Done
Well folks that's your lot from Well Done Fillet. I quit.
Like eating a well done fillet steak it may take moment to digest that news.
I have truly loved writing Well Done Fillet but bugger me it doesn't half take it out of you and really does leave you with no free time for anything else. Like a politician forced to step down in disgrace I too want to spend time with family. Not specifically my family. But I also want to write about other things, there is more to life than waiters and chums of waiters or so I'm told. In a world filled with sheep and crooked politicians and where Adam Sandler is regarded as a comedic genius it seems wasteful just to write about the infinite joy of waiting tables. There is also a book that needs to be finished, rejected and started again and despite my best efforts and fanciful dreams it wont write itself.
Like I say, I have absolutely loved sharing my woes and wonders, my thoughtless thoughts and my foul mouthed meanderings with you. Ach I'm welling up. I hope I have made you laugh and I hope you have learned to love the waiters in your life. We are a noble breed, filled with compassion and charisma and an overwhelming sense of......ha! I cant even write that with a straight face. Seriously if you have learned nothing from me, and I assume you have learned exactly that then please just follow this simple advice - eat, pay, tip, leave or the waiter is gonna write about you on their blog.
So whilst Well Done Fillet will no longer be serving you truths from the restaurant floor (what?) I will be returning soon, in a new format and with bigger fish to fry. Or maybe just with stories of rude guests and courageous waiters. Who's to say?
Stay tuned.
I shall leave you with my second favourite waiter quote, “It's a good thing that life is not as serious as it seems to a waiter”.
Pfft, it was always serious.
och now! i only found your blog about a month ago! good luck…and come back soon!
Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Manuel, you have broken my poor little heart
All my favourite bloggers are no longer posting- who’s gonna make me laugh now?!
anon: cheers…
sooz: will be back in a week or two with new venture…..fingers crossed etc
Nooooooooooooooo! Just NO!
ellie: stop it…….you’ll set me off…..
I’m gutted, Manuel. I’m going to miss your waiterly meanderings, not to mention your visits to the butcher. Looking forward to your new incarnation. Hope I’ll keep seeing you on Twitter. All the best.
Thanks for all the good reads Manuel! Very much looking forward to you new venture(s) whatever they may be!
All the best!
tessa & rantaloti: thanks…..means a lot
So you’re quitting but you’re not quitting? Did I miss something?
I’ve enjoyed reading and commenting. The daily effort had to have been immense and extremely taxing. Good luck with whatever you plan to do. Seize the day, eh?
99 words: quitting wdf but not quitting blogging……dude it’s the comments and banter that keep you going…..as some one said it’s the fuel that powers a blog
cheers fella…..
You rock, stick around in some format. And stay on Twitter.
cheers Damien…..back soon I hope….
As much as I have enjoyed your stories from the restaurant floor, I think I would love to read your posts about most anything. You always make me laugh or think, or sometimes even cry. Though mostly I laugh…I’ve really loved Well Done Fillet. Found you thru Waiterrant, and really, he’s not posting that much anymore so…looking forward to your new format, please don’t make us wait too long!
Michelle: awh thanks for saying so…..means a lot
Me again. Jeeez, I didn’t see that one coming! I have loved reading this blog. Thanks for the laughs. Shall go and pour a gin now and raise a glass to the future and your new venture.
Heroic. Job well done, well done fillet. It’s like Paul Weller calling it quits on The Jam, or Brutus calling it quits on Julius Caesar.
Come back different. Come back the same. Come back better.
Aw bugger!
Whatever your new venture is.. start it soon. I needed my late night laugh to get me to sleep.
ellie: awh jeez ellie I’d love a gin right about now….
Eolai: ha! the same but better…..I like that
grandad: I probably will continue to post late at night when I do start again……whenever that is
Absolutely gutted. A tragic loss to local blogging – who the hell are we going to put up for blog awards now?
Best of luck, buddy!
Sharon can carry all our hopes and dreams now…! cheers Andy….
Well just, fuck. I’ve been reading you well over a year now Manuel. You were such a comfort and comrade and outright belly laugh to me after a crap shift. You have a great gift of seeing through the superficial bullshit and exposing the pompous. I am truly going to miss this blog. Good luck in whatever you do next.
Well that’s being selfish, sort of, ish.
How about a grand finale blog, one last rave about the stupidity, greediness, rudeness of that great unwashed class – the dining public?
Kept that quiet…….kinell.
Aw, shit.
I know that the blogging thing can be time consuming, hell I’ve ditched a blog in the past in an attempt to get my own life back (it didn’t work as now I just write for multiple outlets instead) so I know what its like.
I promise I won’t bitch and moan (much)about your leaving, I wish you the very best for the future Manuel and thanks for being such a highlight!
OH NO! So so loved your blog…but I can understand why you’d want to gravitate to something else. Though wish you woulnd’t! Oh MANUEL!!!!!!
Come back after a break and change your mind.
We love you!
xx
Ah for funks snakes!!
I only found this recently. That’s it I’m gonna burn the internet down.
Good Luck and all that balls you kill the craic hallion.
It’s been a pure delight reading this I only hope I’m lucky enough to be at one of your tables one night so I can buy you a drink to say thanks for the laughs and I promise all the waiters in all the restaurants will benefit from the manners I learnt here.
Cheers
Adam
OMG- please don’t be serious. You can post once a week or something. Ack.
i now pattern all restaurant behaviour after the Teachings of Manuel. you have done well… (see what i did there?) i’m not sure i could be any kinder to waiters now – unless i simply sign over my paychecks, which ain’t happening anytime soon.
looking forward to your new venture! your writing is exceptional – and makes me laugh raucously! (no, i don’t “LOL” either). i’ve learned much from your political excursions, and hope that your next venture will build on that and more!
I leave the country for a week and look what happens!
Seriously, though, tell me this is au revoir and not goodbye. I know how a blog can be all consuming so if you’re doing the right thing for yourself then that’s the most important thing you can do. I will meanwhile be expectantly waiting to sample the bigger fish that you have in the pan and I also want to hear about the progress of your taters! Take care.
Farewell Manuel, thanks for writing one of the best and funniest blogs I’ve followed. Was always great to see something new pop up, and wish you all the best with whatever you move on to.
Farewell from Down Under
If you truly promise to return, I’m ok. I’ve been here from the start and it’s been a place I’ve looked forward to visiting each day. I can honestly say I look at waiters differently and I think you are a talented writer. So. Please. Come back.
How will we find you?
xoxoxxo – you are a gem.
Well fuckity fuck fuck, to quote my favorite waiter. Let me know when you’ve decided to make your triumphant comeback.
Well, I guess this is good bye then…
…i think.
scratches head
Oh dear god no!!!!! Manuel please don’t do it! I thought I had found a little (rare) slice of belfast heaven to know us Norn Irn waiting staff were not alone!
Can’t you take a break and come back? We love you to BITS man, don’t leave us!
WDF is what keeps me sane, it’s the highlight of my life….god damn it’s first on my safari beta favs tabs!
Will you think about it?
Dear Manuel;
Thank you for your efforts to entertain and educate us.
I’ll keep you and your father close in my prayers.
It’s too much stress to lose both parents in such a short time. Keep us in mind as I speak for the entire world wide web when I say we’ll miss you.
Who will want to hear about the crazy things we have eaten or tell us of their trips to the butcher shop now?
xoxo
Manuel, you’re fucking aces.
Can’t wait for the next project or the book.
Thanks very much for over two years of golden posts.
You rock!
I shall miss WDF, but look forward to your new ventures.
Nothing but success to you, Manuel!
Yours is the one of the few blogs I check everyday. WDF has been the best-Im so appreciative. Only wish I had found you sooner, but life is all about timing, innit?
Im glad you’re going to get your life back. Now Ive done gone and set myself off…
Wish I could just quit like that.
Best of luck in your new endeavours, whatever they may be(hopefully not related to Fianna Fail or RTE).
I was going to call it quits and start up as something else but then I thought no I can wait that waiting bastard out. so I guess I win so get the the ketchup for this steak NOW!
You’ll be back I can smell an addict.
leaving is pretty handy for losing a big chunk of yer readers but it shows you who yer real readers are.
Not me by the way.
Its like Boy George leaving Wham not paul (pass out on the street drunk )weller.
Just tell us you got fired and soon it will be Well done Mc Fillet’o'fish.
Strength to you and yers and may the road rise somewhere over the rainbow.
Oy. I have enjoyed your rants and raves so very much, but you need to do what’s best for you and whatever sanity remains.
I’ll miss your blog, but if there is more Manuel to come, I’ll muddle through.
Er….so who gets your tips then?
I’m in Belfast in August and I’m sure I’ll be hungry.
I’m going to miss you something fierce, Manuel. All the best to you in your new venture. (sigh)
Well, do have fun channelling your passion, creativity and inner angst into future projects! Looking forward …
Manuel let me know where you turn up again and all the best. I have really enjoyed your posts!
Gosh darn it… I go away for a bit and come back to hear the news about your father and now this. It’s like a double blow to the gut, for even though I don’t know you personally I’ve grown fond of your persona and dilemmas.
And I just about read all your backlog posts too! Great fun it’s been.
Can’t blame you at all for pursuing other interests, good luck with that. Thanks for the laughs and the tears and training me to always tip 20%… unless the service is shocking!!!
So now spill… my partner thinks you work at either The Merchant or Nick’s Warehouse
but… but.. how will we know??? how will we know what your next venture is?? HOW WILL WE KNOW WHERE TO FIND YOU????!!!!
it’s half six in the morning and you’ve made me have a panic attack.
well not quite but, you know.
all the best manuel, looking forward very much to your next endeavour xx
Wowsers and other cartoon words. This is a shock.
I have loved reading Well Done Fillet and am very excited to see what you come up with next. Your merry band of fans will follow you to the new blog and the joy will start again.
Good luck Manuel!
(You’d better really start a new blog or I’ll tell all the good butchers to ban you.)
***tips hat and winks***