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 [...]
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 [...]
If I hadn’t wandered into a dive bar across the street from my Fort Lauderdale apartment a year ago, I wouldn’t know the very cool owner of that dive bar. I also would not have met the day-at-a-time boy who would break my heart a few months later. If my life in Fort Lauderdale had [...]
I woke up this past Saturday morning with itchy eyes and a stuffy nose. Allergies, of course. No more Claritin in the house, of course. My guy and I decided there was no better way to spend a rainy Saturday morning in paradise than to shop every aisle at CVS. I needed the allergy meds. [...]
At first, you have no clue who the person is who is standing in front of you with his hand extended. “Hey, Bruce Carlton. We had so many classes together in 7th grade.” You smile the dumb smile of one who has no clue, one that conveys that you pretend to have a clue, but [...]
“The money is good there,” said Upset Waitress a few weeks ago as we sat smoking cigarettes on my front porch. “As long as it’s good, use it. When the money stops being good, leave.” “Yeah,” I nodded. “But every day the new owners change something major, then the idiot manager doesn’t tell us, then [...]
I left for Colorado a week ago. My local bar manager told me he wanted me on the schedule full time when I returned. With that good news in hand, I turned down another job that had just been offered, and I reduced my shifts to one at the dive. Oh, and I booked a [...]
She wandered in at 8 a.m., wide-eyed and only a little nervous. Her crisp apron was tied nicely around her khaki pants, her makeup was just so. Who the hell are you? I thought as I buttered toast and kept half an eye on the line, where my order was starting to pile up. I [...]