Karen demands VIP table claiming to know the owner but I’m the owner and she was left crying with a $4,000 bill after my revenge. Karen storms into the restaurant screaming that she knows the owner and that we must give her in her group of Pals the VIP table reserved for celebrities. The trouble is I own the restaurant and have no idea who this lady is, but I decided to play along and see what happened.
During the dinner, one of the girls asked me whether I thought my life was meaningless because I worked as a waiter. That’s when I realized all bets were out and I was going to exact my retribution. This is what I did.
This occurred around Christmas and New Year’s. My grandparents immigrated to Canada from Italy in the 1970s and established a restaurant. When they died my parents took over the restaurant, which they grew and enlarged throughout the decades.
I’ve been working at the restaurant since I was 15. As my parents became older, they retired and became snowbirds spending the winterers in Florida. They sold the restaurant to me a few years ago, but they kept a tiny percentage of the stock as a mentary source of income in addition to their savings.
As soon as I took possession, I modernized the old place. I rebuilt the restaurant, altered the logo, and contacted local and National newspapers to place advertisements. I invited food critics, bloggers and vloggers.
It was slow at first and I began to fear that the loan I took out to undertake all of this was the worst mistake I’d ever made, that I had ruined three generations of a family company. But soon it began to work. A local semi- YouTuber included us in one of his videos which prompted more people to visit and review us.
Even on a Monday we were quickly seeing 5 to 10 times the regular volume of activity. We became a destination for large events and it was not uncommon for a celebrity to stop up on certain evenings. I even invited certain high-profile clients to visit and cook for our guests.
This cost a fortune, so we were completely filled for the holidays. People had to make reservations in July to get a table in December. It took years to get to this point.
When things become busy I don’t simply sit in the back office. I’m on the floor doing whatever needs to be done, whether it’s greeting customers, busing tables, or mopping the floors. On nights with high-profile guests or events I wear a jacket and take charge.
The story doesn’t end here –
it continues on the next page.
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