abend

Yesterday could have been notable for the appearance of a very small, mullet-toting boy in the kitchen. But, overshadowing that intriguing fact was the entry of myself into the world of dinner. Up until this point, my restaurant duties have ended at 6pm, safely before the onslaught of evening diners. Yet due to a last minute schedule change, since the guy who was supposed to work the drinks/buffet was moving to Zurich/had a party to attend (two separate stories I heard, the former from the guy, the latter from the dishwasher, Carlos), I found myself standing at my post beside the coffee machine, amid the candlelit dining room, greeting individuals who, it turns out, are far more adventurous in their wine selections than lunchtime customers.

This somewhat pivotal task was entrusted to me because so few reservations cluttered the carefully organized "Donnerstag, Abend" page of the scheduling book.

What I did discover, is that when the lights are dimmed, and the stress of serving is low, coworkers are much funnier and more engaging.

I also learned how to use specialty dishsoap on the filtering mechanism on the coffee machine.

And, after I finished all the requisite cleaning and polishing of the glasses, we sat down to an obligatory "afterwork drink," which, for me, due to my intense kopfschmerzen (headache), consisted of water. Forty-five minutes later, after the multi-lingual jubilation subsided somewhat, and the beers were effectively drained, we said our Tschüsses and I took ibuprofen and went to bed.