Lunch Rush

The restaurant is small. The maximum occupancy is probably around 50 people. That doesn't stop the building from being stuffed to the brim. I am seated by a woman near the back of the store by the kitchen. The main food served here is Mexican. It is renowned all around town so that explains how busy the place is. The staff that I can see (not kitchen) contains about 6 people, including the manager/owner, who is waiting tables and cleaning.

Mr. Owner, from what I can see, enjoys being familiar with the customers. He engages several of the tables in small talk about their lives. He is a short man with a minimal hair count. His shirt is stained a few times with Chile. Even though this place is very busy he still finds the time to mix in with the customers.

Alberta. I am seated by a large woman with long black hair and a positive attitude. She is waiting on this quartile section of the building. She is friendly and does not appear to be tiring with the shift time.

The table to the right of me has a group of three woman. Two of the woman, Jane and Jen, are wearing pantsuits and colorful blouses. The last woman, Lafawn, is sitting opposite the others. She has on a blue dress and her hair is up into a bun. They all look similar, they could be sisters. Black hair and similar body build types. They appear to be Hispanic, the way they speak and what they speak about makes me to that cultural identity.

The table diagonal to me has an elderly couple. The man, Diego, has a bald head but a full beard. He has a large beer grown body and a t shirt with a cartoon on it. The woman, Dianne, is small and frail looking. She has light gray hair that has been carefully prepared. They are both seated and enjoying a meal but I don't hear a single word said between the two. It would appear the goal of the lunch date was only for the love of the traditionally prepared Mexican food.

The last table in my section has a lone man named hector. He has on a light leather vest and a pair of dark sunglasses. He is very kind to Alberta and appears to know her by the way he speaks about her family and his family. Alberta gives him a hug and says that she will come back with his usual order. He shouts out jokingly that he wants the hot Chile this time.

Mr. Owner goes to the table with the elderly couple. He asks if they enjoyed their meals and if there is anything that he could do for them. Diego answers saying in Spanish that everything was perfect and the couple will definitely be back. They leave and shout goodbye to Alberta.

Lafawn is sitting at the table and sifting through the endless pages on her phone. She does not seem impressed with the other ladies conversation. But as I can remember from my previous notes, the phone use might be a younger person trait, particularly with woman. She only looks up the whole meal in order to tell Alberta what she would like to eat. Jen and Jane don't seem to notice this behavior as abnormal, as it may be a social normality.

Hector receives his meal and compliments Alberta on her speedy delivery. There is not much to his time spent at the restaurant. He eats and leaves. Though it is noticeable that he does not address his phone once. This may be because of his age. Maybe in his fifties, and the fact of being a male. But I don't have enough conclusive evidence.

The woman start to talk about each other’s days after all the food is consumed. Jen and Jane work at the local court house and Lafawn is a lawyer or works for a law office. They laugh and joke about the work week. As they are about to leave, Mr. Owner comes by the table to check on the meal... They all agree, almost in unison that the food was great and the service was like no other. 

The Slow Day at Royalty Burger

It is five in the afternoon, the weather is partly cloudy, and I just started my shift at Royalty Burger. There are four groups of people, each made up of two in the lobby. They appear to be in no rush and are enjoying their meals leisurely. According to my co-worker Ms. V one group in particular has apparently been chatting in the lobby for over an hour and a half. I have been put on Drive-thru again and an elderly woman ordered one plain cheeseburger. It always surprises me when someone orders such a small meal. Apparently older people do not need the same amount of food as people in their youth.

Not long after the elderly woman came two cars that both ordered one ice cream cone. I had guessed they may have come together and my guess was confirmed when the first driver pulled up and revealed that she was the second driver’s wife. She paid for her husband with a huge grin on her face while the husband laughed.

It is now six thirty and my manager Ms. Krys put both myself and one of my co-workers on break because the place was so slow.

My break is up and some super hyped up girls are asking for napkins. My manager Ms. Krys seems annoyed at this because they are not buying anything but nevertheless asks me to just get them “outta here”. I inferred they were high school girls because I had heard there was a football game this weekend. As they drive up I get another order by two girls and they are being quite hard to understand. At first it seems like they water a “large frappe” and I finally understood they wanted a large fry. They found it very amusing.

Soon after the high school girls and “frappe fry girls” came a bunch of rowdy people into the lobby. They seemed really excited which seemed to confirm my previous though about a high school football game. One of them in particular seemed to keep the groups’ energy level up. He was about 5.9, Hispanic, and had a buzz cut. Luckily enough they ordered to go and we did not have to keep up with their energy.

Overall the place was really slow and it was nice to take it easy rather than move at the normal fast-pace. Also, it seemed my co-workers felt the same.

Early Lunch

At around 11:00 in the morning, the building was near empty. The sounds of dishes cleaning and a few distant televisions filled the restaurant. Mostly sports channels talking about the many upcoming football games for the weekend. I’m seated in a higher level to the restaurant and I can look upon most of the tables in the nearby section.  This host is a man who I’d say is in his mid-thirties. He is so excited for the opportunity to seat me that it’s almost overbearing. The waiter arrived, his name was tucker. Tucker seemed happy. He had short hair and a hat line around the edge of his head. He was about 23. I believe the staff’s enthusiasm greatly relies on the time of day. Most of the staff id encountered before were abrasive but they were in the night shift. Tuckers spirits were refreshing.

Before ordering I could hear the family behind me talking. I turned back and saw a younger Hispanic couple with a couple toddler aged children. The children were refusing to finish their food but the parents handled their tantrum. They said that if they don’t eat their food then they would not be able to go to the movie planned for their afternoon.

The table to the right and down a level had a couple occupying it. They were two men. I figured they were together because of their expressions. They held hands, the one on the left had a thick beard and a shaved head. The guy on the right had a hat on with some thick gasses. I heard a part of their conversation. On the right, Zed, brought up a hot button issue about the terrorist group in the Middle East. I thought it to be heavy subject matter for an early lunch. But none the less his partner, Peter, engaged him with a look of disdain for the subject on his face. They seemed to get along very well. They went on chatting for some time.  

Tucker was doing well managing our area. As there were only a few patrons in the establishment he wasn't spread very thin. The family behind me asked for the check and before you could think about it, tucker had brought them the bill. Needless to say, he was a server deserving the title.

The person who replaced the family at the table behind me was an elderly man, maybe mid-70s, named Carl. Carl sat and ordered a tuna sandwich with extra onions and an Arnold Palmer to drink. When tucker took his order he sat in the opposite side of the booth. I think this intrigued Carl, he asked tucker about his job and what his plans were. A chat was to follow so tucker was occupied for some time.  

The Partners raised both of their hands to ask tucker for the check. While he got the check, the guys talked about their plans for the night. Apparently they were going to go night hiking. I figured this was a form of outdoor adventure, they were to meet up with a larger group of friends. Zed was having second thoughts because he said, “I F***ing hate mosquitoes.”  I believe Pete told him to relax and to 

quit whining. They left and tucker came back to attend to Carl and I.

I asked for the check and I spent the time to look around. Carl and I were the only ones left. From what I could see on the other half of the store, the staff was mostly cleaning and joking with each other. Tucker got stuck with a task from the manager on the other side of the room.

Carl got a phone call from who I believed to be his daughter. He told her not to worry and he was fine eating alone. I could figure that Carl lost his wife. The daughter must’ve asked about his day yesterday because he began to tell her in an orderly fashion. His grandchildren came to visit him the day before and he went on and on about them.

I left after a few more groups of people had entered it seemed like business was about to start taking off for the restaurant.

The Little Girl, the Shaky Old Man, and More!

It is five in the afternoon, raining, and I am on drive-thru at Royalty Burger. At every order I ask “how’s the rain treating you?” and virtually everyone who has lived here for an extended period of time answered. However, a few people seemed unamused with the rain, which we had not gotten enough of in a long time. I would often ask if they were from some other part of the United States and they would respond with a rainy state of origin.

It is now 6:30pm and I am helping clean up and stock the lobby. A blond little girl, probably 5 or 6 years old, walked up to the drink station and was trying to get a refill. She could not reach it. I asked if she would like me to help and she responded “yes”. While I had expected to take the container and refill it myself she wanted to “do it too”, so I guided her hand to the ice and then to her desired drink. It was pretty cute, especially when she ran off with her drink, stopped as if she had forgotten something, and then turned to say “thank you”.

My headset went off to let me know a customer was at the drive-thru and I respond in my usual greeting. It is apparent that I have a cranky customer, which is not uncommon, but is always annoying. This person in particular seemed to be on a mission to put me in a foul mood. I quickly turned on the “bright and shiny” fake smile and proceeded to cash him out. He was an elderly man with a scruffy beard, worn clothes, and slender body.

Not long after Old’n Cranky came Mr. Shaky hands. He is a regular customer and everyone is always worried that he’ll drop either his food or the money. I imagine he has a medical condition because Mr. Shaky is considerably shaky. After he left I told my manager whenever I serve him I feel like I should escort him home because it seems dangerous for him to be driving. She responded with a chuckle and returned to her work.

It is about 9:30pm and the rain started picking up again. This is annoying when on drive-thru because the sensor picks up what I call “invisible customers”, which is just the rain tripping the sensors.

It is 9:45pm and we have a large group of teenagers walk in, which is kind of bothersome because the lobby closes at 10pm and we have to re-clean. For the most part they seem to be enjoying themselves, I say this because they are being really rowdy with each other and overly friendly with the female cashier.

Special: Eggs and Chorizo

It is breakfast time and walking into the restaurant, the first smell that impacts you is the smell of all the food that is cooked. The first thing that comes to my mind is man I hope I don't smell like food when I get out of here! You’re eyes are immediately drawn to the colorful chairs with many authentic Mexican figures on them, such as las catrinas, mariachis and others. I sit in one of the corners so I can have a better view of everyone that is there. The waitress comes up to me and asks me what I would like to drink so I quickly order an orange juice.

My eyes are first drawn to a group of five people sitting in uniform. One of them is playing a video game on his phone while the other ones are chatting away. The waitress comes back with my orange juice and asks if I am reading to order, not having even looked at the menu yet I told her I needed more time.

Sitting close by is a little old man sitting by himself reading the newspaper with his to go boxes ready in a bag next to him. The look in his eyes seem like he is a very sweet old man and I want to go sit with him so he won’t be alone, but I don't have to nerve to do that. He leaves almost 10 minutes after I get there being entertained only by the article he is reading.

Throughout the restaurant you can hear all the background noise coming from the kitchen, dishes clanking, some music, and every now and then the steam can be seen from whatever they are cooking. The waitress comes back and takes my order of eggs and chorizo, the special they had that day. She looks at me with confusion, because she can see all the scribbles I am writing on my napkin.

There is one older couple sitting side by side, they look to appear around their 50’s, holding hands. A second couple another elderly couple, maybe around their 60’s, sit in front of each other and they are chatting away like there is no tomorrow; smiling and laughing every now and then. It makes me really think about how special it might feel to have that one person you have always loved and over the years, there’s still so much left to talk about.

The group of five people in uniform leave, while a group of three a mother and her two daughters, I assume, because they look very much alike. The hostess greets them with a smile on her face saying “Buenos Dias”, and leads them to their table.

There are five waitresses, each walking around busily attending their customers. Towards the back of the restaurant where the kitchen is, you can see two of them singing together with the song that is playing in the kitchen, which to me is pretty amusing because they remind me of myself. As I watch them, one of the waitresses comes out from the kitchen and appears to be dancing, moving her hips from side to side as one leg goes back and then the other; however, she wasn't dancing, she was rubbing her shoes on the carpet that is right in front kitchen entrance, and I laugh at myself.

When I finish paying, I leave and I soon as I walk out the door, I can smell the stench of food that remains in my hair and clothes, but it’s alright because the food was worth it.

Coffee Shop

As I walk into the coffee shop I notice that the walls are full of different sayings, in different colors. While walking towards a table I notice a saying that my grandpa used to always say when I was little, “mas sabe el Diablo por viejo, que por Diablo.” Meaning that ‘wisdom comes with age,’ (or so I believe). As I’m looking over the menu I notice that the waitress is overwhelmed by the number of people in the room, after a few minutes she comes over introduces herself and asks what I’ll be having. With it being my first time in that coffee shop I asked her what she would recommend, I don’t think I will ever forget the way she expressed herself about the drinks and the food there. She said, “mira mija, tenemos una bebida para cada sentimiento, y una rebanada de pastel para cada pensamiento, solamente dime como te sientes y yo ago el resto.” (Look darling, we have a drink for every feeling and a slice of cake for every thought, just tell me how you’re feeling and I’ll do the rest.) As I laughed due to her response I said, “I’m feeling happy and a bit curious,” then she smiled and simply walked away.

While looking around the room trying to read all of the sayings, I notice an older couple sitting across the room, the lady was laughing with joy. As I watched them I couldn’t help but smile, they looked really happy. The waitress, Linda, comes over with a mango peach tea and a white chocolate raspberry slice of cake, she then says, “ellos son los Velasco, tienen 40 anos de casados y 20 de venir a esta cafeteria, tienen 7 hijos y aun siguen tan enamorados como el primer dia. A mi tambien me dan ternura, imaginate encontrar al amor de tu vida y estar casado con esa persona por tantos anos? Ya quisiera yo encontrar a mi principe.” (Those are the Velasco; they have been married for 40 years, have 20 years of coming to this coffee shop, and have 7 children. They’re still madly in love; imagine finding the love of your life and being married to that person for so many years? I wish I would find my prince.) As she walked away I stared at them, I couldn’t help but wonder what it’s like to find someone and be that happy with them.

While taking a sip of my tea I notice a guy sitting in the table across from me, he saw me staring and smiled, I smiled back. I noticed that he kept looking at his watch and then up at the clock that was hanging on the wall; he would pick up the menu stare at it for a few seconds and then put it down on the table. Linda goes over and asks how he’s doing, the guy, quickly responds, “oh no, I’m waiting for someone, I won’t be ordering anything yet.” Linda smiles and walks away. A few minutes pass by and his behavior is the same, stares at his watch, the clock, and then takes a quick look at the menu. I hear a loud laughter coming from across the room and I notice it’s the Velasco couple, as I smile and turn back to take a piece of my cake I notice that the guy sitting across from me is gone. I quickly look over the room, trying to search for him and nothing, he was gone. The fact that he kept anxiously staring at his watch and the clock made me wonder, had he been stood up? Or just afraid of meeting up with the person he was waiting for?

Every Dayers, to Wanna Be Playas

Another day, another wonderful, interesting trip to the yellow and purple building right across the street from fast food joints, and near misses at the corner of a gas station, due to the orange cones, and high schoolers texting on their phones. No days off, another trip to the gym I go.

I literally tell myself this every day while slowly driving through the parking lot attempting to find a free space that I can park my car. How come there are so many people here today. It's 9:45 in the morning on a Tuesday, and I cannot for the love of God find an empty space?! Finally, a cute girl about 20 backs out and leaves. So I roll into the parking space and continue my way in. Door one? At this time I'm walking towards the entrance and at the same time this middle aged woman is. We're at that awkward distance you know? Where I don't know if I should hold the door open for her, or just go on in and let her do it herself. Thank God she picked up her pace and there was no awkward situations haha. Alright, so I walk in. Swear, it's the same groups of people every time. We got the older women on the treadmills, elevated about a half a foot. The middle aged women on the step climbers, and bikes sitting near the dumbbells, where we got the males on every bench, and strangely there was one female and the bench getting a shoulder workout in. I've noticed around this time of day there's a high school class that attends the gym. Because as a I walk through the gym planning out my workout I see a lot of young faces, girls wearing the skimpiest clothes, and the males lifting little baby weight. It's easy to tell who the high schoolars are because they are ALWAYS in a group. Like today while I was working out. There was a group of guys near me just chatting away, picking up a weight every now and then, and every once in a while a group of girls just come up to them and they talk for a while and then go their separate ways.

It's always funny working out here, because I always have my headphones in, so I'm jamming to my music, but every once in a while I take them off, and with hear the music blasting in the gym. While resting between sets, I noticed a girl on the treadmills just JAMMING to the song playing in the gym, and I can't help but be a little amused because she's just enjoying it. She catches me looking about her, and she just turns bright red, because she knew I saw her. I gave her a thumbs up, and she smiled. It's kind of funny because even though that place was packed, it really was a good atmosphere. The old ladies on the machines behind me peddling away talking about something they cooked for dinner. The high schoolars to my right, talking about "Chemistry with Denise" and the rest of them hollaring with excitement. "You going to say something?" "Bro, stop being a bitch and say something to her." Made me miss high school, man haha.

I'm going to end this post with a story about how I think I'm slowly starting to gain a gym partner. haha it's funny because we don't know each other, but we are always at the gym at the same time. Doing the same workout it seems. It's kind of weird. I mean, we never speak, but it's like," dang, always!! I don't know if she's a student or what, but it's pretty cool. I don't know her name. We just exchange hello's and smiles.

The Warrior Sanctuary

The weather has been so uncertain. Rain, no rain? At least it’s not hot outside. Upon walking to the entrance, where the automatic doors open, I looked next to me and asked my friend is this where the warriors hang out? My friend smiled and laughed. Greeted by an older gentleman with a red vest on, was a badge with his name listed under the word “volunteer”. My friend and I came to this setting filled with veterans and He assured me this is a great place to partake in “people watching”.

As my friend and I were walking in I noticed how busy the lobby was. The smell of fresh popcorn fills the air. I saw they have a popcorn machine like one you would see at a movie theater popping away in the back corner of the lobby. There ahead at a permanent desk are a crowd of several men, all I notice are the volunteers, standing conversing. I watch what seems at first to be volunteers conversing, providing most are wearing red vests, it quickly becomes apparent they are helping a variety of men and women. Right away I notice a very strong friendly, family-like atmosphere.

My friend leads me to a group of older men standing around. He advises me to watch these older men interact with each other. From a distance I hear one of the men asking if anyone knew what the hell his medicine was. Watching all of them take their turn looking at this pill bottle in deep thought. Then one gentleman says, “Man, you better check that one out, these doctors get you losing your damn mind”. The original man who posed the question of what type of medication he had in his hand replies “My mind has been gone for years” and they all started laughing in unison.

I had my mind made up about what type of people I would see all older men and woman. It was a surprise I saw many young men and woman, which I did not expect. Here you have the older men with the wars they fought, units they were in, awards they were given listed on pins stuck to their hats. On the other side of the spectrum was a younger generation whom are dressed in casual wear, most of which are sporting tattoos. This is my generation, men and women my age. I notice one young man with a prosthetic limb. He appears to not be any older than 25. I speculate what happened to him, he walks with smoothness. Not a normal gate that I have seen it’s more developed.

My friend tells me to “hold tight” he walks to his appointment. Did he just speak to me in military terms? I am just sitting here taking in all the different types of people. I do notice I do not see any children. No one is eating any food. Most of the people are just sitting in a waiting room. I look back towards the desk with the older men wearing red vests. There appears to have been a shift change. There are now 3 different men that I did not see before hand. They are all volunteers as well. I see a younger woman pushing an elderly man in a wheelchair through the front doors. She is pushing with only one hand while resting her right hand on his frail right shoulder. There are several people sitting around me holding numbers and waiting to be called for their appointments. One young woman seems frustrated she looks at her number then at her watch. She then looks at the monitor where the numbers are being shown. Right next to her is an older gentleman just sitting, staring at the wall. He looks happy. Everyone that I have seen including the volunteers seems to be happy. The lady who keeps looking at her watch is the first person I notice to appear frustrated.

The young woman who is pushed some elderly man through the door way has stopped at the desk. She and the elderly man are talking to the volunteers. The old man looks confused, the lady then gets near his right ear and speaks to him in a nice manner. He looks up at her smiles, nods his head in agreement and says ok. She then repositions her right hand on his shoulder and her left hand on the wheel chair and off they went into a door the volunteer opens and closes for them two.

“Would you like some popcorn sweetheart”, a lady volunteer asks me breaking my thought process. I accept I told her and ask how much does it cost. The older lady laughs and says, “I couldn’t take money from you”. I feel a warm acceptance. I look over the lady’s shoulder and see a familiar face. My friend is engaged in a conversation with two other gentlemen. One is older in his 70’s while the other is younger in his 20’s. My friend says something I can’t make out and they start laughing hysterically. I meet eyes with my friend and he says hi and nods his head in a yes motion. He makes his way over to me. Who are those guy do you know them, I asked. He says, “I have no idea who they are”. There seems to be an unspoken brother in arms code amongst the people who frequent. People have their own unique feelings, emotions, stories, experiences, yet all come together in a common place. A place where warriors hang out.