Restaurant Holidays

I like to think of restaurant as professional families. There are distinct 'types' in these kind of restaurant. the black sheep who everybody likes but just can't quite admit it. The comic relief, the teenager (the teenager by the way can be a forty year old man but there's always one). there's usually a drunk, partier or lush. there's usually a ditz or fashion plate. Somebody without a sense of humor, somebody with priorities that never quite include the job they're doing at present. Somebody that everybody else is kind of afraid of. And the person whose personality puts all the pieces together.

I like restaurant families. It makes the single, restaurant life a little less lonely. Let's be honest. We don't do or understand the importance of holidays. I haven't had a holiday since the tenth grade. That's eleven years of missed Thanksgivings, Christmases, Valentines Days, Birthdays, Anniversaries etc. The importance of those days is kind of lost on me. I mean I get.. sort of. Like family time, creating memories, establishing new relationships forging bonds. blah blah. Last year my restaurant and I stood in the BOH at New Years Eve toasting in 2009. We had a drink of champagne and then rushed back to our stations to re-fill glasses. So, it's not watching kids unwrap presents in velvet dresses, but it's something.

I think the hardest part is other people not understanding. Why is it that everyone else in your family seem to work monday through friday at nine to five jobs. My work week usually starts on Thursday and i'm just setting up my dining room when other people are getting home from their day. So, there are people the white coats, manager other servers. We go out to the movies on mondays, do our laundry on tuesday mornings, have a bed time somewhere north of midnight. It works for us. Actually makes more sense. When the heck do bank tellers manage to pick up their dry cleaning?

So, it works. for now. there just might be a day when I find myself with a mortgage and a kid or two. With a husband who may or may not have a day job. I'll have to figure it out. find a time to have a normal life. Thanksgiving by the way is on Thursdays I've never actually eaten turkey on a Thursday. Usually on Friday, maybe Sunday. But not on Thursdays. I wonder what that would be like. I don't even have a Christmas sweater. My aunt gave me socks last year goofy ones with little bell tassels on the heels. I didn't open up my presents until the 27th. You really can't wear Christmas socks after Christmas. In fact why do people wear Christmas socks at all?

And whats with Valentines day? I mean I know my point of view is warped considering that my first boyfriend was the year after I started waiting tables. But what's the big deal about Valentines day? I mean you get chocolate and flowers, jewelry go out to dinner remind yourselves that you're soo in love. And the next night your back to fighting over the remote control over watching a chic flic with Rene Zellweigger or a football game. All Valentines day means to me is double the covers for the night, double the money. I'm more than happy to go to dinner on the sixteenth instead. But, why or why is it so important to people? Anyone care to explain it to me?

Just curious.