Category: Guests
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Quit Occupying My Section
Monday is not normally my busy night, but yesterday was. Monday night is not a shift I expect to make much money, but I had the potential to make much last night. “We’ll be 7 or 8 when everyone gets here at 6:30,” said the man struggling to pull two of my best tables together.…
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So Many Candles
Who doesn’t take stock of life’s antics on one’s birthday? Sure, you pretend this insignificant, utterly forgettable birthday is insignificant and forgettable enough to stop the reflective thoughts as they creep up over your morning coffee and spill forth with the force of a rogue wave by happy hour. Thus, if the thoughts are there,…
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Alma Mater–Oh Dear!
Dad had on his Duke T-shirt. Mom sported an Ivy League someplace hoodie. Son wore his Ice Bowl hockey tee. Daughter and two other college-age kids chose to remain mysterious, wearing plain, logo-less tops. “Morning folks, how is everyone today?” I smiled at the handsome group of six, and not just because my gratuity was…
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End of Season Reflections
I should have written this post a month ago, when season really ended, but for reasons that have no reason, I continue to work many hours, although my pay has diminished to half since Mother’s Day. Anyone who has worked the SoFla or Keys hospitality gig knows this season of riches/summertime slumber routine. I’ve been…
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My First Prom
No one forgets their senior prom–the dress, the dinner, the anticipation fraught with drama. I, however, have no prom memories, because I never went to one. Before anyone feels sorry for a Restaurant Gal who was left home alone on one of the crucial archetypal moments of passage in a teenage gal’s almost grown-up world,…
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Longer Days
She always takes a spring break, and always at the height of season when throngs of college kids and families and everyone else in between vies for a coveted spot on the soft white SoFla sand. “I don’t know why I still take a vacation in March,” she said on day two of her stay.…
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The Birds
When you work outside, no matter how great the view, you have to contend with the local wildlife. Where I work, the wildlife basically means the scrawny little black birds sporting an occasional splash of yellow that have figured out that our outdoor seating area presents a veritable bird’s smorgasbord. “They’re so cute!” someone or…
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Coveted Snow-Free Status
A dear and wonderful D.C. girlfriend posted this startling statistic on my personal Facebook page: “Just a little tidbit of current trivia: the only state in the union without snow on 1/11/11 is Florida…” I knew, of course, the weather was horrible throughout the southeast. I also knew the horribleness was about to spread to…
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A Kiss Goodbye
I know the look. I saw it on my biological father, when I thought he was just tired from all the activity he’d insisted we cram into 48 hours. But he knew. I know that look. I saw it on my customer who’d said he’d lost so much weight because he’d wanted to. I evaluated…
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The Reports of My Leaving…
…are only slightly exaggerated. (With apologies to Mark Twain.) But as is the case in any small town, this one’s coconut telegraph has been abuzz with all kinds of possibilities and probabilities about my past, present and future. “I heard you are leaving for D.C.” insisted a customer last week at job two. I replied…