So this is a summary of what happened at my work two days ago. You can imagine why I was so pissed off at the customer and my boss.

Customer: “What is the difference between your ramen soup and nabeyaki udon soup?”

Me: “The ramen noodles are thin and the nabeyaki udon noodles are thicker.”

Customer: “I want the thick noodles then.”

(So I order him the nabeyaki udon, he eats half of the bowl, then complains to my manager that I got him the wrong one.  My manager comps the nabeyaki udon and takes me to the back.)

Manager yells at me: “Why did you give him nabeyaki udon? He doesn’t know the difference between thin and thick! Use common sense! You do this every time, EVERY TIME!”

(Thinking to myself, “I’m sorry, next time I won’t give the customer what he asked for”)

- RYCE Randy

Donkey and lead it to the plains where it could run wild.

The next day the headlines read:
NUN ANNOUNCES HER ASS IS WILD AND FREE.

The Bishop was buried the Next day.

MORAL FROM TODAY’S LESSON:

Being concerned about public opinion can
Bring you much grief and misery. It can even shorten your life …
… So be yourself and enjoy life to the fullest.

- RYCE Randy

Cuz it’s Ryce Rod’s birthday !!! Is 9.9.09 really that special? I mean it falls on a Wednesday, such a random day. Ryce Rod can’t throw any parties cuz no one will come due to them being a slave to their job. Like Nguyen said, it’s two days before the 9.11 attacks, which means on 9.9 people were planning a terrorist attack on America. Happy Birthday Ryce Rod, we’re gonna attack your country in two days. So sad, so sad.

Ryce Rod is going to be roaming around San Diego tonight for his birthday, so if you would like to stalk him be my guest. It won’t be hard to find an Asian guy that has a mohawk, wearing a chain on his pocket and neck, pointy brown dress shoes, tight pants with tons of designs on it, and throwing up the peace sign everywhere like a true Asian fob that he is. If you find him, slap him on the back of the head and tell him I sent you. He’ll most likely be with another Asian guy that looks like Jet Li and an Indian guy that looks like Slumdog Millionaire We can’t help it if the Ryce Crew hangs out with famous people.

Happy Birthday Ryce Rod, I love you like the volleyballs that I like to hit twice a week on the court Roomplug will go far. This right now, is just the beginning to a new life.

- RYCE Randy

So for Labor Day Weekend, the Ryce Crew had a small BBQ with a group of friends but it ended up becoming a feast.  We had short ribs, corn, shrimp, hot dogs, veggies, and then a homemade apple crisp with sugar and ice cream for dessert. I barely made it home because I was so full and spent from food coma.  This weekend the Ryce Crew will be busy with Ryce Rodney’s birthday party on Saturday. Ryce Rod will be making his famous gumbo while his mom might make some egg rolls, fried rice, and other stuff. It’ll be a chill hangout of food, poker, and just catching up with friends and their busy lives.

Ryce Rod’s birthday is actually suppose to be on 9.9.09 this Wednesday, but obviously a bunch of people wouldn’t be able to make it if we had it on that day.  9.9.09 is actually the last day that will have repeating single digits for another century, which is January 1, 2101. Although the number 9 is lucky in many traditions, the Japanese are the only ones that I know of that think the number 9 is unlucky. They believe it stands for suffering while the number 4 stands for death. This is just a little information for your brain just in case you haven’t done anything educational today. Roaming on facebook and reading blogs around the net isn’t considered educational by the way

Anyways, since one of the guys from the Loma Linda Volleyball Crew is moving and two other people have a birthday, we’re going to be having a little gathering at The Vault in Redlands in about an hour. I heard they have a Tuesday special that everything’s $2 or something. Anyways, if you’re out in the area, stop by and say hi. I don’t know if I’ll be there all night but who knows. With the Ryce Crew, you’ll always have a fun time.

- RYCE Randy

So I’m having a conversation with my friend Arlene and she tells me straight up that she’s a slut. What the heck, are you serious? Here is the conversation …

I’m pretty sure I’ll get a response from her or even her other friends

So this past weekend the Ryce Crew went to San Diego for a BBQ that we do every year at La Jolla beach. Friday night Ryce Rodney, his roommate, Mamiko, and I went to Johnny V’s in Pacific Beach to hang out. Apparently they don’t like to bring people into the club because some drunk girl was dancing on Mamiko’s lap out in the patio and they both got kicked out when there was only 30 minutes left before the club closes. So Mamiko sneaks back in and when Ryce Rod is paying his bar tab, one of the bouncers asks Mamiko how she got back in. Then he kicks her out again … when the whole club was already leaving. Hahaha, shows how good their security is that Mamiko gets kicked out and then LITERALLY walks right back in through the front door. On top of that Ryce Rod asked one of the bartenders for a NewCastle and the bartender said they didn’t have it. 20 minutes later I go to the same bar and get the bartender to give it to me. So I guess not all the bartenders know what they have on tap. The decor of the place was ok, nothing that impresses me since I’m a Hollywood kid. It is one of the better places in the PB area in terms of decor though.

On Saturday we hit up La Jolla beach all day and hang out with friends that we haven’t seen in a long time. Too bad it was pretty crowded because we weren’t able to setup our volleyball net on the grass. There was a lot of people out in the water even though there were strong waves and riptides. Olivier and I had a blast out in the water though. We went to go flip Chris off his boogie board. He knew we were up to something but we’re too sneaky sneaky for him

Then we decided to swim back closer to the shore. This is where it gets interesting. Our friends “Mary” and “Tina” were swimming together the whole time but were a little separated at the time. So Olivier and I went over to Mary, acted like we were drowning, and was splashing water and putting all our weight on her shoulders. Little did we know she actually needed help getting back to shore. So Olivier helped her and I went over to Tina. Since I just met her and she’s a good looking lady, I decided to let her swim around and let the guys check her out or whatever. I guess I was just giving her space. Anyways she didn’t look as happy as she did early and I was TOTALLY oblivious to the fact that she needed help getting back to shore also. So when she asked me for help I was like oh, ok like a dumb dumb, haha. So after I get her closer to the shore, I felt the ground and stood up. Then I told her to stand up also and she tells me,” I can’t reach the ground.” So I’m trying to be serious and help her but couldn’t stop laughing because I forgot that she’s not as tall as me. After O and I get the girls close enough to stand up we see a lifeguard swim past us. Then I realized I knew the person he was saving also. Man, I didn’t know riptides and waves were that serious. I was so oblivious to how far O and I were out there. Not to mention that our friends needed help.

I’m very good in keeping an eye on the girls in our group where ever we go to make sure they’re safe. I just should have been paying more attention this time, especially at the beach. I don’t consider myself a good swimmer but I do consider myself athletic only because I play a lot of sports. But even with that being said, I had no idea how to swim with someone holding onto you. Since people are always at the beach in the Southern California area, I decided to look for a video on how to properly save someone from drowning if you are swimming next to them without a flotation device. No luck. All I could find is information on repeatedly informing the person to calm down and then float on their back. If they are panicking and thrashing in the water, they could potentially pull the rescuer under the water and drown. Well, I didn’t tell her to calm down because I felt that she was, but then again I was pretty oblivious to some things at the moment. She did pull me under the water a few times but because I’m strong-willed and determined to get her back safely, I didn’t say anything.

So from first hand experience, if someone is drowning or scared of drowning, they WILL pull you under the water. It obviously won’t be intentional, but you both have to stay calm in order to get through the situation alive. I know Olivier had a harder time because him and Mary were farther out than Tina and I were. Overall it was an interesting experience. Do not take this the wrong way, but I’m kind of glad that it happened because it taught me how to deal with the situation in the future and hopefully inform you guys before it happens to you. They sun-tanned on the beach when we got back so I’m sure that was a good way for them to relax and calm down. I just hope that the girls won’t be afraid to go out into the beach again. Even though all of this happened, everyone had a good time at our BBQ and can’t wait for another one next year.

Sunday I played volleyball and somehow strained my neck. It was that feeling when you wake up and you have a pain in your neck because you slept wrong in a bad position. Luckily Kat’s friend came into the gym to say hi to her and he was some kind of PT. He did a few traction exercises on my neck to relieve the muscle tension. When I woke up on Monday it felt even worse. I told Ryce Rod that I’d help him move and felt bad if I backed out, so I did it anyways. Starting at 9 AM we didn’t get down till about midnight. Then while we were carrying Rod’s Mom’s heaviest headboard for the bed, I dropped the post on my left foot. I actually didn’t feel much pain until afterwards. Then the pain started getting stronger and stronger as the night went on. So I tried to keep my foot elevated higher than my butt and kept ice on it. So now I’m home with my foot elevated, ice on it, and a warm towel on my neck doing traction exercises. Not only that, I’m suppose to play volleyball tonight and our first Upper division league game in Ontario tomorrow. Despite all these injuries if I still don’t feel good to play … I’ll pop a Vicodin and get on that court. Rod’s roommate asked me how much I like volleyball and I told him I’ll be ready by tonight. He’s right, nothing’s going to stop me from playing volleyball

So far this weekend was packed with events that were not only eye-opening but always educational. Anytime the Ryce Crew can share educational information with the public for the good, we will. Hope all of you guys have a great Labor Day Weekend as Ryce Rod and I will probably do a little BBQ. Hopefully he doesn’t burn his house down and force him to sleep in the alley

- RYCE Randy

Since not that many people know where I work, I can talk about this freely without anyone getting in trouble including me. PLEASE tell me what you think about what just happened to me.

So I work at a restaurant as a server and I get a party of about 15 people. Tip is included which is only 15% which came out to $70.49. One of the ladies insists that I give her the bill, I do, and then I get it back after she signs it. She included another $50 which means she tipped me $120.49 (~ 26%). I inform her that 15% is already included and she tells me that she knows and smiles really big. I tell her that I’m just making sure and she tells me two more times that she knows and keeps on smiling. After I close out my manager asks to see my credit card slips. I show him and tell him that she tipped me 26% because I already know that’s why he wants to see them.

He then tells me, “I’m not going to pay that”.

I said,” what?”

He then says,” they’re going to call back tomorrow and complain. They always do. I guarentee it. I’m not going to give that $50 to you. We never do”.

I tell him that I informed the customer that 15% was included and she told me she knows.

The manager then tells me,” well she didn’t tell me”.

WHAT, why do customers have to tell you everytime they leave additional tips more than 15%. That’s so stupid. He straight out LIED when he said that they never pay us the additional tips. You can ask ANY server in that restaurant that when someone leaves additional tips more than the 15% that is included, our boss and manager has paid it to us MULTIPLE times. So he tells me that everytime someone leaves additional tips, the CUSTOMER has to let the manager or boss know. WTF. Where in the world do you as a customer have to tell the boss,” uh, I’m going to tip the server 16%.”

The manager and the boss always tell all the servers that once the credit card transaction is finalized by us, that they can’t do anything to it or change it because it’s too late. But this time he tells me that he’s not going to pay me the additional $50 that I rightfully got tipped by the customer. Which brings me to 2 questions: So if you can’t change the credit card transactions after we finalize it, then that means you’re PERSONALLY keeping my $50? Or if you can change the transactions after they have been finalized, then you’ve been lying to all the workers for more than 20 years.

Tips has NOTHING to do with the finances of the restaurant. It goes from the customer to the server, so why is my manager preventing me from receiving my tips? This has to be illegal because they have no right taking my tips away from me. Isn’t tipping your server the number one way for customers to rate how well they have worked? So how come I get tipped $120 and my manager can’t accept that fact that I’m a good server. Instead he punishes me and doesn’t pay me my $50 that I rightfully deserve. This has to be considered a restaurant scandal or something. Someone please let me know what you think and tell me if I’m right or not. This can’t be fair in any way possible.

- RYCE Randy

Michelle did ask me FIRST if I could play in the Ontario Volleyball League with her on Wednesday. I DID switch my Wednesday shifts for someone’s Monday shifts just so I could play on Michelle’s team so she can’t say that I rate her low on any kind of scale. Btw, in the restaurant business, everyone knows giving up a Wednesday to work on Mondays is financial suicide. Mondays is the slowest day of the week for any restaurant. That being said, Michelle’s name is the only name mentioned in this blog … and mine

- RYCE Randy

So the guys went camping to I think somewhere called Camp Moreno? I actually don’t remember cuz I already deleted the email threads. This trip will be interesting for them because most of them have never gone camping before. Not only that, a bunch of them are going to be whinning when they find out there’s no showers, haha. Just to give you a little insight on how Asian virgin campers plan, this is their schedule …

- Fruit, water and beer (yes, beer for breakfast too)

This is what Ryce Rod probably looks like right now

So first they start off with Asian food and eat K sandwiches, then they go Mexican with quesadillas. Then back to Asian food, and then American after that. To top it off, there’s beer on the list for every meal including BREAKFAST. Yes Nguyen, you are an alcoholic. I don’t know if you eat your cereal with beer, but it’ll have to stop soon since you’re going to have a kid now I won’t be surprised if one of them comes back with a hook in their cheek or scratch marks from fighting with a small bear for leaving their food out in the open. I totally would have gone with them, it’s just that I’m already getting people to cover 4 of my shifts. My Saturday shift for the summer BBQ that we do every year in San Diego on August 29, on September 19 we have our “Guy’s Night Out” in San Diego Gaslamp rolling in a limo to the club VIP style with bottle service, and then my volleyball tournament in Las Vegas for Westside League on September 26 weekend. This next month is going to be crazy busy for the Ryce Crew especially because Ryce Rodney’s birthday falls on 9.9.09 this year. We’ll be throwing him a birthday party at his place on September 12, so right after work I’ll have to jet over to his place to make sure I didn’t miss anything. I will literally kick him in the face if he’s drunk before I get there which should be around 9 PM.

My parents are going to be in town this weekend and I’ll be able to get the really nice video camera from my dad. Once that happens, the Ryce Crew will be making better quality videos to post up. We already have ideas on some viral videos to make so we’ll see how that goes. Plus Ryce Rod has some boys in San Diego who are film editors to help us out with that if needed.

Regarding the last blog that I made about having a crazy good day, one of my friends decided to have a hissy fit because Kat’s name was mentioned twice and her unknown name was not mentioned at all. Just for entertainment purposes, I’ll show you our text convo.

Michelle: “Wow. Really? Just read ur blog. Kat gets mentioned by name not once, but TWICE, & let’s see, the captain of the ontario league team who graciously asked u to join, is let’s see….. wait a minute….. oh! She is NOT mentioned at all!….. thanks. I know how I rate now.”

Ryce Randy: “Puhahahaha, I did it cuz I wanted to hear ur voice again, oolala :p”

Michelle: “Sure…. nice try. U r out of luck. U won’t be hearing my voice cause i’m no longer talking to u.”

Ok, so after this all happens, Michelle thinks that she can trick me and tells Chris, another guy in our Loma Linda volleyball crew, to  send me a text that says:  “Hey, I just got off phone w/ chelle & she was mad & wouldn’t give details but said it had something to do w/ u & ontario league. What happened?”

So me knowing that Chelle is trying to be funny, I decide to strike back and text Chris saying:  “I told her that I actually don’t like playing on the same team as her, so I won’t play with u guys in the league.” Watching the time, 7 minutes later Chelle decides to text me back saying:  “Sooooo…. now u don’t like playing w/ me. I see how it goes. No, i’m not mad @ u. I’m just really pissed.”

Chelle, here’s a little advice. Next time you try to pull a trick on me, don’t use Chris cuz I know he wouldn’t do it. And like you always said, “When did you ever listen to Chris?” hahaha

1) Kat and Christina asked me about the ontario league before you did. They asked that night while you asked me the next day, so technically you didn’t ask me.

2) At least you know how I rate you. I mean, only a good friend would tell you. See, Chris and Kat are not good friends because they didn’t tell you where you rate to them yet. Tsk tsk, ony a good friend would tell you the truth, PUAHAHAHAHAAHA. j/k

For the record:

Kat’s name mentioned: 4 time

Michelle’s full name: 3 times

Chelle’s name mentioned: 3 times

Chris’s name mentioned: 5 times

Christina’s name mentioned: 1 time … wait

Christina, Christina, Christina

revised list:

Kat’s name mentioned: 4 time

Michelle’s full name: 3 times

Chelle’s name mentioned: 3 times

Chris’s name mentioned: 5 times

Christina’s name mentioned: 4 times

I guess you still are on the bottom Cya Saturday !

- RYCE Randy

So yesterday, Tuesday, Ryce Rod and I went to OC to meet up with his old friend Joel.  He just came back from the army being in Afghanistan for about 13 months I believe. Anyways, we had Vietnamese pho at this restaurant called Pho Kimmy? All they serve there is pho, so you automatically have to assume that their pho is off the chain. Rod’s mom thinks that they make the best pho noodles that she’s ever tasted in her life.  I honestly can’t tell that much of a difference.  I mean, I could tell there’s a difference between the pho broth there compared to other pho restaurants, but I wouldn’t know which one is the best. They all taste good to me.

After that we went to a Vietnamese coffee shop with Joel to catch up on old times and a few other guys met up there also. While talking with the guys, we found out that two of them have contacts that can help us in the next stage of Ryce. Rod and I were talking about what we need to do next for Ryce to grow bigger and these two guys are our golden ticket. We couldn’t ask for anything better. The whole purpose of Rod going to OC was to see Joel. The whole purpose of me going to OC was to get a massage. You’re thinking, “What’s so good about a massage in OC?” First let me make sure we’re on the same page here. Most massage places cost about $1/min which usually comes out to $60 or more/hr. What’s so good about OC massages? It’s $15 for 1 whole hour!!! It’s a full body massage and they do a good job, at least that’s what I think. My first professional massage was at my friend’s day spa and salon. This was my second massage, so I wouldn’t have many experiences to compare it to.  I would rather have the 1st massage again, but I would definitely take this $15 massage any day. For $15, the quality of the massage is really good and I felt bad for all the work that they did at that price. I felt like I was having a 10 year old Asian child make me a sweater.

After I played volleyball, I found out that one of the girls can play in the Las Vegas volleyball tournament with my UCLA volleyball crew.  We’ll be submitting 3 teams this time and we only need 1 more girl. Since my friend Kat decided to play with us, my team for the Vegas tourney is completed thus securing my spot in the tournament this year. So we’ll be rolling deep to Vegas with 21 people because we’ll have 3 friends that are coming just to hang out. We already booked two 2-bedroom suites at $120 a night. It has 1 King bed, 1 queen bed, and 1 queen size sofa. The whole 2 bedroom suite is 1,262 square feet. Our volleyball crew knows how to hunt for good deals and DAAAAANG this is a really good deal.

So on top of all this, a team asked me to play with them in a volleyball league on Wednesdays in Ontario. YAY, more volleyball. Plus our team is STACKED. So I’m currently trying to move my work schedule around so I can play in the league. More volleyball = more fun = happy Ryce Randy

Summary for today: Ate pho, found two contacts that are very key to Ryce succeeding, $15 hour massage, played volleyball, recruited Kat to play on our Vegas team which in turn secured my spot for the Vegas tourney next month, got invited to play on a stacked vball team for a league, found a co-worker to switch my Wednesday for their Monday so I can play in the league, and noticed that it’s 6:30 AM and I’m still not tired because I’m soooo happy right now. I’m on that high, the same high that you get when you’ve been playing at the craps table for only 20 minutes and you’re already up by $200. Now that I just looked outside and it’s not dark outside is the same feeling that you get when u walk into a Vegas casino at 11 PM and come out when it’s bright outside. Either way, it’s time for me to go to bed.

Remember: “Any day above the ground is a good day”

- RYCE Randy