Add a third place of employment to your daily life, and you soon find that you live in an multi-layered netherworld of “almost” realities–almost feel like I live here; almost wish I could work more shifts there; almost wonder how the more things change, the more things remain the same everywhere.
A very short list of [...]
The bar was sticky with splashed beer and spilled booze. Ashtrays were washed and stacked, except the ones that weren’t. Limes and lemons rotted in the hand-washing sink. Dirty beer mugs lay on their sides in the “wash” compartment. Straws and peanut shells and bev naps and a dime or two were trapped at awkward [...]
I made it home just fine today, despite the two rum and sodas. I was supposed to work a double, but it was only 10 hours. I needed the rum and sodas because I wasn’t ready to go home after the double that wasn’t. Because it had been a day that felt like ten. Which [...]
A long, long time ago, well before I was a restaurant gal, I was going to make lot of money hosting children’s theme parties. I had an actual location, various theater-quality props, costumes, and a small army of high-school drama-club kids willing to serve cake and ice cream while dressed up as knights and astronauts [...]
“I just want you to know,” said the elderly gentleman on a phone somewhere in very cold and very snowy Pennsylvania, “I am booking this family reunion party with you because you were the only one who took the time to listen to all our requests, and you obviously went out of your way to [...]
A manager somewhere in D.C. at 9:45 a.m.:
“Hello?”
“Hey, you awake?”
“Yep. What’s up?”
“Can you come in to work? Gotta a no call, no show.”
“Sure. Be there in half an hour.”
“Thanks.”
A manager somewhere in Key West at 9:45 a.m.:
“Hello?”
“Hey, you sober?”
Pause. Laugh to self. “Yep. What’s up?”
“Can you work today? Gotta no call, no show.”
“Sure. Be there [...]
On a day when I discovered the frozen custard I ate for lunch poisoned me with wheat and soy, I did my best to push through the knife-in-the-stomach pains.
On a day when my great guy finally got a job in Key West, I did my best to be thrilled.
On a day when the significant other [...]
The shrill chirp of the second alarm clock was the sound that finally roused my Miami friend and former coworker at 4:15 a.m.–the time she wakes up every weekend morning to make the hour-and-a-half drive to work a double 6 a.m. breakfast-lunch shift, followed by a dinner shift. On this particular morning, she told me, [...]
Suddenly, everyday, I read or hear about yet another “What Servers Should Do” article, blog post, etc. Frankly, I am surprised that so many feel the topic important enough to speak about it in such inglorious, minute detail. (I did enjoy Waiter’s recent rebuttal, to one such article, however.)
Why isn’t anyone writing about “100 [...]
On the night when the bar fight broke out, on the same day when an older regular customer had gotten popped for a DUI, and when, before that, a co-worker had quite suddenly walked out, leaving me to either face another 7,000 doubles or try yet again to plug the holes in the dam with [...]