Goodbye Charlie

I have left Charlie's Kitchen- my workplace for three years. I waitressed and tended bar in this establishment, which has been around since the 50's. Its strange, as this joint became kind of like another home for me. I LOVE the people I worked with. They were all genuinely great people and it is sad to be leaving such a family. Not only were my co-workers great, but customers too. Charlies has quite unique bunch of Regulars. Hilarious and quirky men and women who I would see every day. I came to appreciate their habits, their quirks, and I have sealed all of these things into my mental diary of fond(led) memories:

I tended bar with Evan; together we giggled and impersonated customers, conversed with them in English, Spanish, drunken English, and drunken spanish. We overserved them, and then had to throw many of them out. I took away fake id's from scared boys that looked like they were 10. I served tables with Josh and when it was slow, he practiced his new rap songs for me and I beat boxed...tried to beat box. the words "burger" and "frappe",became a permanent set of vocab, Ive never had to wear so much black. Ive never seen bathrooms get so nasty. I have seen first dates, marriage proposals, fights, famous people, men trying to pick up women, women trying to pick up women, men trying to pick up bartenders, bartenders trying to pick up broken wine glasses. Ive formed friendships with two twin brothers that I like to refer to as the Kings of Charlies. Greg and George. Tall and with a sense of importance, they put me at ease when I saw them at the end of the bar in the same seats. I once gave a credit card receipt to a man to sign and instead of a pen, I accidentally gave him my eyeliner pencil. His girlfriend looked at me with such disgust as I fumbled to find a real pen. Another time, a customer found a shirt tag in his burger. Ive made music and business connections with people, tested beers with construction workers on their lunch breaks, talked about love with English professors, come up with theories about outer space with stubborn hispanic men, and given advice to troubled loners at my bar. So many people to even begin explaining, but that created such a memorable experience. I am so happy to have been there for them and I'm so glad they were there for me too.

I am happy to be moving on..It was time. I look forward to getting my design career underway.

So goodbye to Charlies and hello to a future of many more special experiences. I will surely miss the Charlies comeradere, the bizarre encounters and all of the people, sounds, food and many things that makes this place so special.