Eve of a new day

            Starting new things can sometimes be a very scary process. Most likely mistakes will be made, dishes may break, or tears could be spilled. These are all a part of the process of learning how to do something new and remembering the right and wrong way of doing those things. However, it's much harder when you don't have a friendly face to turn to for advice before things go seriously askew and the world feels like it could be coming to an end. This is how it usually goes when I try to take on more than I can handle, because I want to make a good impression on the people I'll have to spend forty hours a week with. On this fine, wintry New Years Eve morning in New York City, I walked through the door to my first training shift at, let's just call this place, "The Restaurant," and the first face I saw was my old friend Erinn. Sweet and petite Erinn, with her beautiful long blond hair, was busily fluttering around the restaurant like Tinker bell, setting up for the start of the lunch shift she was unknowingly about to train me to do. What a sigh of relief I felt when I realized it would be that familiar face that was going to show me the ropes and not someone with ten years seniority trying to make my life miserable and who I should never make eye contact with, unless I was looking for a death wish. Erinn was a dream come true on this first shift and, already, I was looking at this job like a blessing and not a curse.

            After getting a quick hug and a rundown of where everything was located, it was ten minutes to noon and the wait staff of three and myself, made our way to the restaurant next door, also owned by the same man, to use its shared locker rooms to put our things away and change into uniform. Like a family attending a dinner date at the neighbor's house, we made our way into the front door, past the dining area and climbed a narrow stairway to the second story storage area. The smells that swam through the air were like walking through a patisserie in Paris as master pastry chefs pulled hot sweet goodies from the ovens that very moment. My mouth began watering from the sweet scents of chocolate cakes and freshly baked breads before we even reached the top of the stairs. At the landing we turned into the locker room and I noticed that this impressive space was as big as my kitchen and bathroom put together. And, I had my very own locker! The last time I had a locker I was in high school. How excited was I? Very! Well, that was until I noticed there was only one room and it was co-ed. So, when my co-workers began to strip themselves down in front of me, I awkwardly stood around admiring the stickers on the lockers or trying to keep eye contact with Erinn while she talked to me, as I was already fully clothed in uniform before I came in. I'm not really sure if I even heard all of what she was telling me, now that I think about it, because I was too busy trying not to seem like a pervert. Nakedness has always made me uncomfortable, especially in front of strangers. I would have felt awkward no matter what because I've never really had to disrobe much in front of other people before. Growing up, changing for gym class happened in little stalls, much like the ones used in public bathrooms, and I was the only girl in my family so I always dressed in my own room. This was going to be an endeavor.

            Back at the restaurant, we found that in no time at all, our first table was sat and it was show time. Before we even reached the table I knew exactly who was sitting in one of the two seats. I could not believe my eyes. It was Dan Lauria. The same Dan Lauria that I watched on television as a child playing the father in The Wonder Years. I had seen him just a few weeks ago as the narrator of the Broadway musical of The Christmas Story, but now, here he was, sitting a foot away from me, and asking me about MY life and what I liked to do. As Erinn's shadow for the afternoon I knew I would be the source of people's curiosity and/or the butt of everyone's jokes, but this was all too much. Sitting beside Dan was his long time friend who was just as personable. He was a funny man with a round face, long curly white hair that fell to his shoulders, and a charming personality. He kept me standing and listening to his impressive family history while I tried to follow along as much as I could, saying as little as possible. When I find myself in a state of surrealism, I feel it's always better to shut my face and just listen. Otherwise, I say the most ridiculous and unintelligible things that confuse even me. In my head, it all makes sense, but when I try to articulate my message, it just sounds like a vocabulary list of nothing congruent and I only make things worse when I try to elaborate. I don't exactly get star struck when I'm around a celebrity. I've worked with many big names in the past, I've run into a few in the streets, and I've waited on a few other film and Broadways stars before, but it does take me a minute to take in the 3-D version of the person before I'm convinced they're really standing in front of me. When you spend years always seeing a person on a flat screen you forget that they're actually a living, breathing person. So fighting the urge not to stare at them is very difficult. However, I've made minding my own business a craft when I'm around people I don't know on a personal level, so I look only when I have to...or when they can't tell that I am. Yup, it's official. Dan Lauria is indeed a real person.

            After waiting on our first table, each successive one was just as pleasant as the other and just as talkative as the one before. Erinn warned me that this would be a common occurrence and on days when it's busy, I would have to learn the art of politely brushing people off so that I don't get distracted from what I have to do. Sorry Dan, I'm too busy to talk to you. How will I ever learn how to do that gracefully? From what I noticed, everyone who came in this afternoon was a regular and each one came craving a friendly face, a good meal and a quiet environment. I was already sold on the place after I took a whiff of those pastries next door and Erinn's friendly face when I walked in, but when I saw how unobtrusive management was, the pleasance and patience of the clientele, (at least when they're not in a rush to see an evening show anyhow) and the amounts of delicious food that they feed us before, during and after a shift, I was sold. I'll never have to buy groceries again! Bon appetit Marcy!