In other words, aside from the nerves of steel, one needs to also have ingenuity. There will come challenges that will present themselves in a regular basis.

We once had a customer who was dead set on having the sunflower lentil pate. For one thing, she was allergic to garlic, and the pate is one of the few things on the menu that doesn't have large quantities of garlic in it. For another, she was also gluten free, and couldn't have soy. There goes other large pieces of the menu. It's understandable why she was counting on that particular dish happening for her.

I didn't have any sunflower seeds, however. Our delivery of the seeds and such wasn't arriving for a couple of hours yet, and the person was also allergic to peanuts, so there were other things that were falling off of the list. I offered to make the pate (since I already had the beans and sauteed onions ready and waiting) with almonds instead. She said that it would be fine. I apologised for the delay, and booked it back to the kitchen. A few minutes later, there was a scoop of lentil pate with sliced veggies ready for her. She seemed pleased.

So throughout the day, we're calling 311, calling the landlord, calling rabbi to pray for us. Suffice it to say that the day was tense, if not outright nerve-wracking. And then the water would come back on, but only give this brown stuff. Ugh. No thanks. So again, we wait some more, and keep filtering the water we did have collected. About 3:00 the water finally turns back on for good, and we all breathe a sigh of relief.

"Fortunately", it was a very slow day, and everyone wanted takeaway or delivery.

Running a business also involves luck.

Still wish there were more people coming in, though.