For some reason lost to time I had decided to not learn the tables’ numbers
and I gave them names instead.
I was bussing tables because I was qualified
and I was young enough then that the work didn’t numb my hands
or radiate pain from my wrists to my fingertips.
She was named after Octavian’s daughter (I am sure this was incidental)
and I was in love with her.
I am being very imprecise. I thought she had beautiful hair and she was nice to me.
One afternoon she arrived at work and instead of the normal artificiality that she clad herself in
she did not even fake a smile at me and there were the remnants of tears in her eyes
and I asked her what the matter was, though I am terrible at helping people who are upset.
She explained that her young daughter was sick, nothing serious, but that she wished
she could be at home with the child instead of slaving away underneath the lights and lies
that characterized our profession.
I had been drinking for most of the day, but sparingly, and as I walked around, cleaning tables
and making sure the placement of saltshakers was perfect, I watched her.
Goddamn did she know how to move around a room.
She made a lot more money than I did, because my work was easy.
She was good at her job and at smiling but after working with her for a year
I was conscious that I knew almost nothing about her and I preferred it that way.
As night drew closer upon us we had not been very busy
and she had this table of teenagers that were only getting fifteen dollars worth of appetizers and taking up space
and the name of their table was Eurydice because the next table was named Orpheus
and just beyond Orpheus was the bar. I thought all of this was very clever when I named the tables in the first place.
I went to the back and thought about it a little and then drank some vodka out of an apple juice bottle and went onto the floor and waited for the teenagers to leave and I swooped in about fifteen seconds after they departed and crumpled up a twenty and tossed it on the ground and as she came up, sighing and saying “Ugh, at least they’re gone now, kids never tip.” I cleaned the table quickly and she took a couple of things but didn’t get in my way. She told me thank you and walked away from the table and I watched her walk away and I was glad that I watched her walk away. After a few lecherous moments I called her name and she turned around. I made a show of picking the bill up and tossing it in the wire basket on the table and I picked the basket up and handed it to her and she lit up like a Christmas tree.
I told myself I just wouldn’t go to the bar after work that day and that that would justify dropping the bill for a woman I barely knew and that made a hell of a lot more money than I did but after everyone was gone and I mopped the floors up and said “I’ll see you tomorrow morning boss” and clocked out, of course I went right to the bar anyway.
and I gave them names instead.
I was bussing tables because I was qualified
and I was young enough then that the work didn’t numb my hands
or radiate pain from my wrists to my fingertips.
She was named after Octavian’s daughter (I am sure this was incidental)
and I was in love with her.
I am being very imprecise. I thought she had beautiful hair and she was nice to me.
One afternoon she arrived at work and instead of the normal artificiality that she clad herself in
she did not even fake a smile at me and there were the remnants of tears in her eyes
and I asked her what the matter was, though I am terrible at helping people who are upset.
She explained that her young daughter was sick, nothing serious, but that she wished
she could be at home with the child instead of slaving away underneath the lights and lies
that characterized our profession.
I had been drinking for most of the day, but sparingly, and as I walked around, cleaning tables
and making sure the placement of saltshakers was perfect, I watched her.
Goddamn did she know how to move around a room.
She made a lot more money than I did, because my work was easy.
She was good at her job and at smiling but after working with her for a year
I was conscious that I knew almost nothing about her and I preferred it that way.
As night drew closer upon us we had not been very busy
and she had this table of teenagers that were only getting fifteen dollars worth of appetizers and taking up space
and the name of their table was Eurydice because the next table was named Orpheus
and just beyond Orpheus was the bar. I thought all of this was very clever when I named the tables in the first place.
I went to the back and thought about it a little and then drank some vodka out of an apple juice bottle and went onto the floor and waited for the teenagers to leave and I swooped in about fifteen seconds after they departed and crumpled up a twenty and tossed it on the ground and as she came up, sighing and saying “Ugh, at least they’re gone now, kids never tip.” I cleaned the table quickly and she took a couple of things but didn’t get in my way. She told me thank you and walked away from the table and I watched her walk away and I was glad that I watched her walk away. After a few lecherous moments I called her name and she turned around. I made a show of picking the bill up and tossing it in the wire basket on the table and I picked the basket up and handed it to her and she lit up like a Christmas tree.
I told myself I just wouldn’t go to the bar after work that day and that that would justify dropping the bill for a woman I barely knew and that made a hell of a lot more money than I did but after everyone was gone and I mopped the floors up and said “I’ll see you tomorrow morning boss” and clocked out, of course I went right to the bar anyway.
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