My Good Luck (That's a New one)

Just got home from work. It began pouring buckets about 1 PM today and rained for several hours straight. When I got to work at three, it was a ghost town...the rain had killed the lunch business.

The rain slacked off for a while and the people trickled in.

Kudos for me, I didn't have ONE wacky table and only had one tip under 15%. They cut the floor early, only leaving us closing servers on and a few of my regulars came in and asked for me.

Sometimes I wonder if they ask for me because of my serving skills or just so they can hear my comedy routine. I always have some story about my kids or something that has happened since I last saw them. These are the tables I really enjoy, where I can be myself and joke around without the fear of being fired. These customers that ask for me every time they come in are what usually put me over the top on a shift.

I know what they want to drink before they sit down, some of them I can put the order into the computer before I ever even go to the table and some of them will sit in the lobby for up to thirty minutes if I don't have an open table.

Some people like my sense of humor...some people don't.

I have to be really careful who I joke with...especially if I have never waited on them before.

I remember one time I waited on a family of six that I had never seen before and they ended up being "Secret Shoppers." The father had ordered a cup of chili and when I went back to the table after bringing it to him he told me the chili wasn't hot. I replied smartly "That's why we call it chilly." Of course after my quick witted joke I took it back and brought him a piping hot cup and he was happy. But when the shopper's report came in and the manager asked me if I remembered waiting on them I said of course I did and told him about my snappy comeback.
The manager rolled his eyes and didn't know whether to write me up or give me a service pin for "Superb Recovery."

I know that this is just my job, but to me it is a different thing altogether. It is an ongoing experiment with society. To know which people I can joke around with, which people I can fool into thinking I really DON'T think are idiots but kindred spirits and people that I let abuse me while I put on a fake smile and mentally DARE them to find fault with my service.

It may not be brain surgery, but in my case it seems to be a honed perfection and something that I seem to be quite good at.

I heard so many of my co workers that worked the lunch AND dinner shift today saying that they didn't make squat...and I have been in their shoes a lot of the time.

But tonight the "Server Gods" smiled on me and I walked out the door with almost $200.00 in my pocket after one single shift.

I really enjoy my job...rarely despise it and thankfully only infrequently have the whole shift blow up in my face.

I really needed tonight, financially and mentally.


Gotta be back to open in the morning. I already have my "Rainy days and Mondays always Get Me Down" routine worked up for the regulars... with the rest of them I'll have to 'wing ' it .

Hope my good luck holds out!

Til next time...COTTON