Three weeks from today is the anniversary of my Interview for my current job.

I interviewed at 1:00.

I came back that night for dinner.

Adam and I were waited on by a seasoned server named Jen.

Jen is one of the good ones. A professional server. A lifer. She is good at what she does. Her biggest fault is that she knows she’s good at her job.

I don’t criticize this as I knew I was good when I waited tables as well.

She waited on Adam and I, impressed us, I took the job, and the rest is history.

The thing about Jen, who’ll read this tomorrow, is that she has a very distinguished look.

She has striking Lucille Ball red hair. Sprayed within and inch of its life. Red. Red. Red.

She has an amazing personality. And for, her service, and hospitality are her life. She lives to do her job well.

Fast forward to today.

A man calls.

He says when they were here last year they had an amazing server. And when they come back next week they’d like her again.

I k ow of course who they are talking about.

But I ask.

He tells me she is. Tall. And blond.

Huh?

Maybe I’m wrong.

I have no tall blondes since last summer except someone who is not Jen.

I have him describe her.

He insists. Tall. Blond.

I ask again.

Tall. Blond.

I ask them if he knows her name.

He tells me he thinks it’s Jen.

Seriously. Her hair is red. Seriously red.

I put the note in his reservation. But I think to myself if he thinks she is blond he deserves a table by the dumpster.

Every day I get to work at 1:00.

This is the sequence of events.

I walk in.

I put my lunch in the fridge.

I put milk in the espresso machine.

I put me phone and red cup in the chefs table.

I adjust heat and air conditioning.

I go to my office.

I hit okay and listen to the messages.

Today there were 12.

I write down the messages. I am very good at it now. Lots of short hand that I now know.

I them take the iPad, the cordless phone, my notebook, my laptop all to the chefs table.

I make my double cappuccino.

And I start returning calls.

A year ago 12 calls would have taken an hour.

Today it was about ten minutes. Some people answer I process their requests. I leave messages for the rest.

Very. Very. Generic messages.

I learned a year ago if you leave specifics they think they have a reservation. And I won’t process the reservation unless o speak to you.

My standard message is:

Hi this is Jeff from __. You can reach us back at 555-555-5555.

This is the schedule of events today.

Only one thing differed.

I call a number today. Voicemail picks up.

The message that followed was 45 minutes long.

Seriously? The person I called had a voicemail that listed 17,453 different phone calls depending on who was calling.

Full disclosure. It was a business cell phone. But seriously, I waited forever to leave the message above.

It was really funny because a sales person had come in and he’s sitting there watching me listen to a 45 minute phone message.

Eventually I leave the message.

Not long after the person calls back. And I make her reservation.

Fast forward a few hours.

I get a text messages apologizing for the long message.

I thought so.

I recognized the name on the call. But they didn’t say anything when they left the message nor when they called back.

She worked for me years ago. I consider her a friend.

She texts and apologized that I had to listen to her 45 minute voicemail.

I texted back and teased her and told her I was going to write about her.

So here is a post about my friend Kim who has the longest voicemail in the history of voicemails. Next time, tell me who you are.

Also. Can’t wait to see you.

In 2010, I pulled an old filling out of a tooth eating a tootsie roll. I was in Kentucky visiting my mom. I cut my trip short to go back to NYC to see my dentist.

He did a root canal. And set me up to replace the filling.

Except.

When he started working on me the pain was insane.

The root canal didn’t work.

I ended up having to have the remnants cut out by a oral surgeon. And was fitted for an implant.

Six months later. A new fake tooth.

No big deal.

Except that I learned very quickly that food would get caught between the implant and the real tooth. And soon I had to carry dental floss with me every where.

First so it didn’t drive me crazy.

But who’s so food didn’t get between the teeth and smell bad.

My current dentist replaced the filling in the other tooth and essentially fixed the problem. But I still carry dental floss. Just in case.

Tonight a woman comes through the lobby on the way to the restroom and is happy we have toothpicks.

She makes a comment about food in her teeth and I ask if she wants some floss.

You’d think I’d just asked her if she wanted a free car.

She was so happy.

I gave her the floss.

She went into the restroom.

She came out a different woman.

This is not even close to the first time this has happened.

I have a confession to make.

I love my boyfriend a lot.

But I’m a real live human being. A male human being. And sometimes I notice guys who are attractive.

Fun fact. As I’ve gotten older so have the guys I find attractive.

The reason I’m confessing this is that about a month ago I got busted checking a guy out at work.

I looked up from the IPad and a very handsome man was standing in front of me.

Whoops.

He was very sweet and asked if I was checking out his new shirt.

Yes. Yes. That’s exactly what I was doing.

In fact his shirt was very nice.

Anyway, since then he and his wife come in once a week. And he always teases me about different things.

Tonight he was in and teased that I’d called the police on him last time he was in.

He’s got a big smile, big personality. Very nice.

I usually tease back.

Tonight I teased that at some point they have to start calling for a reservation or I’ll not be able to seat them.

I got them a seated at the bar.

On their way out.

He shook my hand and thanked me for always being so gracious to he and his wife.

As he pulled his hand back I realized there was a bill in my hand.

I stuck it in my pocket.

I said goodbye. They left.

I didn’t even think about it again till I got home and emptied my pockets.

As I put my wallet, keys, and dental floss away I found a crisp 100 dollar bill in my pocket.

It was the first tip I’ve gotten since last summer. It was very generous. And very unnecessary.

I am very grateful for people like that at work. Who expect nothing. But appreciate what we do do.

It makes my job super awesome.

We have great guests.