Any given day

As I was rolling silverware, completing an ordinary task I realized that the nooks and crannies of my life are anything but ordinary.

I currently work in a restaurant that is at worst dysfunctional (show me one that isn’t) and at best, humorous with a little side of “touched by an angel”.

Though working in a local cafe is not my ultimate career choice, being employed where I am is a local garden full of ammuntion for a story.

I could write about the dichotomoy that exists between the two owners who run the joint. The drama, the communication differences, the looks, the circles they run around each other.

I could write about the one owner whose heart seems as guarded as a maximum security prsion but who secretly is all gushy and full of pure love. How do I know?

She tells me that she started praying that she wouldn’t be so angry, she buys hams for customers whose husbands have unexpectedly passed, she asks about the little details of my life that even I forget. Granted this is all usually before or after she admonishes me for something I did or did not do.

She doesn’t want to be angry.

And he (the other) doesn’t wish to be passive aggressive.

They fight, you know. Usually about 4:45 pm she will raise her thick southern voice and say

“What you need to do is…”

and he will get that totally blank, lost, wounded look in his eyes and start pacing back and forth like the guy in Peter Pan who lost his marbles.

Meanwhile on the line, the night chef has a far away look in his eyes while he plucks the herbs and seasons the fish.

New servers come in to train and I laugh and tell them that any and all training they have had in life up to this point is enough to work at ZJ’s and don’t even bother studying the menu. Just focus on learning the customers name and drink order.

They think i’m joking.

I’m not.

My week is highlighted on Tuesdays when Carlo and Tom come in to talk business and listen to my dating mishaps, assuring me that as married men in their 40’s they were aloof and clueless up until….well they still are.

Jason usually waltzes in about 9:15 in a euphoric state about his newest favorite song and the fact that he gets to make coffee. He loves his job.

Tuesdays are also days when James will sometimes make a guest appearance. Usually he chooses days when my hair is still in a rats nest from bed and I haven’t mixed up my outfits in days. I wouldn’t care, but he’s do damn good looking…

Wednesday dinners are defined by half price appetizers and our loyal customers who come in weekly for the $3.50 nachos or $3 veggie quesadilla.

If we are slow (which is most often the case), I am mildly enterained by walking next door and making small talk with the guys at the tatoo parlor. I still haven’t learned all their names and am slighlty confused on the gender status of one of the employees, but it doesn’t matter.

Some nights are mundane and so boring, I wonder if I took a wrong turn somewhere. But then that ONE customer will come in whose company and conversation will put things back in alignment and I’ll go about my merry little way, knowing that all is well.

Thursdays are generally when Jen and her friend will come in ordering a Vanilla latte, even after I repeatedly steam the milk too much causing a mild burn on the tip of the tongue. They must like pain because they keep asking for more lattes. They don’t really eat, they talk quietly, and are usually gone with in 15 minutes of their arrival. I wonder the purpose of their visit sometimes.

Maybe its like me…I will go certain places (ie. Trader Joes) merely for the good feelings it ignites in me. Many times I walk out empty handed or with one item like a fruit leather.

I like to think that where I work is like that. Our food is not all that amazing, our staff is prone to bouts of dimentia and the kitchen frequently yells things loud enough for the customers at the restaurant across town to hear.

But we know your name and remember that your son just left for college and that was hard.

And that means the world.

To me it does.

To see and be seen.

To know and be known.

To love and be loved.

Maybe this is why church started in the first place and what it was at one point in time before it became…well….another day….

If the day to day of your life (maybe just one part of it (work, school, home) or all were a movie, what might it be?)

Mine would be something along the lines of “Whats Eating Gilbert Grape” and “The Waitress” and “It could happen to You”.