Friday 197 Covers:
It snuck up on me.
One second we aren't working and the next we are. It is all the heat and fire of a weekend, but with just me and Be. and a prep cook. I feel like I'm endlessly in the weeds and every time I pull myself out of them, Be. still doesn't have shit dropped, and on top of it there is the new guy. Jo. is bigger than me (which is to say big) and moves like a glacier (which is to say really fucking slow).
We are pounding out prep and the line is a steady stream of tickets.
The day ends but it could have ended faster.
Va. tells me not to worry because Jo. is there to help me clean and I shouldn't be to late getting out. Jo. bounces an hour early.
-
I get home and all I want is Me.
We walk to Brothers and get food with F. and a new friend, then we go to The Park and get some drinks. The conversation is great with the question, "Best Coming of Age Movie Ever?" getting asked, I feel in my element.
Me. and I walk home.
Saturday 374 covers:
I walk in and Be. seems way to calm and nothing seems really done. I know that we are about to get throttled, but all I really have time to worry about is getting my station ready.
We just go from one ticket to 8. The rail fills Va. jumps on the line and by 10a. we are running out of everything. Da. is in the back and even though he is running his asses off he can't get everything. Be. didn't cook bacon or biscuits, the holly has broken, and Va. is furious. He moves me from one station to another, moves Mi. onto the line and kicks Be. off. There is even a point where he tells him to go home.
They yell at each other and Va. jumps off the line to scream at Be., leaving me and Mi. with a full rail of tickets. We push and push and push, and nothing seems to be going out. We are at the stand still that will kill any service, and all I know to do is just keep my nose down and concentrate on making food magically happen.
Va. and Be. come back we eventually get through the service.
Va. gives us beer and tequila by way of saying, "I'm sorry, good work."
-
Me. picks me up, she has an overnight bag because we are on our way to see the kids.
I don't stop at home to shower, we just go. I want to squeeze every moment that I can out of them. Seeing them has become more consistent, but it still is never enough. We make it to Gre. quickly and pick them up. We go and have ice cream, and I tell them all about Daniel Plainview and how I will drink their milk shake. We go to see some friends, and my kids play with their kids, and I love my life in this moment. This is my family, these are my friends, this is what life is really all about, spending time with the people you love. There isn't anything that can distract me from this.
We go back to the kids grandma's house and sit to watch a movie, have some dinner and go to bed.
Sunday 382 Covers:5.30a is so early.
But it is the time that we have to leave Gre. so that I can make it to work on time.
I want to sleep on the car ride but I can't bring myself to do it. I just doesn't seem fair to Me. to rest while she drives for an hour. So we sit and chat and listen to music. Just enjoy each others company.
I get at the restaurant by 7 and the place is already moving at full speed. Within a few minuets we have a full rail and we don't stop for the rest of the day. Be. didn't open, Va. did and so he flew through everything. We are prepared for war. Each of us ready for some serious trench warfare and the preparation makes the day go beyond smoothly.
The only thing that is annoying is the way that Jo. won't treat An. or Mi. with any respect. Idiot probably thinks that Mi. is a Mexican because he hasn't bothered to listen to a single thing that Mi. has said to him. This is our kitchen, me, Be. and Mi. run this fucker and if you can't be bothered to listen to us because you have a hang up about Mexicans you can fuck right off. I'm hoping that he doesn't make it.
-
Me. has been telling me all day about the surprise that her and F. planned for tonight.
I know that it is a movie, but I can't figure out which one, because I'm way to tired. I just go with the flow and know that these are two of my best friends, and they know me really well so we aren't going to see Lottery Ticket or some other bull shit.
We walk and talk the three of us. Good friends having fun.
We get to the theater and I see the poster.
Machete.
Oh my God yes!
We go to the movie and it dawns on me how different everything is. It dawns on the that the last Rodriguez movie it was Grindhouse and I went with J. and every time there was a tit on screen she would glare at me. I know that we had our difference with that and I have let that slip into the past. But it was nice to laugh at stupid boob scenes that were just there for a joke, or at swinging out a window by intestines and the like. It was nice to know that I wouldn't get a lecture from Me. once the movie was over. Everything with her is different, and it makes me love her all the more.
But it is the time that we have to leave Gre. so that I can make it to work on time.
I want to sleep on the car ride but I can't bring myself to do it. I just doesn't seem fair to Me. to rest while she drives for an hour. So we sit and chat and listen to music. Just enjoy each others company.
I get at the restaurant by 7 and the place is already moving at full speed. Within a few minuets we have a full rail and we don't stop for the rest of the day. Be. didn't open, Va. did and so he flew through everything. We are prepared for war. Each of us ready for some serious trench warfare and the preparation makes the day go beyond smoothly.
The only thing that is annoying is the way that Jo. won't treat An. or Mi. with any respect. Idiot probably thinks that Mi. is a Mexican because he hasn't bothered to listen to a single thing that Mi. has said to him. This is our kitchen, me, Be. and Mi. run this fucker and if you can't be bothered to listen to us because you have a hang up about Mexicans you can fuck right off. I'm hoping that he doesn't make it.
-
Me. has been telling me all day about the surprise that her and F. planned for tonight.
I know that it is a movie, but I can't figure out which one, because I'm way to tired. I just go with the flow and know that these are two of my best friends, and they know me really well so we aren't going to see Lottery Ticket or some other bull shit.
We walk and talk the three of us. Good friends having fun.
We get to the theater and I see the poster.
Machete.
Oh my God yes!
We go to the movie and it dawns on me how different everything is. It dawns on the that the last Rodriguez movie it was Grindhouse and I went with J. and every time there was a tit on screen she would glare at me. I know that we had our difference with that and I have let that slip into the past. But it was nice to laugh at stupid boob scenes that were just there for a joke, or at swinging out a window by intestines and the like. It was nice to know that I wouldn't get a lecture from Me. once the movie was over. Everything with her is different, and it makes me love her all the more.
Monday 387 covers:
It was kind of a late night and I'm tired.
I know this day will be just as gruesome as the last. I drink some coffee the instant I walk into the door and I put my war face on.
I have a ritual.
I walk into our locker room. I pull out my shoes and put them on the floor, then take off my pants and put on my undershirt. This day it was the cut off sleeve one with skulls, knives and snakes on it. I put on my coat, and my checkers, and then the apron is over the head. The hairnet gets tied down and the cap on top. Then I glare at myself. In this uniform I'm a warrior, a solider for this restaurant. As Black flag would say, "I'm a loaded gun waiting to go off."
I wash hands, glove up and walk onto the line.
We are all ready for this day.
Except for Jo.
He walks in with a swagger that he hasn't come anywhere near earning. For all of his talk of experience, all he has offered so far is some slow movement and some racist bullshit. Be. is in charge of the back, and of Jo. and so I lean into Be. and say, "Run his fucking ass off today, I want him to either step up or walk out."
Service begins late, because it is a holiday you know.
Labour Day is a joke to me. I haven't had but four of them off in my whole life. Because I'm an actual laborer.
The service cranks up fast and we start to go. Everything that we yell to the back for Jo. is supposed to get, An. or Be. get all of it. Nothing is coming from him. He is slow as a glacier and just about as big when he comes up to the line. I yell at him Va. yells at him, Mi. yells at him, Be. yells at him. The man just won't hustle, he just won't move and we don't need someone to just stand there. We need someone to move and do work and do it really really fast.
And then he is gone. Slinking out the back, after clocking out.
Good riddance to bad rubbish as my mom used to say.
-
Me. picks me up, we go home, I shower.
I'm tired but I want to go to Taste of Colorado, and so does she, for a funnel cake.
We walk there and stand in line for the funnel cake, and while we are standing there she tells me that she has never had a corn dog. One of those is purchased, after much poo pooing about her restrictive childhood eating (probably why I'm chubby and she isn't). And we go to sit and listen to the music. We end up in front of the country stage. The band is playing Luckenbach, Texas, and I'm holding Me. in my arms.
There is more to the night involving walking hand in hand and paletas but that moment. When two people embrace each other in front of us and start dancing, while a man sings "Maybe its time we got back, to the basics of love." That is all I need from life, is more moments like this.
-
For badassery in the kitchen, and wonderful moments with a woman I love, file under Virtue.
I know this day will be just as gruesome as the last. I drink some coffee the instant I walk into the door and I put my war face on.
I have a ritual.
I walk into our locker room. I pull out my shoes and put them on the floor, then take off my pants and put on my undershirt. This day it was the cut off sleeve one with skulls, knives and snakes on it. I put on my coat, and my checkers, and then the apron is over the head. The hairnet gets tied down and the cap on top. Then I glare at myself. In this uniform I'm a warrior, a solider for this restaurant. As Black flag would say, "I'm a loaded gun waiting to go off."
I wash hands, glove up and walk onto the line.
We are all ready for this day.
Except for Jo.
He walks in with a swagger that he hasn't come anywhere near earning. For all of his talk of experience, all he has offered so far is some slow movement and some racist bullshit. Be. is in charge of the back, and of Jo. and so I lean into Be. and say, "Run his fucking ass off today, I want him to either step up or walk out."
Service begins late, because it is a holiday you know.
Labour Day is a joke to me. I haven't had but four of them off in my whole life. Because I'm an actual laborer.
The service cranks up fast and we start to go. Everything that we yell to the back for Jo. is supposed to get, An. or Be. get all of it. Nothing is coming from him. He is slow as a glacier and just about as big when he comes up to the line. I yell at him Va. yells at him, Mi. yells at him, Be. yells at him. The man just won't hustle, he just won't move and we don't need someone to just stand there. We need someone to move and do work and do it really really fast.
And then he is gone. Slinking out the back, after clocking out.
Good riddance to bad rubbish as my mom used to say.
-
Me. picks me up, we go home, I shower.
I'm tired but I want to go to Taste of Colorado, and so does she, for a funnel cake.
We walk there and stand in line for the funnel cake, and while we are standing there she tells me that she has never had a corn dog. One of those is purchased, after much poo pooing about her restrictive childhood eating (probably why I'm chubby and she isn't). And we go to sit and listen to the music. We end up in front of the country stage. The band is playing Luckenbach, Texas, and I'm holding Me. in my arms.
There is more to the night involving walking hand in hand and paletas but that moment. When two people embrace each other in front of us and start dancing, while a man sings "Maybe its time we got back, to the basics of love." That is all I need from life, is more moments like this.
-
For badassery in the kitchen, and wonderful moments with a woman I love, file under Virtue.
1 comment:
There is something to be said for the simplicity amidst the chaos of life. What stuck in my head about the weekend was not all the rants about Jo.'s lack of pulling his weight in the kitchen, or my bout with fibromyalgia and how much it slowed me down. What stuck with me - what still resonates - is the quiet of sitting next to that tree, watching that couple twirl and embrace. Watching those kids play tag. Watching that guy climb that tree so that little girl could continue to toss the frisbee toward us. Walking hand in hand, sticky fingers with dripping paletas. Listening to the bubble of the fountain. There are simple things in life that most forget, and every time I'm with you, I remember to slow down and enjoy them. I haven't slowed down in a very long time. Stop and smell the roses is such a cliche, but I seem to understand it more these days. I almost took it all for granted; thank God you stumbled into my life to help me recognize what I almost lost. You awaken the senses. I swear God works within you to shine for others to see. I love you, Gabriel. For so many reasons, I love you. But for today, I love you for making the world stop so I can notice His glory is the smallest things.
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