Probably not, as I try to block it from my mind. Well, not really, because if it were blocked, then I wouldn’t be able to bring it up when I want credit for working in the service industry.

I was a waitress at Denny’s. And it wasn’t just any Denny’s, it was the Denny’s in Park City, Utah. SKI RESORT DENNY’S! You’d think that wouldn’t make a difference, but I swear it does. You would think that it would make a difference on the PRO side, but you would be wrong. OH SO VERY WRONG.

I’m afraid I really really sucked at waitressing. I was OK if it wasn’t too busy. But once it gets busy, then watch out because I won’t visit your table and I’ll bring you the wrong order, and that wrong order will be COLD! I was VERY good at apologizing and giving you free stuff to compensate, however.

One thing that kind of flabbergasted me was the wide powers over the ticket that a server had. Maybe it was just my Denny’s, where we actually wrote the tickets on a ticket slip BY HAND (none of these highfalutin computer systems there, I tell you whut). I was probably 19 or 20 and just amazed that I could just give free stuff away ON MY OWN SAY-SO. I didn’t have to talk to anyone else about it, if I felt that free stuff was warranted, I could do it! OH THE POWER THAT WAS MINE! FEAR ME AND FLAGRANT USE OF GIVING AWAY FOOD FOR FREE! I suspect that my Denny’s was somewhat lenient in this regard however. Did you ever work in a restaurant? Was this how it was for you?

Even as the “worst” job I ever had, it wasn’t too bad. Mostly it was bad when it got busy and because I was new and no one else wanted to do it, I had to take the night shift from 10pm to 5:30am on Sunday night (the one night off the other night server had). It was just me and the cook, who never really talked to me, and the customers which were around until about 2am, but then not so much. I remember one man who came in at 5:45 EVERY morning on the dot. He walked in, walked straight over to the same table and sat down. I was shocked at how blatant he was. Menu? No, no menu needed. I walked over to him offered him a menu, and was informed of what he’d have instead. As soon as I got it through my skull that he’s been coming here probably longer than I’d been living in the state or maybe had even been alive, I dealt with his lack of proper restaurant behavior (no waiting to be seated! no need for a menu! no waiting for the check just money on the table and he’s gone! what am i to you, just some cheap Denny’s hooker?!!) just fine.

I had a couple of other notable jobs. I didn’t really work in high school or during the summers much, but in my junior year I got a job with my friend’s mom’s cleaning company. It was crazy good money, $8/hr, and I got to work with my friend Michael so that was fun, and we both were in choir together so we’d sing as we worked sometimes and always had fun. Once though, I almost electrocuted myself by touching some wires that were hanging out of a socket. It’s kind of amusing to think back. I remember touching them, and then I was on the floor and Michael was standing over me asking, “Are you ok?” with no time lapse in between. Very odd.

I remember another time I was electrocuted. We moved to Marysville Washington from Colorado, and while we lived in town, it was a nice little neighborhood and there was this little side street where there was a field where a horse lived. I loved horses. (Remind me to tell you about the time my friend Emily and I planned out how we were going to buy a horse when we were 14.) I would take a carrot and go to that field and stand on the bottom rung of the fence and visit with the horse. It was a very nice horse. Brown, with a white blaze on his head. One day there I was, carrot in hand, but no horse. Just inside the fence they had strung up an electric fence, just a single wire. I knew, in theory, what it was, but I was curious. I picked up some grass and dropped it on the fence. Nothing happened. I guess in my mind, I expected a cartoonish “BUZZZT!” crackle or something, but of course, nothing happened. So next, I picked some long grass and touched it with the grass. If you didn’t already know, grass is an excellent conductor! Now, the voltage running through it is pretty low, I don’t think I even lost my grip on the fence, but I definitely didn’t go touching any electric fences after that.

Well, today has been a day for rambling and remembering, it seems. I’ll just leave it at that and bid you happy Tuesday.

amy is too cool for school.