Do, do, do,-----do, do. Inspector gadget Blog #28

I can’t believe how long it’s been since the last blog.  For this I apologise. But really there’s been a whole lot of hurry up and wait. So the Electrical took a lot longer then expected. We had to wait on a part to come from the States. This part was a sticker if you can believe it. A sticker that states the machine has been converted from a single phase to a three phase. Safety might start with an “S” but it begins with “YOU” ha ha ha. But really, I personally don’t get it.  For a guy that worships motorcycle daredevils, Safety seems to be a bit passé. But it is what it is.

So we got that all done and the E.S.A. inspector came and we passed. Then the E.S.A. inspector filled out a certificate and emailed it to me, which in turn I have to e-mail it to my Engineer, who then has to come for another inspection in order to put his seal on it, and this, in turn, gets e-mailed to City Hall. Now I have to got to City Hall and get their signature. I’m informed they may also do an inspection of their own, or they may not, as the Engineer will have already done it.

My meeting with the Taxi Company didn’t go as planned so I had to move on there. I’ll get back to you when I know more info.

So the only thing left to do was the health inspection. Out of all the inspections needed, I have the most experience with the health inspectors. In two different provinces and two different countries, I know what they look for so I was quite confident. What do they say” Complacency kills?” I was getting the inspection done and it was going well when she says it- “Where’s you hand wash station?” (In the kitchen).  My Jaw dropped. What a dumb mistake. I knew I needed one and had it in the plans for the kitchen. When we changed the configuration of the kitchen, I forgot to add the hand wash station to the drawings and just forgot about it thereafter. There’s a saying in racing “Don’t beat yourself.” So she wouldn’t sign off on the list I needed to get the business licence and liquor licence.  I called Jacques and he said no problem we’ll get’er fixed up on Monday. But it is a huge problem. It means being pushed back again. Looks like I’m going to miss Valentines Day. The busiest single day in the restaurant world.  It could be a blessing in disguise though. I mean I’d hate for opening day, or day 2 or 3 for that matter, to be a busy one. I’d rather open on a slower day and have 30 ppl happy then 60 or 100 with a “Meh, it was ok” feeling. So maybe it’s a good thing.

Maybe this week we’ll get it all done. This pushing back is killing me. And coupled with every time I go out, ppl asking me when I’m opening proved to be too much for me on Wednesday.  Jake and I had another heated discussion. Actually I can’t lie. I completely lost it on him and was screaming almost in tears basically pouring out my heart and soul to this guy. Mitchell got up and went to bed; as Jake and I went toe to toe (verbally of course). I think this was long over due since I try to keep everything in. But I blew up! Being the amazing friend that he is, he sat there and took it, until I was done. He didn’t agree with everything, and told me where he thought I was wrong but listened and then asked what he could do to help. After we were done, we watched T.V. and laughed our heads off. That’s an awesome friend. The only other person I have a relationship like that with is my Dad. To be able to disagree and then move on is a rarity I feel. I am blessed to have two relationships of that kind.

Wow for a guy who had nothing to say there is a lot of characters on this page.

Tomorrow, I am back to work to get this sink in along with a few other touch ups.  Then I’ll call the health unit back in and hopefully we can get to City Hall no later then Wednesday.

Cheers

Le Commis

Glenn

You can explain it all at City Hall. Blog #27

So a quick update. I wrote the last blog around 17:00 Thursday and after that, I went to the Chamber meeting. I am a chamber member and thought I’d go to meet ppl and network a bit. I think it was the only thing I did right last week. Well that, and hiring Jacques back. Which both of these ideas were suggested by none other than, my good buddy Jake! So back to the meeting. I’ve only been to a few Chamber meetings and I was always presenting. Thursday I was just a guest, and the only one at that. I was called upon to stand up and talk about LBM.

I have no problems speaking in public but I do need to be prepared. I did the best I could with no notice. I think it was ok. But after the meeting I did get the chance to network and network I did. Of course, Jake was there, and my saviour Anna, but also John. John owns a taxi company in town and we’re going to have a meeting to discuss the business of working together with the Resto and Cabs. I’ll give you more details after the meeting. I’ll propose my idea to John and see if he likes it and comes on board.

Also, I met Erin. Erin works at City Hall and for the City. Told her a couple of issues I was having and she said she’d call me in the morning. Ya right I thought! Well I went to work for 10:00, and there were already two phone messages and an e-mail from said, Erin. Phone calls were made and balls were rolling.

We also had a fire inspection on Friday and passed with flying colours. Being the Bro of a Fire Prevention Officer, I’d have a lot of explaining to do if I didn’t. So we’re almost good to go there. The Building is fine, but Ontario has a new law this year where I need to do a floor plan with exits and a route on how to get out. Not biggie. I’ll do that. But costs, Ladies and Gentlemen, $80 for the inspection and $165 to do the Plan! Here come all those extra costs.

Back to the electrical. We’re going to be good to go. I just need to buy a part to convert my 1 phase dishwasher to a 3 phase and we’ll be good to go. Yes there’s a lot more to it than that but I’m not an electrician and its all confusing to me. But the up shot of it is that we could be done by Tues. We need to take the E.S.A. to the Engineer, then back over to City Hall for a building inspection, and then we just need the Health inspection, and we are good to go.

Even though I’m a month over due for opening and $$$ over budget, I can’t believe that I’m almost there.

Years ago, when I was going to Europe, a Scotsman told me, “If you go to Europe and break down crying and get on a plane and come home the same day, you’re be still better than most ppl, ‘cause you had the nerve to try it where as most ppl just dream and never attempt it.”

Well I went to Europe and was there for 3 years! I ended up working in one of the best hotels in Europe and certainly, one of the most famous in the world, the SaVoy. 

I’m taking the same attitude with L.B.M. If I’m open for one day and fold, I’ll still have done it. But spoiler alert. We’re going to be open for a lot longer than one day. And with the staff I pick, we will be the best Resto in North Bay after a week.  And the Best restaurant period! I have too much riding on those ppl who have helped me and believed in me, to let them down. I can’t let them down and I WON’T!!!

Until next time my friends.

Le Commis Glenn

When you’re falling, You have to hit the bottom before you can bounce back up. Blog #26

Good evening my friends. Hope you’ve had a fantastic week. Me?  Well it’s been a week of adversity but, as a good friend of mine (Evel Knievel) once said, “For every adversity there’s an equivalency to benefit if you just look for it”. So we couldn’t get the fan working. It would start up and then shut down right away. The electrician spent all day searching but couldn’t find anything. We all took Sunday off and came back at it on Mon. Luckily KRB was back in to finish up a couple of odd jobs. I asked them to go up on the roof and loosen the belts as we thought that might be the problem. 6 hrs later we couldn’t find anything. We even called the company that supplied us with the machine. He was about as helpful as a gate keeper of hell being asked for directions to the exit. Also the dishwasher was posing a problem. It takes a lot of amperage to run and the electrician thought we didn’t have enough power in the building to run it. So after that, I was distraught and discouraged and, to be quite honest, very VERY angry. I thought to myself that I had finally bitten off more than I could chew and that I was finished. But we are now 95% complete and it has been a long and gruelling fight. I’m getting tired and frustrated. So in talking with my friend Jake he had a suggestion. Why not hire Jacques back as a G.C., not to do work, but to act as a liaison between KRB, the Electrician and Trans Canada. I said what a great idea. I mean I know 0 about 3phase, 2phase G.F.M. etc…

I called Jacques back and he showed up Monday afternoon. I told him to deal with everything as I was doing interviews all week anyway. So Tuesday Jake shows up with a guy whose job is Instrumentation. What is that you ask? I have no idea. But a few hours later the fan was working. And he went through the place with a fine tooth comb and said we have enough power for the dishwasher. But this guy can’t do electrical work, only check it out or something like that. So he told Jacques what we should do. Jacques had a meeting with the electrician (Guy) today and I think were going to make it work. Not only that but, be done by Friday. So I can commence with inspections next week.

So the week for me, has been a downer with things pushed back yet again. But bringing Jacques back has proved to be a blessing and saved me a lot of money. My friend Don is back as well. I have an old fifties style fridge which has been converted to a Draft fridge. He is going to paint it for me. Copper orange will be the colour. So that’s were we stand on this night of January 13, 2011.

I do hope these blogs start to become more positive in the future, for your sake and mine. I do however believe these are good notes for anyone wanting to open a Resto or for me when I open my 2^nd Resto. What, you say you’d do this again??? Of course! Blame my brothers as they dropped me on my head a few times when I was younger. I’m sure somehow, someway, it’s their fault. Ha ha ha ha

Stay hungry my friends.

Le Commis Glenn

Is that an exhaust fan sitting in your dining room or are you just happy to see me? Blog #25

Hello to all my millions of fans out there. It is 817am and I’m sitting in the Resto waiting for the H-Vac guys. They have promised me that the Fan will go on the roof today and that there is a good possibility of them being completed by Fri at 17:00.  But I’m not worried. Why you ask. Because I need to get inspections done and one of them can’t be done till the 29^th of January anyway. So once again, I’ve been pushed back. This time, it’s my fault. I guess I should have looked into that sooner. I can hear my father already yelling at me. Maybe I just won’t tell him. I start interviews next week. Didn’t get the resume turnout that I thought I would but I did run the ads in the paper over the holidays.  Not sure yet how effective that was. So 2011 is not starting off the greatest. But that’s ok. Get the bad stuff outta the way now and bask in the glory of the rest of 2011. ha ha ha ya right! So that’s where we stand today. Again nothing special to report but I just wanted to let you know what’s going on.

Quick update: It is now Fri 19:00. The H-Vac guys are all done and out of the Resto. All we need now is the electrical done for the fan. It’s a 3Phase system so it requires an electrician with a masters. Lucky they work on weekends. So Guy will be in tomorrow to hook up the hood and wire my dishwasher. Mon the fire suppression guy will come back to finish off and then it is inspection time. I’m doing interviews all next week as well. I also am getting some radio commercials lined up to run in Feb. I don’t have a big budget for Marketing, but I’ll dump most of what I have into start-up and, as we make money, I’ll have more to put into advertising as the year progresses.

Until next time my friends.

Le Commis Glenn

Year of the Hare. Let’s hope things start to move a little faster. Blog #24

I hope this blog finds everyone in good spirits. I trust you all had a great holiday season and a safe New Years. Not much has been going on at the LBM front. When I last left you, KRB was installing the hood and Jacques was doing some plumbing.  Jacques got the ice machine all hooked up and the coffee station ready in the Servery. I went home (London) on the 23^rd and hoped that the guys would be done the hood on the 24^th. Sadly it wasn’t. They needed to get a crane to get the fan up on the roof and finding a crane on Christmas Eve day proved to be difficult to say the least!

I came home Tuesday the 28^th only to find no hood guys. I thought, ok Mon and Tues were stats, but there was a no show Wed, Thurs, and Fri. as well.  I don’t mind that they took the week off, but telling me would have been nice. I could have spent a few more days at home. Jacques took off too. So there I was in the restaurant all last week with nothing to do.

I did clean up and painted the staff washroom and sorted out all my Bell problems. I was having problems with the internet and phone lines. Turns out they were just crossed wires. I felt like such a heel. I put together the dishwasher loosely. Just to make myself feel better.

So I’m assuming everyone will take tomorrow off for the Jan 1^st stat and then hopefully we get back to work on Tues. I’ve started to get resumes so I hope to start conducting interviews this week.  We need to get opened this month. Money is starting to get tight. I need to start bringing in income.  So hopefully I’ll have more to report on the next time I blog. 

Have a great week and we’ll blog at you soon.

 Le Commis Glenn