Goodbye Schooner!

Pretty much everyone that knows my family knows that we work at the Prairie Schooner. My mom has been there since Tyler was born and then I started working 2 months after I turned 15. It was sometimes embarrassing to see people from high school and tell them I still worked there.

The Schoon had its bad moments and could be very drama but for the most part it was a fun place to work. The bosses could be a pain but my mom would always say that if I could work for Jim then I could work for anyone. It is very true. But then I became one of his favorites and it wasn't too bad. Ha ha. In July Jim decided to retire and sold the restaurant with zero warning to anyone. We were told that we were all being let go from the old company and rehired at midnight with the new company. Since we were new employees we were being put on a 30 day probation. We were told this was just a "technicality" and not to worry. Christian, the new owner, didn't want to make any changes with the staff or managers, he said we had a good staff and a good thing going we just needed to tweek a few things and make it a little more modern so that more people would want to come in. Well apparently that changed. My mom and Jeff, who is Jim's son, both managers, were fired 3 weeks ago. I don't know what reason Jeff was fired but my mom's was not legit. 20 years of dedicated work, without any write ups or trouble and she was just fired one day after a lunch shift! Lynsie called and quit that day and never went back. I waited until I made sure I had another job and then gave my 2 weeks. I worked my last time at the Prairie Schooner today.

It is so weird to think that I will never work again at the Prairie Schooner. I worked there for 8 years! I have been thinking about all of my memories at the Prairie Schooner and realized that I did all of my growing up while working there. I had my real first kiss from one of the bussers that I worked with. I met some semi-famous people that would come in to eat.

These are 2 of BYU's football players that came in. Harvey Unga and Fui Vakapuna.

I was able to work with some of my best friends at the Schoon. I of course worked with my mom, and Lynsie worked there the last year and a half, and Tyler worked there through high school. It was fun working with my family. Lots of people say that they don't know how we did it but for the most part it was really good. Steph and Alyssa both worked there with me and those were the best days. We were the best hostesses together! And so many of my cousins, uncles, family friends, and neighbors worked there as well. We had some good times! And then I made so many friends. Way too many to mention. But many of the girls that I worked with will definitely be good friends forever. Some that have been gone from the Schoon for a while now and some that are still there. There is just something about spending countless hours standing in the kitchen that makes you bond. I am going to miss lots of people. I am also going to miss some of my regulars from lunch. I tend to talk a lot and so I got to know some of my customers pretty well.

But enough of the memories! I have a new job now and so far...

Thats right I work at Texas Roadhouse now! I know this is so dorky but the t-shirt is true! I really do LOVE it! I was so nervous because Prairie Schooner is all that I have ever known and I know how to do everything there and I pretty much just hate any kind of change. On the way to the Roadhouse my first day I was so nervous that I could have puked. I was sure I was going to pop out a cold sore. But so far it has been great. I really like all of the people that I have met so far. It is really different working with guys, at Schooner it is all girl servers. But it is good. I think I am taking a cut in pay but we'll see. Hopefully not too big of cut but either way it is totally worth it. It has definitely been an answer to my prayers. It is where I am supposed to be right now.

So for any of you that eat at Prairie Schooner, move your business on over to Texas Roadhouse where we have hand cut steaks and fall off the bone ribs! (That is part of my schpeil I have to say) Oh and my mom is still looking for a job. There aren't too many out there right now so if you hear of anything, let us know!