Click here for day one if you haven't read it yet
Before I get to the continueing story I would like to announce I've at least got a working title! Please let me know what you think of Stuck In the Funhouse of Estrogen.... or Stuck in Estrogen's Funhouse. And now... to continue the story!
When I checked back on the table, giving the kids a refill, I found my other table to be sat with my parents. I hurried over to them with their favorite drinks in tow. “Good evening Mr. and Mrs. Boskey.” I said, not faking my smile. “How are we doing today?”
“You’re sounding better.” My mother said. “I can’t even tell you’ve had a single drink.”
“I haven’t, Mom.” I said, dropping the professional act. “What can I get for you guys?”
“I’ll have the cowboy burger, and your father wants his bacon cheddar cheeseburger.” My mother said, sipping at her drink. “Also, get me a Main Street Rita Swirl.”
“Ok.” I said, not needing to jot down their usuals. I walked up to the POS by the bar, yelling at Jack, the night’s bartender to make me a Rita Swirl. He complained about asking for drinks before entering them in, but started making it anyways. After keying in my parent’s meal I went back to the perfect American family table, bringing refills to the parents this time, and asking about the kids. Even though I knew that kids never ever went through their second cup that quickly. “Are we ready to order?” I asked after giving the adults their drinks. “Your guacamole and shrimp will be out shortly.”
“Yea.” Said the father. “The kids want a Mini cheeseburger with fries and chicken fingers with fries. Both of those with a side of ranch dressing. I would like double glazed baby back ribs and a fiesta lime chicken for my wife.” The guy said, as he reached into his back pocket pulling out a Jack of Diamonds playing card that featured one of Santa’s Elves as “Jack”, A five dollar bill folded to look like Abe Lincoln wearing a baseball cap, a pack of mint chocolate chip chewing gum, a picture of a campfire folded into quarters, a hello kitty band aid, a crumpled kleenex, two odd looking purple pills with white stripes on either end, and an Monopoly get out of jail free card. Finally, he pulled out an Applebee’s gift card and checked the total on the card before adding, “And I’ll also have a side of fried shrimp.”
The guy then began collecting up the stuff from his pocket and putting it back in when his little girl screamed. “Daddy! I hurt myself!” She had smeared ketchup on her arm and held it up for her father’s examination. “I need a band-aid!” She cried excitedly.
“Honey, how many times have we told you not to play with your food?” Her mother asked. Noticing that I would not be repeating the order at this table, I walked away to place in the order.
When I got the front counter my food was up for my classic american family table, so I took that out to them, and found the younger girl wearing a Hello Kitty bandaid on her lower arm where the ketchup mess was made. After I handed her dad both her brother’s and her food, I knelt down next to the little girl and asked if she was OK.”
“Yea. Looky at my ban-aid!” She said, showing me the pink fashion statement.
“Wow. Looks like it’s all OK now.” I said, standing up and turning back to the parents. “Is everything all right?”
“Yes, it looks delicious.” Said the mother.
“We wan’ foo’!” The two year old boy cried out.
“In a second.” The dad said, cutting the chicken up into smaller bites and giving half the burger and half he chicken to each of the children.
“Do the kids need a refill?” I ask, before turning to leave.
“Krissy?”
The girl, Krissy, shook her cup around a bit, judging to see how much was left. “Yes, Pease.” She answered.
I took her cup and refilled it before I had to run to get my parent’s food.
Before I made it back to the front desk, I got a sudden dizzy feeling. The world spun around me and I stumbled as I turned the corner behind the front counter. I grabbed the first server I saw, Sean, and asked him to get my parent’s food to their table, as I made my way to the back break room.
Of course Sage was there. She was cleaning up the mess that the cooks had made and when she saw me, and what must have been a throughly dazed look, she rushed over to me and guided me to a seat, before running to get me a glass of Sprite.
“Are you OK Marti?” Sage asked, sitting down next to me.
I took a huge gulp of the soda and bent my head over my knees before answering. “I’m ok. I was just,” burp, “dizzy all the sudden.”
“Do you need me to check on your tables?”
“Not now. They are all quite satisfied. Someone will need to if I don’t get back out there.”
“Did you eat anything pre-shift?”
“I’m not diabetic.” Was my answer.
“But did you eat before starting the shift?”
“No… I tried to have a pizza but it tasted awful to me. I ended up giving it to my husband.”
“Stay here, I’m going to get a side of fries back here for you. You need something in your stomach. I’ll watch over your tables for you.”
“But…”
“I’ll give you the tips. You need to recover.”
“Sage, my parents are out there. Please don’t tell them why you are taking over, tell them I’m helping someone else do something in the back.”
“Ok. I’ll have Jesse bring you back some fries. When you can get back up and out, after eating please do.”
“I will.” I sipped at the Sprite again and leaned back against the chair. Sitting down wasn’t such a smart idea. The world was once again stable, sure but it made me realize how tired I really was. I reached into my apron pocket and pulled out my cell phone. It was seven-thirty. There were still at least two hours to go, up to five if I was closing. Surely Sage would let me go early.
Jesse brought me back a plateful of fries along with a side dish full of ketchup. “Thanks Jesse” I said, taking the first fry and shoving it into my mouth without dipping it into ketchup at all. After that first fry though, I dipped every other fry in the ketchup. The fries weren’t despicable, but they weren’t delicious either. They did, however make me feel better. They gave my stomach a bit of padding to chew on and allowed me to feel like I’d eaten something. I cleaned up after myself and headed back out to the floor.
Sage was at my parent’s table, refilling a glass when I joined her. My other tables had already left, and mom and dad were finishing their meal. “Sage, I just finished that project you had me working on. Thanks for watching over my tables.”
“No problem. Sage said turning towards me. “Here’s the other table’s checks and stuff. You good to go?”
“Yup.” I said. It was mainly true, I was fed, I just needed to get over the sleepiness. I’d have to go have a chat with Crystal to change that one though. Sage waved good bye to my parents and I took over once more. “Sorry Mom, Sage needed me to help out in the back. Was everything good?”
“It was lovely honey. Sage took good care of us. Here’s our card.” Mom said, handing me the check book.
“Ok, give me a moment.” I said, taking the check over to the POS. While there, my other table was seated. I rang in the credit card, and returned it to my mother.
I walked to the other table and introduced myself.
“Ma’am, it’s my papa’s birthday today and I’d like to be able to play him Happy Birthday, would that be ok?” A man in his late teens said to me instead of his drink order, gesturing to a huge black instrument case.
“Umm..” I said, hesitating, “Yes, that would be fine.” I made a note on my notepad to order them a birthday ice cream as well. “What can I get you all to drink?”
“I’ll take a Corona.” Said the boy’s grandfather, and a Corona for my son too. Get Junior there a root beer.”
“Coke.” The boy said to me. “Get me a coke.”
“Ok, I’ll need to see your ID please.” I asked the middle guy. He showed it to me, he was in his late thirties, and I handed it back and went to put in the order.
“Ok Sweetie, it was good seeing you. I’m glad you are feeling better. Have a good night and get plenty of rest tonight.” My mother said, handing the check book back to me, and kissing my cheek.
“Love you too, Mom. Glad you could make it. Have a great night.” I said, finishing the other table’s order.
After Mom and Dad left I flipped open the check book and saw ’20.00’ written under the ‘tips’ section of the receipt. That was probably going to allow me to break 100.00 by the end of the night. The week seemed to be exhausting, but rewarding.
The table of guys went fairly normal. They all placed their orders, and the middle-aged guy said he would be paying for the entire meal. That seemed to bode well. After their food was about halfway gone I placed the order for the birthday ice cream.
Before the ice cream got there, the young boy stood up and opened up his black instrument case and pulled out a huge saxophone. “Papa,” He said in a deep voice. “This is for you.” He said, before placing the saxophone to his lips. He started out playing a few random notes, which got the attention of the entire restaurant, and then the tune quickly became an upbeat familiar playing of Happy Birthday to You, which everyone sung along to, with a sax solo during the part where people usually sing the person’s name. The entire restaurant exploded in applause and a few of the tables around where the man was sitting people stood up to congratulate the birthday man.
When the saxophone was safely secured in its case one more, I went back to check on the birthday ice cream. It was ready, and so I grabbed it and toped it with whipped cream and sprinkles. Then I grabbed Crystal and Sage and we all went over to the table to sing our Applebee’s version of a Happy Birthday song. I didn’t want it to be too extravagant since we’d just been treated to a saxophonic rendition of the actual song.
The three men split the ice cream, and then dropped their check leaving me with a ten dollar tip. I told them good bye and got a take home dish so that the birthday man could finish his meal at home, as his appetite wasn’t as big as his younger companions.
Sage then announced that the first wave of servers to go home can start their side-work, and let me know that she had put me on that list after my dizzy spell.
I immediately started to clean off my tables and get them restocked. That didn’t take too long since I had only one table that was starting to leave when the announcement was made. After that, I had 150 silverware to fold before I checked out. Crystal, having also worked the day shift was also on the list of servers that got cut. She also quickly finished up her work and joined me in folding silverware.
Whenever she and I worked together, we always folded twice as much so that we both got out at the same time. It usually took less time than it would to do the same amount of silverware on our own. I don’t really understand why.
“So you had a quiet night after that one popcorn fiasco.” I said to Crystal when she joined me.
“For the most part. Lots of smaller families. No teenagers though, so I probably did better than you.”
“I doubt it. My parents came and tipped me twenty bucks.”
“Cheater.” Crystal said, puffing air out of her moth to blow a stray lock of hair out of her face.
“I didn’t tell them to come. They just wanted to check in on me cause’ Spencer went over there without me this morning.”
“He did?” She asked.
“Yea, I was sleeping. Knocked out cold last night. I woke up around one thirty.”
“Dang girl. Whatever you had last night I want some.”
“I wasn’t drinking, that’s what my mom keeps accusing me of. I just, I dunno, I went home yesterday and I was just… wiped.”
“Ha! I worked a double and still did my laundry last night. I don’t want to hear it.”
“Yea yea. Well you must be getting more sleep than me.
Story continues here
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