The Breakfast from H E L L
Today. Today is my father's birthday.
On days like today I don't school 'til noon, so the fam decides to have breakfast.
At Denny's.
At Denny's we wait for about ten minutes to be seated since they seem to be short-staffed today.
I see the manager behind the counter cooking.
The manager of Denny's is cooking.
Today.
He has a once crisp cobalt blue professional shirt on. He might have had a tie on at one point.
His collar is wilting.
His shirt is soggy. Like his hair.
Today, the manager of Denny's is not happy.
Good sign ..1.
So we are seated.
The tabletop looks decent,
yet I see salt on the seat.
The salty seat has obviously not been cleaned properly.
I wipe the seat with salt particles on it before I slide in.
Good sign ..2.
Our waitress rushed by and hands us menus.
She rushes away.
Our waitress had a funny voice.
I think she smokes too much.
She looks quite old for her age.
I think she smokes too much.
She came back with water and rushed away again while saying "at least I could get you some drinks."
Good sign ..3.
I have to leave for school in about an hour so I tell everyone to figure out what they want quickly so we can put the order in ASAP.
Within 2 minutes we all know what we want.
I look around.
I see people seated. Waiting.
But where is the waitress?
Across the way(two tables away)
a waitress seats a couple, asks what they want to drink, and while I glance away and look to see where our waitress could be and if the others around us have been served food or their drinks at least, the moment I turn back to that couple, they have been served their drinks.
My parents drink coffee.
My parents drink a lot of coffee.
Decaf.
Black, 4 packs of sugar. (My father has quite the sweet tooth)
Cream and sugar substitute for my mother. (Diabetic)
I drink whatever I am in the mood for at the time. Today it was coffee. Regular. Two packs of sugar. (today, one wasn't enough for some reason. [today was a bad day to want coffee.])
My brother is a fan of carmelized carbonated drinks. (usually with a kick, but not at Denny's [He prefers Pepsi products, but not today. {Not at Denny's.}])
I am not really sure how long we sat there. I imagine it would have been much more unbearable if I had actually known.
Did I mention today is my father's birthday?
Today at Denny's I got so impatient I started squirming out of my seat to turn around and get a better look at where our waitress could be. At times I would see her walk back and forth to seat people or perhaps bring food to a table, but she never did even pause to take our order while doing this. Because pausing to take an order at a table next to one you are bringing drinks to and walking back to the kitchen for would be too much trouble and an inconvenience. It wouldn't be any more efficient than bringing the drinks, walking to the kitchen, bringing their food, refilling other drinks and walking back to the kitchen for extra butter and returning to give it to them and then walking the extra three steps to take our order.
The other waitress who seemed to actually have taken the orders at all of her tables and gotten them drinks (perhaps, god forbid, she multitasks. Although I don't know any waitresses that multi-task. Not at Denny's. Not today.) saw me looking back toward the kitchen, halfway out of my seat(like a small child, wanting her yocoyate RIGHT NOW, and about to whimper and cry in order to get it) and asked if she could take our order while our waitress was doing other things.
Sigh of relief.
As I started my order, our waitress magically appears saying she will take care of it.
Amazing.
I should have thought of this fifteen minutes ago.
Once the order is taken, she brings our drinks.
My parents' decaf is tepid.
I tell them not to drink it, but since our waitress is no where in sight, and they're decaf addicts, and impatient, they drink it anyway.
The waitress from across the way smiles every time she passes by. Pitiable smiles are exchanged between the both of us.
I contemplate asking to be seated in her area.
I contemplate giving her our waitress's tip.
My brother contemplates the same thing.
My parents are flustered.
I notice a lot of things while waiting at Denny's. I notice our table's a bit messy. I notice we only have two placemats instead of four (our waitress never bothered to put them down). I notice a lot of things when I have nothing to do. I ask my brother to let me out of the booth so I can clean up a bit. I look through cabinets for a trash can but I only find napkins and sugar and placemats. So I take advantage of what I have before me since no one else is. I find a trash can behind the waitresses' counter. "Oh, what do I have here?" I ask myself when I see coffee being made. I grab the decaf and refill my parents cups. It's actually hot! The blessed waitress from across the way had started a fresh pot. God bless her. Because I know, if we had waited to ask for a refill by our waitress, we would have had to wait even longer for her to make more. While I refilled my own cup of regular I decided to go around and ask other tables if they wanted anymore coffee. At that time our waitress magically appeared and said "Stop. I could get fired for that." As I walk to my table I think maybe she should get fired for that.
People at other tables smile at me. I imagine they are entertained.
At least I could give them that.
While they wait to have their order taken.
By our god-awful waitress.
We're in it together I think.
Today we suffer. Together. On my father's birthday.
Shortly afterward, our food gets to our table. My brother's eggs are cooked incorrectly.
There are mushrooms in my father's omelette.
My mother didn't get her grits.
It appears only my order was correct.
Lovely.
So while the waitress takes two out of the four plates back to the kitchen, I start eating, because well, I have to go to school soon.
The food comes back rather quickly. My father is pissed.
Today my father is pissed because of all the meat he should have gotten in his omelette, all he sees is sausage.
We eat reluctantly, but it's hard to enjoy a meal after such an ordeal.
I ask my poor brother to let me out of my seat again so I can refill my coffee one last time before I leave.
I would have cleared the table of our plates but the waitress managed to do it seconds before we left.
When the waitress from across the way passed by I would look at her nametag. I think I actually got her name on the third try.
Julia.
On our way out I was going to tell the manager of what great work I think she was doing because I do such things in restaurants when I see kickass waiters or busboys or whoeverthefuck is doing a job well done. Unfortunately, I didn't see him. He must have been busy cooking.
The manager of Denny's on Fowler Ave. was cooking. Today. And too busy I am sure to hear positive criticism.
So I caught her filling some drinks
and I thanked Julia for her impeccable work
as a waitress
at Denny's.
I think I will stop by Denny's tomorrow and tell the manager of what a great waitress I think Julia is and what a great job she did
yesterday
on my father's birthday.
On days like today I don't school 'til noon, so the fam decides to have breakfast.
At Denny's.
At Denny's we wait for about ten minutes to be seated since they seem to be short-staffed today.
I see the manager behind the counter cooking.
The manager of Denny's is cooking.
Today.
He has a once crisp cobalt blue professional shirt on. He might have had a tie on at one point.
His collar is wilting.
His shirt is soggy. Like his hair.
Today, the manager of Denny's is not happy.
Good sign ..1.
So we are seated.
The tabletop looks decent,
yet I see salt on the seat.
The salty seat has obviously not been cleaned properly.
I wipe the seat with salt particles on it before I slide in.
Good sign ..2.
Our waitress rushed by and hands us menus.
She rushes away.
Our waitress had a funny voice.
I think she smokes too much.
She looks quite old for her age.
I think she smokes too much.
She came back with water and rushed away again while saying "at least I could get you some drinks."
Good sign ..3.
I have to leave for school in about an hour so I tell everyone to figure out what they want quickly so we can put the order in ASAP.
Within 2 minutes we all know what we want.
I look around.
I see people seated. Waiting.
But where is the waitress?
Across the way(two tables away)
a waitress seats a couple, asks what they want to drink, and while I glance away and look to see where our waitress could be and if the others around us have been served food or their drinks at least, the moment I turn back to that couple, they have been served their drinks.
My parents drink coffee.
My parents drink a lot of coffee.
Decaf.
Black, 4 packs of sugar. (My father has quite the sweet tooth)
Cream and sugar substitute for my mother. (Diabetic)
I drink whatever I am in the mood for at the time. Today it was coffee. Regular. Two packs of sugar. (today, one wasn't enough for some reason. [today was a bad day to want coffee.])
My brother is a fan of carmelized carbonated drinks. (usually with a kick, but not at Denny's [He prefers Pepsi products, but not today. {Not at Denny's.}])
I am not really sure how long we sat there. I imagine it would have been much more unbearable if I had actually known.
Did I mention today is my father's birthday?
Today at Denny's I got so impatient I started squirming out of my seat to turn around and get a better look at where our waitress could be. At times I would see her walk back and forth to seat people or perhaps bring food to a table, but she never did even pause to take our order while doing this. Because pausing to take an order at a table next to one you are bringing drinks to and walking back to the kitchen for would be too much trouble and an inconvenience. It wouldn't be any more efficient than bringing the drinks, walking to the kitchen, bringing their food, refilling other drinks and walking back to the kitchen for extra butter and returning to give it to them and then walking the extra three steps to take our order.
The other waitress who seemed to actually have taken the orders at all of her tables and gotten them drinks (perhaps, god forbid, she multitasks. Although I don't know any waitresses that multi-task. Not at Denny's. Not today.) saw me looking back toward the kitchen, halfway out of my seat(like a small child, wanting her yocoyate RIGHT NOW, and about to whimper and cry in order to get it) and asked if she could take our order while our waitress was doing other things.
Sigh of relief.
As I started my order, our waitress magically appears saying she will take care of it.
Amazing.
I should have thought of this fifteen minutes ago.
Once the order is taken, she brings our drinks.
My parents' decaf is tepid.
I tell them not to drink it, but since our waitress is no where in sight, and they're decaf addicts, and impatient, they drink it anyway.
The waitress from across the way smiles every time she passes by. Pitiable smiles are exchanged between the both of us.
I contemplate asking to be seated in her area.
I contemplate giving her our waitress's tip.
My brother contemplates the same thing.
My parents are flustered.
I notice a lot of things while waiting at Denny's. I notice our table's a bit messy. I notice we only have two placemats instead of four (our waitress never bothered to put them down). I notice a lot of things when I have nothing to do. I ask my brother to let me out of the booth so I can clean up a bit. I look through cabinets for a trash can but I only find napkins and sugar and placemats. So I take advantage of what I have before me since no one else is. I find a trash can behind the waitresses' counter. "Oh, what do I have here?" I ask myself when I see coffee being made. I grab the decaf and refill my parents cups. It's actually hot! The blessed waitress from across the way had started a fresh pot. God bless her. Because I know, if we had waited to ask for a refill by our waitress, we would have had to wait even longer for her to make more. While I refilled my own cup of regular I decided to go around and ask other tables if they wanted anymore coffee. At that time our waitress magically appeared and said "Stop. I could get fired for that." As I walk to my table I think maybe she should get fired for that.
People at other tables smile at me. I imagine they are entertained.
At least I could give them that.
While they wait to have their order taken.
By our god-awful waitress.
We're in it together I think.
Today we suffer. Together. On my father's birthday.
Shortly afterward, our food gets to our table. My brother's eggs are cooked incorrectly.
There are mushrooms in my father's omelette.
My mother didn't get her grits.
It appears only my order was correct.
Lovely.
So while the waitress takes two out of the four plates back to the kitchen, I start eating, because well, I have to go to school soon.
The food comes back rather quickly. My father is pissed.
Today my father is pissed because of all the meat he should have gotten in his omelette, all he sees is sausage.
We eat reluctantly, but it's hard to enjoy a meal after such an ordeal.
I ask my poor brother to let me out of my seat again so I can refill my coffee one last time before I leave.
I would have cleared the table of our plates but the waitress managed to do it seconds before we left.
When the waitress from across the way passed by I would look at her nametag. I think I actually got her name on the third try.
Julia.
On our way out I was going to tell the manager of what great work I think she was doing because I do such things in restaurants when I see kickass waiters or busboys or whoeverthefuck is doing a job well done. Unfortunately, I didn't see him. He must have been busy cooking.
The manager of Denny's on Fowler Ave. was cooking. Today. And too busy I am sure to hear positive criticism.
So I caught her filling some drinks
and I thanked Julia for her impeccable work
as a waitress
at Denny's.
I think I will stop by Denny's tomorrow and tell the manager of what a great waitress I think Julia is and what a great job she did
yesterday
on my father's birthday.