Table of Ten

By: Nicole McHugh

As the sun started to come up bright and early in the morning, I was startled by the

roaring sounds of my alarm clock. With great reluctance, I tossed and turned and looked at the

time, it was 6:45 am. For it being a Sunday morning at 6:45, all I wished for was to be able to

stay in my comfortable bed and relax all day but instead, I had an hour to get up and get ready

for work. After extreme contemplation, I finally arose from my bed and made my way to the

bathroom with quiet feet as the rest of my family continued to sleep. I had the perfect amount of

time to complete my morning routine, put on some makeup, and get dressed for work. I put on

the usual attire of a black shirt and black pants with a pair of sneakers, making me ready to go

and wait on tables for the next six hours.

As I grab a cup of coffee and head out the door, my mom always makes sure she is awake

in order to wish me a goodbye, something along the lines of “Bye sweetie, hope you have a good

day.” Seeing my mom each morning right befor eI head off to work always makes me overjoyed

and like I will be able to deal with customers all day.

I walk through the back entrance as soon as I arrive at work and as the door closes behind

me I grab a metal drawer handle that was bitterly cold from the gust of wind that followed me in.

I pulled out my time card and stamped it at eight o’clock on the dot. While walking to the front, I

greeted the few tables that were here this early in the morning. They all seem ecstatic to be

enjoying their coffee and breakfast in such a warm and welcoming environment. After finally

reaching the front of the diner, I was greeted by my fellow coworkers who have been there since

seven in the morning. I set my belowings down and took the last sip of my coffee, which was full
of the sugar that sunk to the bottom. After finally reaching the front of the diner, I was greeted

by my fellow coworkers who have been there since seven in the morning. Then the smell of

freshly brewed coffee and pancakes met my nose, and became even stronger as I walked into the

kitchen. I swung the double doors to the kitchen open and as I walked in all the cooks yelled

with excitement, “NICOLE!” I greet them back and then start to tackle my prep work. First

cutting the lemons, then the pickles, and lastly filling the dressing bottles. As soon as I finished,

my first table was seated in my section. I head over to my table and greet them good morning by

saying, “Goodmorning, welcome to Tri-Valley. May I start you off with anything to drink?”

After the three customers list off their drinks for me, I walk away and repeat “coffee with milk

and sugar, coffee with cream, and tea” in my head over and over again until I get to the counter

to make the drinks. I grab all three drinks and head back to the table, walking past another couple

that came in looking for a table. I set the drinks down and write down their order to give to the

kitchen. As they wait patiently at their table, I start the same exact routine with the other table

that was seated in my section. As the time went on and it got later and later, more people came in

ready to be seated for breakfast. At around nine o’clock, there was all but one table filled

throughout the diner. I continued to take people’s drink orders, run out plates of food, put new

orders into the kitchen, and bring people their checks. In times of chaos like these, it made it

much simpler to keep doing the same thing over and over again. This was one of my favorite

things about my job as a waitress, the fact that the routine was the same for each and every table.

About a half hour later, my boss entered the diner and was raring to help. She is such a kind and

enthusiastic person, which has made her business so successful.

 After my boss set her belongings down, she asked me how she could help. I had been

repeating a drink order in my head for minutes now and finally blurted it out to her, “3 large

fresh orange juices and a black coffee.” She had no hesitation and started to fulfill my request. I

was so thankful for her and her help because making fresh orange juice in a time of chaos is the

most dreadful thing out there. The taste of the juice is so refreshing and delightful, but the hassle

of waiting for the oranges to go through the machine and making sure there is not too much pulp

is a struggle to do while multitasking. She gestured to me that the drinks were ready and within

seconds I ran them over to my table. The people continued to pour in and the plates ready for

customers continued to pile up. As I brought out the food to the tables and for a second I looked

up at the clock and saw that it was already one o’clock. The mayhem throughout the past five

hours caused them to go by in the blink of an eye. I was so ecstatic for two o’clock to roll around

so that my shift would end and I could go home and relax for a while. Tables were finishing up

and others were paying their checks. A few tables came in here and there but were seated in

other sections of the diner. I kept the routine of taking care of my tables all while cleaning up

from my shift, making it ready for the next group of waiters.

As 1:55 pm rolled around, I thought that I would be done for the day but then, a table of

ten walked through the door. The worst feeling ran through my stomach since none of the

waiters for the next shift had arrived yet and my coworker, who had been working there longer

than I had known he could get away with giving me the table. After my boss greets them she

turns over to me and hands me ten menus. With a smile on my face but a feeling of dread within,

I grab the menus from her and guide the party to one of the large booths towards the back of the
diner. After I set the menus down, I walked away with a feeling of defeat after knowing that I

was leaving no time soon.

After regrouping myself, I set off to the large table in the back with a wide grin on my

face. For the last time of my shift I greeted the table by saying, “Good afternoon, welcome to

Tri-Valley. May I start you off with anything to drink?” This time I took out a pad of paper and

wrote down numerous drinks that were spit out to me. It took me a few minutes to situate all the

drinks on my tray and make sure I had the order correct before I went back to the table. I bent

down behind the counter and slowly dragged the tray full of ten drinks onto my forearm. I

walked slowly and steadily behind the counter and carefully turned each corner. As I turned to

the aisle toward my table, I saw Eddison, one of my coworkers who was working the afternoon

shift, walk in through the back entrance. I stood there with frustration radiating through my eyes

since if he arrived about five minutes earlier, I would not have had to take the table of ten and

would have been able to leave on time. After carefully setting down each and every drink,

without spilling it on the table, I asked the table if they were ready to order. With a little

hesitation one of the women says “Umm, maybe just a few more minutes.” I expressed that I was

no problem and walked over to the counter for a few minutes. With time to spare, I caught up

with my boss and took some time to relax after having such a crazy shift. As I was sitting down,

Edison came up to me and tried to start a conversation with me. I was so irritable and tired at this

point that I wanted nothing to do with him. I used this moment to escape from him and go back

to my table and see if they were ready to order. It was perfect timing since as I walked up to the

table, all the menus were closed and they were ready to order. I wrote down all the orders and
brought it back to the kitchen as fast as I could so that they could start it promptly. As the food

was prepared, I took the time to enter all my receipts into the computer and walk around to my

table to see if anyone needed drink refills. I sat down and my leg was shaking since I was so

anxious to leave. After a while, my table's food started to come onto the window and I started to

run the food out to them. After about three trips back and forth from the kitchen to the table,

everyone received their food and was content with everything.

Now the most dreadful part came along as I had to wait for everyone to eat their food.

One of my biggest pet peeves is being rushed by waiters at restaurants, so I sat at the counter

patiently, talking to my boss for a bit. At this point it was almost three o’clock and the diner had

maybe two or three other tables besides mine. After about 20 minutes, I walked back over to my

table to see if everything was satisfactory and if there was anything else that they needed at that

point. Everything was adequate so I walked back toward the counter to wait even longer for

them to finish. After about 20 more minutes, I saw one of the women wave me over and tell me

that they were ready for the check. I went to the computer and printed the receipt out. I brought it

to the table along with some to-go containers. At this point I was exhausted and drained that I

closed out all my tabs and checked out for the day. My boss was very understanding and

explained that she would save the tip they left for me for when I came into work the next day.

After I got my tips for the day, I grabbed my belongings and headed out the door. On my

way home, I listened to some relaxing music and tried to decompress after the stressful shift I

just had. After getting home, my mom was there to greet me and talk to me about the day I had.

My mom realized what a stressful and long day that I had and then decided that we should go
and get out nails done together. Within the next 10 minutes, we were headed out the door and I

realized in the car that even after long and stressful days, my mom is always there for me and is

always trying to make me feel better and willing to spend some quality time together.