Last night will go down in history as my top reason why I don't want to be a server for the rest of my life. Let me tell you what happened.
Early in the night I had a table of four people; two parents and two teenage children. At first I kind of chuckled when they came in: both father and son were wearing suits and mom and daughter had their best dresses on. I'm not sure if they came from a wedding, a funeral, or just having their portraits painted.
Anyway, they ate their meal and I cleared off the table. This was my first mistake. I took their dishes to the garbage, and since it was so full, volunteered to take it to the dumpster. So I tied up the bag and wheeled out the can.
This was my second mistake.
About fifteen minutes later, the girl returned and went back to the table where she was sitting (It had since been filled by two new customers). I noticed, but assumed that she had forgotten something like a jacket or sunglasses.
A few minutes later, however, she and her father approached me. "Did you throw away a bundled napkin off our table?"
Now, a few things flashed through my mind. One: isn't that what we normally do when a customer leaves? Two: were they some sort of soiled napkin collectors and I had ruined their hard night's work, and Three: what do you mean YOUR table? I don't see your name on it.
I told him, "Yes."
"So you threw away her retainer?"
(At this point you might want to reread the above inner monologue and ask yourself how you would proceed next.) I tried to explain to him that the bag had already been taken out to the garbage; I had done it myself. Telling him this was my third mistake.
After I had taken care of a few tables, I took him back to the dumpster. He could see that it was half full of garbage and completely full of mess. It didn't look good.
Fortunately we did find the retainer. It was in a bundled napkin that, strangely enough, looks exactly like five hundred other napkins that were tossed in the bin. And I guess I saved that family a very smelly ride home to Medicine Hat; I spread an apron across the rim of the dumpster and managed to lean over without getting filthy. (Physically, I mean; the mental stains will never come out).
An that's why I want to be a teacher - so I can teach generations of children to keep their dental appliances off the table.
R.
3 comments:
Hi Richard! It's Mom. Just checked out your site for the first time. Loved your story about the retainer, shared it with a colleague, had a good chuckle. Guess you'll always check the contents of scrunched up napkins from now on, eh? Love you! Bye.
That's not true. Do you know what normally can be found in a napkin? I'll keep leaving it to the imagination.
R
that sucks, all around. just glad they had you for a server and not some jerk who wouldn't have bothered.
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