The last of the summer memories.
Last summer was probably one of the best summers I've had in a long time. I worked as a waitress, which was a change for me because getting a summer job is nearly impossible & I always have to end up working for my dad. Working outside of the family business is great break. I met so many people. & I realized that almost everyone in the restaurant business has a troubled/interesting past. Most of the waiters there had been in rehab or were still struggling with demons. One day I came in to work just like any other day & a few minutes later Brandon (my fellow co-worker) walks in with this massive glasses, the ones that girls wear. His knuckles and cheeks are swollen and red. I'd never seen anyone's eyes that color. It was like someone took out his eyeball & painted it red, purple, navy & yellow & stuck it back in his head. His eyes were so swollen that there was no indent, his face was all the same depth. Needless to say, our manager Tom wasn't too happy that he was down a waiter for a few weeks while Brandon's face & hands healed.
He wasn't the only one who had problems. The take out kid Keaton had a parole officer. I had to sign a piece of paper for him saying he had gone to a.a. or else he was going to go back to jail. Then there was Steve. He had been homeless for a few years while his mother dealt with her battle with heroin. I don't think I have ever met a more dysfunctional group of people in my entire life. We even had a dramatic romance going on. Kitty & one of the cooks in the back, Pedro began this passionate romance. The only problem was that Pedro was about to get deported, his green card was about to expire. I remember sitting & talking to Kitty about her predicament. Pedro had wanted her to move to Mexico with him, but she felt that it wasn't a good choice for her 3 year old daughter. Pedro understood but was clearly still heartbroken. I can't forget the night someone came to the restaurant to come after Steve. I'm still not sure what the guy was after but he came around back to the dumpsters. Steve decided to protect himself with our mini-desert holders, which is basically just a chandelier looking thing which tiny martini glasses (filled with desert mind you) hang off of. With all of this drama & trouble pasts you'd think I worked at a fast food joint. Wrong. The restaurant I worked at was actually a nice place. Think of the Cheesecake Factory without all the decorations & the massive amounts of cheesecake.
That summer was great. We even had a local musician in our bunch. After work we'd go to the Pickled Onion (no idea why anyone would name a bar that) & watch Dan play. He even played in Boston a few times. Although all of these kids (no one was past the age of 25) had so much trouble in their lives, for the most part they were trying to clean themselves up. It was a hell of a lot more fun than working for my dad, that's for sure. Although I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be glad to hear about all the things that I witnessed.