My Mother loved people. Despite having a secretarial job with C-I-L Paints, her list of "dream jobs" included waiting tables. "Just think of all of the interesting people you'd meet!"
After waiting tables for YEARS, I'm here to tell you that the public, at its best, was always...challenging.
Having said that, the various "teams" that I worked with over the years were an amazing group of diverse folks, each with a unique skill set that transformed my world view. From a future doctor to a former stripper, each touched my heart and changed me. (I have to mention that for the Christmas holidays one year, the former stripper meticulously constructed a gingerbread house. She even melted Jolly Rancher candies for the windows. She did this simply for the staff to enjoy. She understood the loneliness of the holidays and took it upon herself to create a family with whomever she worked with. Bless her heart.)
After any grueling shift in food service, once the dining room had been cleaned, vacuumed and tables set for the next day, the staff would gather around a table and feast on snacks and talk. The energy would be high; everyone still pumped up after the never ending line of hungry people that stood at the door, impatiently waiting for a table.
We would re-live moments of the night, remembering sliding tables across the carpeted floor at warp speed to accommodate larger groups, searching for the ever disappearing steak knives, folding linen napkins that were still warm from the dryers in the housekeeping department.
Once our nervous energy had subsided, we were able to share; our dreams for our futures, who we hoped to eventually become, the plans to get there.
A___, the explorer, used to save his money in order to travel to exotic places. He had us on the edge of our seats, describing spiders the size of hubcaps as he floated on the Amazon River. He was already saving for another trip, this time to Europe, where his heart would be filled.
C___ and S____, the musicians, had stories of performing across Canada, noting how music brought people together, even in brutal Canadian snowstorms.
But the quote that stopped the chatter was from B___. She said, "I don't know where I'll end up or what I'll do. I just hope that when I'm old, my face will be a mess of laugh lines."
Thank you for spending this time with me,
Lori xx