I got this prompt from the CHBM’s Carnival .

My first job, when I was almost 16 year old, was that of a waitress at the local breakfast & ice cream hangout. It was the place where everyone went after a school function or for a mother’s day breakfast. Cool people worked there and it was excellent money for a high school student. The job was probably one of the most difficult jobs I ever did, but also was one of the more fun.

The boss, Rich, was one of the biggest jerks I think I have ever met in my 30 years. He treated the employees, especially the waitresses, like crap and didn’t mind breaking the labor laws. Actually on a few occasions, I am pretty sure he had a good laugh at the expense of someone who he made cry. The restaurant was his Daddy’s and then when he retired Rich took over and was the gleaming example of a spoiled little boy.

In the mornings the place was bombarded by old people. People who would complain if the dry toast they asked for was not dry enough and then it was too dry. They would sit all day in your section and down pots of coffee and leave you a 10 cent tip. Then there were the town’s “gypsys” who would come in and eat, then when they thought you weren’t looking would steal the money off of other tables to pay for their own and NOT leave a tip. The menu alone was a task to memorize. I didn’t have as a feeble mind as now, no drugs had entered my system at the time and no kids had exited yet(we all know thats how I lost my mind), but I still had a time trying to remember which cheese went on which items and how many scoops came with which toppings.

As difficult as this place was, it also was a safe haven for me. I loved working there at night time with the rest of the high school crowd. It was my first glimpse into kids from public school and where I tried my first cigarette. When ever there was a snow day, and the entire town would be shut down, I would volunteer to come in and make sure there was coffee and such for the snow plow people. It would be so much fun as most of the day was spent fooling around spraying each other with the dish hose and playing tricks on each other. My managers, who most we fresh out of school, always listened to my oh-so-long-problems at home and tried to help me. They were a life saver at points where my depression was so thick I never could imagine making it to 30. Yet here I am!

Working at this place, was really a turning point in my life. It was my first time where my parents didn’t have constant control over me and I loved it. My parents hated it. My mom even tried coming in to talk to my boss to get her reign on me but he just ignored her. I was exposed to a world that I never new existed and it was like coming home for me. I earned enough money by working here and got my first car. That alone changed my life. Once I saw the freedom regular kids had and how the world wasn’t all about rules and life could be fun, I was addicted and wanted more. I can’t say this was the healthiest thing for me, as it just made home life more difficult and me more rebellious, but as I look back now, I wouldn’t change it for anything. It helped shape me. It taught me how to work hard, even when things seem impossible. It taught me to stand up for who I am, to rage against the night. It opened my eyes to people of different walks in life. It taught me how to have fun, how to make work fun.

Last time I went home, I noticed that the restaurant had been closed. That made me so sad. After I left the state it had been turned in to a few other chain restaurants that never really did well. When I think back to all the memories I had eating and celebrating there as a child to the days where I worked there, I wonder what happened to that place. Where do families in that town go now? From what I read and can see the town is turning into sludge. Crime and gangster wannabes seem to be roaming the place. A town that once had a few small privately owned restaurants is now ridden with national chain Applebees and the like. Thankfully, none of that happened until after I left because I couldn’t of asked for a better first job.

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