My first waitressing job

After I got better from cancer I was not able to go back to work full time yet, partly because I had lost so much muscle tissue and had been out of work for about a year and I just wasn't mentally ready to go back to 9-5. So instead of going back full time right away, I thought about waitressing one or two days a week. Luckily for me I knew a lot of people in the biz, from my club days and was able to find a job at this 50s style diner in the city. What a place this was, it literally only had 5 booths, and 14 spots on the counter, the grill was in viewing distance and the place was always busy.

I remember getting the job through my friend Steven, and I went in to interview and they hired me, and I explained to them, that I couldn't work more then 1 or 2 days a week to start, to build up my strength and to get used to working again. When you go through what I did, the anxiety you feel sometimes is overwhelming and I didn't know how I would handle being around so many people. If I started to cough let's say from someone smoking or because I was getting a chest cold I would have an anxiety attack because that is how it all started, with a cough. It took me a long time to not panic every time I got sick. Thankfully now, my immune system is strong and I don't get sick too often anymore and I don't have those anxiety attacks like I used to.

The owner Robin has me train with this girl Melody and within the first couple of hours I pretty much have it down pat. She was quite impressed by me, asking, "Are you sure you've never waitressed before, because you are a natural?" Most people don't realize how hard it is to waitress and how intimidating some customers can be, but I'm an outgoing, far from shy person so I fit in really well, plus I have a very good memory. I remember I was first put on the afternoon/evening shifts. Usually I worked 3 to 11pm. (The diner was opened 24/7) but after a month or so, I had already gotten a lot of my strength back and my anxiety level had diminished some and they asked me if I would want to work an overnight shift. Being that at this point I was pretty much not sleeping at night anyway and those shifts are where you can make some serious money I said sure. They put me on a Wednesday overnight shift first 11pm - 7am because Wednesday's weren't that busy but still busy enough that I could make some money.

Well let me tell you I loved it, I wanted to work most overnights from there on out. So little by little I was put on more overnights either 11pm-7am or 1am - 9am, Thursday, Friday and Saturday were the days that if you worked overnight you could make around $250.00 a night (in cash). I started to work these nights and I had a blast doing it. I met some really interesting people, from the construction workers that were working on the new tunnels to the "in the biz" people coming in after they had closed the bars/clubs, to the pimps and hookers that would come in around 5am. This is also the place that my friends friend threw up on me.

I remember getting to know a couple of hookers (don't ask me names cuz I don't remember) and asking them why, why would they choose to do this for a living and they said, money. I thought to myself, that was a sad reason to do it. I also remember seeing how lost they were when you looked into their eyes. But the two girls that always came in were polite, pleasant and always tipped well. I always felt that these two girls if their lives had just taken a different path, they could've done anything.

I also remember one night, this pimp was with his girlfriend (who was also one of his hookers) and he started flirting with me (I know ewww gross) and he says something to me about how cute I am and how he and his girlfriend want to share me, or have a threesome with me, something like that. And me being the "nice" person I am (oh no don't you even think for a second that I said yes), replied, "thank you but I'm abstinent right now." (which was the truth) and they looked at me like I had 4 heads,

"What does that mean?"

"It means I'm not having sex right now."

"What!!! Why?" this was both of their replies.

"Because a lot of things have happened to me in my life and right now I need to focus on me and not worry about some guy trying to get into my pants, if a guy wants to be with me, he will first have to really get to know me and respect my wishes."

I thought these two were going to fall over and die. Here I am telling a pimp and hooker, who just hit on me, that I wasn't having sex right now. I don't think they understood the concept. Needless to say, it was an interesting job to say the least.

I truly enjoyed working there, and because of that place I got my first tattoo (okay I only have one so far but am dying for another) and then I got my tongue pierced (I've taken that out since then). This was a place where if you didn't have a tattoo you were the weird one. But that's not why I got mine, I got it because I wanted to celebrate that I was now in remission for one year and I got a symbol that is Ancient Greek that stands for eternal life.

Because of this job I was able to get stronger mentally, physically and also was able to save up my money to move to Florida (plus I have great stories to tell). I need to go back to the diner for some late night food except shit I don't stay out late anymore, damn it I need to change that.