A new career in food service?

[unbridledapathy]

I had a terrific time at Pride on Saturday. I spent the day working at my friend Bobby's East Campus Grill, which took me back ... way back. Many years ago, after I graduated from college with honors, Phi Beta Kappa, blah blah blah, I found myself remarkably unemployable. Partly this was because of the economic slump at the time, and partly it was because I chose to move in with my future ex-husband Joe, in Knoxville, Tennessee, where I knew not a single soul besides him. So of course I had no contacts, no social network, no resources. We were livin' on love ... but little else (particularly because my parents were furious that I was "living in sin" and weren't eager to help us out). So I worked for a telemarketing firm at night -- the worst job ever! -- and at lunchtime both Joe and I worked for a little deli downtown. I learned how to run a cash register, how to serve up attractive food fast, and how to smile sweetly at customers who usually assumed I was intellectually far inferior to them. But I remember that job fondly ... my co-workers were great folks; women who were working hard to support their kids, high school students who were growing up before my eyes, and the owner, who made us all feel like family. There's something eternally charming about a local restaurant, feeding friends and neighbors and relatives, getting to know people through the most basic human social activity -- eating.

So it was great to revisit that feeling, while at the same time getting to enjoy the Pride parade and seeing friends who were out 'n proud. (My most memorable choked-up moment: the float advocating for same-sex marriage rights. As they came down the parade route, I first saw the big interlocked wedding rings at the top of the float and the poster on the front of the truck towing it, which said simply, "Someday." The float itself looked like the top of a giant wedding cake, all in white, with three gay/lesbian couples dressed for a wedding and waving to the crowd ... and the Supremes sang, "Someday We'll Be Together." A simple, lovely statement.) And of course I waited through the whole parade to see my buddies from the Carolina Bear Lodge! Today I'm sporting a bright pink sunburn because you guys made me wait until the very end of the parade to wave at you and give
curtimack a big sloppy kiss. ;-)