Chocolate Fountain

It was noon when I wrote the time in with a blue ink pen and met eyes with the chefs in the kitchen. The dish washer was pacing his station, servers were setting up and taking down tables with things like table cloth and silverware.

It was over 70 degrees in the kitchen near the dishwasher station where me and another server stood wiping down water glasses. Questions were just rolling off my tongue as usual about where we put dirty champagne glasses that were used for mamosas, were there any clean water glasses yet, and where do I put these pastry blades.

It was hard to remember everyones name but I think I did all right with all the young new faces I was engaged to interact with afterall it was Mothers Day and the dining room was set up like a restaurant on the lake in Chicago. There were over 600 cloth napkins and not one was in sight for over thirty minutes. Already one of the servers said that she lost twenty dollars from her tips.

Everything seemed right. And the sweet spot or the climax of the night after the wear and tear of our bodies from lifting trays with dinner plates the weight of a VCR and balancing glasses was the chocolate fountains flowing with white and milk chocolate in which a handful of servers took a taste with strawberries and marshmellows. What a delightful and enjoyable end to a luncheon made especially for mothers. My senses rose up and the soars on my head from dehydration and all the bread and donuts (perks of the job) were gone and the night was complete with a belly full of melted chocolate and a few cups of coffee.

It was 5:00 p.m. and time to clock out. The staff crowded around our name cards where we clock in near one of the large freezers and a very small bathroom used by the chefs. I pulled out the blue ink pen and wrote in the time I left the kitchen to sit down in a quiet room to myself. I could hear laughter in the banquet room where the servers and cooks collaborated. I wondered if I should join them but I was to content where I was drinking the rest of my coffee out of a little styrophone cup.