by Brian Edwards

Created on: November 06, 2008

You'd think the you'd get a moment to relax when it's 3 am, but it never happens. As much as I'd like to get switched over to the day shifts, Marie (my manager) says there are just too many people right now and someone has to work the overnight shifts and there's no way to switch around the schedule. So, I get stuck coming in at 10 pm and getting off at 6 am. At least it's entertaining.

The diner is open 24-hours a day. The only time I've ever seen it close is Christmas night, though it's open during the day. During the day, it's a pretty normal crowd. Mostly business people; doctors and lawyers and so-on. They start bursting through the door when I get off. Sometimes I stay and have a cup of coffee, sipping and watching the people come in. They fill the counter and they take all the booths. When the server comes around, no one makes eye contact with her. They simply bark out what it is they want and go back to their conversations as if the server had never existed in the first place.

The night is more entertaining, though. Around 12, the dinner crowd has finally gone and it seems like it'll finally slow down, that's when the characters come out. Transvestite hookers looking for a warm place to sit through the night or just a base to run the business. They usually buy coffee and that's all, taking advantage of the free refills. Once in awhile, the tranny hookers get into fights. Fist-fulls of wigs and fake tits end up everywhere. Bums and hobos often come in and try to find dark corners to sleep in. Sometimes I let them, but I'm not allowed to. Then there are the night owls; odd people that appear in the middle of the night and just sit around, sipping coffee and taking small bites of bacon. They'll read newspapers or write in journals, fighting sleep and whatever demons that play in their dreams. Then there are the old men that come in and play cards all night. They never order anything except water and they always smell of cigar smoke.

It's a twisted circus of clowns and jokers, thieves and vagabonds. You'd never know it, though. You have to come in after 12, but before 5. That's when they all come. That's when I serve. It's when the societies under-belly comes out. The suits fall off for wigs and high heels, sanity for coffee and cards, sleep for some kind of human contact. Desperate souls seeking protection from the night. Because it's cold at night when the Santa Anna winds blow. And there's nowhere else. Only the diner.

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