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"Working at the Restaurant"

Back in 1974 I was selling Avon and also working at our town's Auto Auction every Friday. While there I met a lady who worked at a restaurant a few miles down the road who urged me to apply there also. Being married and having a husband and three children it seemed we were always needing extra money. I had gone through a period of depression and just not feeling well and felt that the extras this job would provide may help us to have an "Easier time of it!"

I had never dealt with the everyday goings on in a restaurant so I can tell you I was in for a big surprise. I found out that many waitresses lives depended on a tip from a customer and that girls would argue over who waited on a man who would leave a quarter while making him wait for his cup of coffee until they made their decision.

While in training I left a stainless steel creamer pitcher (just until I put my dishes on the dishwasher) on a refrigerated glassed in cabinet where jellos and desserts were placed to grab quickly upon receiving an order for one. One of the other waitresses said to me, "I am not your fairy godmother who will pick up after you!" I learned not to leave it there anymore! Just because they were the day shift where I was training and I knew I was moving to an afternoon shift and thought to myself, "Oh well."

Most of the cooks there were very temperamental. One of them threw a plate behind the dishwasher because I had a customer who wanted something he didn't want to prepare because the restaurant was busy. He screamed at me for putting in the order. This happened quite a few times until I finally told him to "Go to you know where!" It is funny but we became friends after that. You see, people will push and push you until they see what you are made of even in the restaurant business. I also learned that if you want to know what stress is, just work in a restaurant on a 'fish fry night' or an 'all you can eat' night.

I always wanted to let this large restaurant chain know how they helped all of us through these tough periods of our lives. We used to call ourselves "misfits!" I was suffering from depression and fear of daily life plus health issues and so were three others I worked with, a few of the ladies were working because they had abusive husbands who hit them. They felt if they earned money and they were good girls it would help their situation at home. The one busboy was older and drank quite a bit off the jobhe couldn't read and could only write his name.

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