Valentines?

I worked at the restaurant this Valentines Day.

We had a special set menu for those that made reservations and they were seated at tables on the upper deck of the ship. There were roses, candles, and a super cheezy keyboard player/singer to accompany their meals. I was the runner that night for the upper deck. Translation: I would be running below deck to the kitchen and carrying meals to the upper deck (many flights of stairs involved) the entire night.

I tried not to be bitter. Running overpriced meals of lobster and filet mignon to lovey dovey couples that were all dressed up- getting only a 30 second break from my perpetual stairmaster of hell when I set plates down on the tables- only to have the cheezy keyboarder say weird things into the microphone in between songs like, "Have any of you ever been in love? Mary, I know you have, I can see it in your eyes and the skip in your step."

I had made the mistake of introducing myself to him before he went on that night.

I would just flash him a smile when he'd mention my name, abstaining from shouting out that the only reason I had a skip in my step was because I'd had to go to the bathroom for the past 2 hours, but didn't have a 2 minute break to do so.

I was doing a good job of staying positive the entire night. All I wanted from my Valentine when I returned home from work was a back massage.

I was busy clearing some of the tables when Sven, one of the German servers who was working the upper deck with me, yelled sternly, "Mary, I need you to go to the pantry."

I told him I would go just as soon as I finished clearing this table.

He snapped back and me angrily..."No, you'll go right now. And bring this in there!"

I was about at my breaking point. Here I had been, busting my butt the entire night and he was yelling at me that I had to drop everything that I was doing to take what, a measly spoon into the pantry for him. He just couldn't do it himself?

I forced a smile and retrieved the spoon from him and headed into the back pantry. I pushed the pantry door with extra force and as I cleared it, a large strawberry and ice cream sundae came into view (the kind that I had been serving to our guests all night). Sven's voice came from behind me, "And I don't want you stepping foot out here until you're finished with that!"

I smiled and thanked him as he headed back out to clear the rest of my table.

That was the best damn sundae I've ever eaten in my whole entire life!

Australian Word of the Day:

-They call baby carriages Prams...Baby Sully in a pram? Totally weird
-Also, they call the day after Christmas here Boxing Day--it's a national holiday included with Christmas where everyone basically lays around and plays with all the presents they received...pretty good deal if you ask me.

Congrats to those that figured out the weird international calling cards. I swear they make it as hard as possible for you to use those things. It was so nice to receive a call from the people I miss the most! We'll have to figure something out...like an every other call agreement, one week I'll call, one week you call, something like that.

-Mary