“Did you know that if you type in Lucky Time into Google Maps, it will take you to a [gentlemen’s club]  in the middle of Michigan?”

So, yeah. Apparently I have been driving myself to a gentlemen’s club in the middle of Michigan every day after school for the last year and a half and I didn’t even know it…but with all jokes aside, my job, as a waitress that is, is absolutely dreadful. Especially because I am a Japanese teenager, working at a Chinese restaurant, owned by Cambodians. You have no idea how many times I have heard the same Asian joke, over and over again, how many times I have had customers think I was part of the family that owns the business, and how many times I have had customers insist they ordered a “Cashew Chicken Combo Special, not a Cashew Chicken Combo!” I’m sorry, I really shouldn’t be complaining…especially after I just got that solid, one dollar raise from the original, four dollars.

You don’t really realize how terrible people can be, until you work in Customer Service. Customers will ask for the restaurant to pay for a “brand new Beef Lo Mein because I spilled mine all over the front seat of my car,” more often, than not. They might even call in to yell at you, because “my husband has been waiting for our food for thirty minutes and we called in thirty five minutes ago!” I’m sorry, but it is Halloween night, we are packed, with a family seated at every table, and we are not going to have your four Cashew Chicken Dinners with no cashews, onions on the side ready within five minutes of you ordering it.

In reality though, I actually do enjoy my job. It is really laid back, I get to do my homework or sit on my phone for three hours on the nights that we aren’t busy. I get along wonderfully with my boss and his many family members:

Kevon? Oh, he is my best friend. He drives an Audi and is scared of caterpillars. I yelled at him once because he told me he dropped out of nursing school as an April Fool’s joke.

Chavez is cool too, except well, he tried to slide into my DMs once. Dude…no, thank you.

I get the privilege of making friends with the community members and the customers who kindly oblige to my waiting. In fact, I actually think I might be sad that I will have to quit to pursue college and a better career. I just wish I could be a waitress for the rest of my life.

Editor’s Note: Jane Elliston is a Senior at Fair Grove High School, she writes about her life and the challenges she faces.