So This Is Christmas

It’s Christmas Eve and Café Machiavelli is bursting at the seams. Since we’re overbooked the wait time to be seated has crept past the half hour mark. Several customers, upset with the delay, have stormed out in frustration. Christmas cheer is in short supply. The...

Happy Holidays!

Somehow I survived Christmas Eve at Café Machiavelli. What an experience! The kitchen crashed, babies cried, customers complained, several people walked out, and Santa valiantly tried to save the day. When I woke up this morning I thought my feet belonged to someone...

Behavioral Mod

Its 4:30 and I get sat my first customers of the day – a young couple with a screaming, kicking, red faced, snot dripping three year old boy. I take a deep calming breath, flick on my waiter smile, and head over to the table. The parents, embarrassed by their...

Leave Home Without It

The quartet of chattering yuppies on table 24 have finished dessert and ask for their check. They’ve been running me ragged all night with special requests, menu substitutions, and water refills for glasses three quarters full. I’m glad they’re leaving. “Here you are,...