My son just started a job waitering at a local Mexican restaurant. He also works at a grocery store, but he hadn’t been getting enough hours, and since he needs money for his planned trip abroad next month, he knew he had to find additional employment.
The restaurant serves authentic Mexican fare and is decorated in traditional Mexicana artwork featuring Aztec masks, statues of Mary, and plenty of colorful skulls. They also pipe in customary mariachi music to really set the mood.
The staff is primarily of Hispanic origin, which is expected. What wasn’t expected was their desire to hire my son given that he’s a 6’2” ivory-skinned redhead. That doesn’t really fit the “theme.”
He got the job via a friend who was already a waiter at the establishment. Apparently, they were having trouble finding reliable help, so they were willing to give my son a try. He has a good work ethic and apparently that came through in his first few shifts so they agreed to keep him on.
During his training period, he shadowed another server, bused tables, and cleaned as necessary. I found this ironic given that I’ve never known my son to clean anything without a knockdown, dragout fight. He claims he’s good at it, but I questioned this given that I’ve rarely seen him do it.
Initially, he made little money because there are no tips involved during training periods, so the payoff of all the invested time didn’t seem worth it. I tried to explain to him that he had to pay his dues before the good money started rolling in.
After a couple weeks they finally let him loose to wait tables on his own. He didn’t get the best shifts so there still wasn’t a lot of money, but he was working his way up. I repeated that hard work and dependability will eventually resolve to an increase in earnings.
Each night after arriving home, he tells us stories about his encounters. He waited on a couple that he was convinced were on a first date because they barely spoke and seemed wildly uncomfortable with each other. He’s also waited on an elderly couple that seem oddly preoccupied with his life and what he does in his free time. And then there was the lone businessman who came in at lunch and left him a huge tip simply because my son talked sports with him throughout his meal.
It didn’t take him long to figure out that you have to play to the customer. If they want to talk, talk; if they don’t want to talk, don’t talk.
This past Sunday night, my wife and I decided to visit the restaurant and see first-hand how he was doing. Before we left, I dug out some cash to leave as a tip. I’d heard enough stories about crappy customers, so I thought I’d give him a bonus.
We arrived and walked in and our son greeted us with a bit of hesitation. “What are you doing here?” he asked, looking slightly embarrassed that his parents would show up at his job. Once we explained that we weren’t there to loiter but wanted to eat, he calmed down and showed us to a table.
We perused the menu and placed an order for margaritas and some appetizers then sat back and watched him work the room. My wife had been a waitress for years before she found a real career, so she was especially critical of his technique. Each time he wandered back to our table, she would hit him with another tip.
Once we finished and my son brought over the bill, I inquired one more time if the tips were shared. He assured me they weren’t so I stuffed a $100 bill into his hand and smiled.
“Good job, dude,” I stated.
He smiled back with one of those smiles that makes you love your kid even more than you thought you could, then headed back to the kitchen.
We left the restaurant with an odd sense of pride. My boy is breaking out into the world. And while a waitering job is minuscule in the grand scheme of things, it is an opportunity to navigate a new environment while trying to find success. And that’s what life is all about.
In this week’s feature, “The Union,” starring Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry, we meet a grungy Bostonian construction worker who is recruited into an international spy ring by his high school sweetheart, forcing him to navigate a new environment that wants to kill him.
“The Union” is exactly what you would expect. There’s plenty of action, a lot of sexual tension, and some humor thrown in for good measure. And while it did encompass all these attributes, the flimsy storyline made it hard to swallow.
Check this one out if you need a distraction that doesn’t require much depth. It’s fun but ultimately forgettable.
A serviceable “C” for “The Union,” now available to stream on Netflix.
Got a question or comment for Dom? You can email him at moviediary@att.net.
