84 hour work-weeks...not for the weak, or the prideful. It's nice to hide in the kitchen, work a few pots and pans clean, away from the dizzying commotion of ignorant customers. The most annoying part of my day had to be the man who insisted on having the slightly larger napkins as opposed to the napkins already on his table. Boneless BBQ wings and two slices. A real splurger. I daydream about the annoying customers, because they are memorable, and they are creatures of incredible habit. I daydream about putting them all on a plane and flying them into a secluded patch of woods, somewhere in Canada, I guess...and letting them fend for themselves. Letting them get by without the extra side of sauce, or S.O.S., letting them get by without the slightly larger napkins, or that extra slice, not too hot, because they just can't wait.
Are these posts getting more and more gripey? I'm sorry if they are. These are things on my mind...you don't have to read them, even though I know many will. I would like for somebody to google "Pizzeria Experiences" and have this pop up. I think it's important to disseminate these ideas.
I splurge with Erin at Bigelow's on Sunday. We take the drive down to the Long Beach area and eat at our favorite seafood joint and I converse with a man named Anthony. And he tells me he's been working the place for twenty years and he tells me not to get caught up in my new job.
I wonder about this, and how I suppose being paid weekly, off the books, seems alright, except for the fact that there's no real progress in this. It's just hour after hour, never really improving as a person because you don't function as one. You're just a talking pit-stop in the alimentary canal of every average Joe's day.
Bigelow's Anthony has the "jitter" or that incessant habit one develops over time working at such an establishment, where you continuously wipe down, rearrange, prepare, greet and serve. There's no standing still...there's always something or someone. It's no way to live, unless you're nomadic, and even then, you still have some time to enjoy your meal, grunt about something, and maybe adjust your beautiful baby-maker.
One last thing I have to get off my chest because it makes me giggle everyday. There's one customer who looks Exfuckingactly like Jack Kehler...the guy who plays the obscure character of the Dude's landlord in The Big Lebowski.
This fucking weasel--and he always orders an entire loaf of bread with whatever he orders, lightly toasted. I never watch him consume the thing, but I assume he eats it all.
