Member-only story
The Jesus Bracelet
A gift I can’t seem to part with.
Once upon a time, I waited tables. A lot of tables. I worked in a few places over the years, but some of my most memorable work days happened during the midnight shift at Ram’s Horn.
There was the bar rush brawl, which began with one woman blowing smoke into another woman’s face. This was still the time of smoking sections. At 3AM, our smoking section was full of drunk people with a smattering of designated drivers. Before we knew it, half the restaurant stood up to fight the other half. Chairs flipped, food flew through the air. The manager, a big brawny guy named John, herded all of us waitresses into the kitchen while he, the busboys, and the cooks physically began tossing people out the door. The cleanup took forever, but the night went down as legendary at the restaurant. It provided war stories for years.
Midnights, the shift running from 11PM-7AM, were my favorite times to work, just for crazy events like this, never mind the extravagent tips we sometimes got from drunk men. John could be a grumpy manager (a bit of an asshole sometimes, if I’m honest), but he did make sure that no one harassed us or did anything inappropriate. Men who made rude comments or acted inappropriately were made to leave, physically if necessary.
