There was no way for me to be prepared for last night. I knew that I was supposed to wait tables last night. I wait tables every Monday night. There was no way for me to be prepared last night. I was a "closer" which made it even more interesting. I am typically scheduled as last in because I have a real job, but last night they called me early because they were already so busy. People were still coming in after we were closed. It was amazing. There was a wait and there were tons of people. They were all in pairs. They all had silly things in their hands: stuffed bears, cards, wrapped gifts or flowers. It was unbelievable. I hit the ground running.

There was no way for me to be prepared for last night. There was no way to tell what kind of tip to expect either. The people I waited on last night I will probably not see again until there is a birthday or anniversary. Mostly on Mondays I have come to expect to see certain people. There are the lovely ladies couple from the Orchard whose husbands are out playing poker or something so they come in and lap up the wine and gossip. There is Mr. Oliver who has two glasses of Merlot, a bowl of soup, a house salad and wants to talk and talk and talk. He is a nice, lonely, older gentleman who also happens to be a physician's assistant so he helps the servers out all the time with first aid stuff. There are the occasional birthdays or anniversaries. One or two business men who come in to discuss the state of the nation within the confines of their company with someone who is willing to listen. Maybe a politician or a judge. Then there are those who just need something to eat and order spaghetti. These people help to gage about how much money I make in a night. Last night there was the hippee couple from California who ordered a bottle of wine, veal entrees and salads. There was the mom and her three boys who didn't make it through a full dinner due to the upset of the youngest. There was the double date couples who were about twenty-five and were trying to look cool ordering a bottle of wine. There was the older couple who came in for the special occasion but still ordered carefully. There was the internet blind date couple. Yes, I waited on a blind date on Valentines. I would say it went off well from my perspective. There is no way to know what to expect. It was everyman for himself. It was wonder as to if the kids would have enough money for that crazy bottle of wine they just ordered. It was the hippees having a voucher for a free meal because of a previous bad experience. I finally decided when it was all said and done that it wasn't that the people were unusual, it was that the day was unusual. It was supposed to be Saturday. That is all there is to it. I made Saturday money too, which is good considering I was out last Saturday and unable to wait.

The restarant closed at nine. The seating stopped at nine-fifteen. I didn't leave until ten-thirty. I woke up and a quarter of seven and was supposed to be at work at seven-thirty. Oh my, oh my. There was no way for me to be prepared for last night.