Restaurant Story #3

At Time Cafe, I worked with many different waiters. One of them--I can't remember his name now--was always joking around with everyone; he was really fun to be around. Once he told me about a waiter he knew at another restaurant. He said that one day, this waiter did something totally crazy. At the restaurant, they were doing some major repairs in the kitchen, so there was this big hole in the middle of the floor. The waiter noticed that it was a very dangerous situation; there was no fence or rope around the hole; anyone who was not careful could just fall in. So what did he do? When nobody was looking, he jumped right into the hole and broke his leg! Why? So that he could then sue the restaurant for negligence and get a lot of money. According to my waiter friend, it worked. They guy sued the restaurant, won his case, and became really rich!

What do you think about that?

Restaurant Story #2

One evening at Time cafe, I was bussing tables outside (it was summer and the cafe had seating in front of the restaurant). Part of my job was to put a candle on each table, just as the sun was going down. So, while people were eating , I stopped at their table with a candle. The candles were really big and heavy--like a couple of pounds--so I carried only two of them at a time. Anyway, I brought a candle to a table where a man and a woman and their baby (an infant, only several months old) were having dinner. For some reason-- I have no idea why--as I was moving to put the candle on the table, it slipped from my hand and fell. No big deal, right? Well, except for the fact that my hand was directly over their baby's head when it happened; the candle missed the infant's head by one or two centimeters (seriously!). I was in a state of shock. I remember standing there frozen, looking at the parents. They did not seem concerned at all. I thought to myself, "I almost killed your baby." I said to them, "I am so terribly sorry. How can you possibly forgive me?" They smiled and told me not to worry. Man, if it hadn't been for those one or two centimeters...

Anything bad about Japan?

Several students have asked me if there was anything about Japan that I didn't like when I was there in September for my first visit. The honest answer is no; but, I was only there for a week. I'm sure that if my stay had been longer, some things would have gotten on my nerves...and maybe other things would have seemed bad or wrong to me in a deeper sense.

One thing that I can imagine being difficult for me (if I were in Japan for a longer perieod of time), is the lack of physical contact between people, especially friends and family. For me, hugging and kissing on the cheek are everyday ways to express friendship. I'm not sure, but I think that at times I might feel lonely and uncomfortable in Japan for this reason.

Working at a restaurant

When I graduated from college, I decided I'd try to get a job in the music business in New York. I wanted to DJ a bit and work for a record label. But getting jobs like this in the City was tough! And I needed to make money right away to pay rent. So, I started bussing tables at a restaurant called Time Cafe (it was in the East Village on the corner of Lafyette and Great Jones Street). The people who ran the place were pretty cool and the money was good (even though I was bussing, not waiting) because, at that time, it was super popular, especially with people in the entertainment business (maybe I'd meet a big-shot music guy who could hook me up!).

I have a few funny stories from Time Cafe. One is about a crazy waiter I worked with; another is about almost killing a baby (well, this one is really not funny at all); and another is about Lenny Kravitz. Let's start with the Lenny one.

One night, I was stacking glasses at a wait-station when a woman came up to me and said, "Excuse me; could you keep it down? We're interviewing someone in Fez" (Fez was a bar inside the restaurant). I said, "Sure" and stacked the glasses more gently. But she came back again. "Um, could you please be quiet. We're interviewing someone important." She had a really rude tone in her voice. I continued stacking the glasses as I had been doing. She came back a third time, this time angry. "You need to stop this. We're trying to interview Lenny Kravitz." Clearly, she thought that this would impress me. But what she didn't know is that I despised Lenny Kravitz! I thought he was really arrogant--not unlike how I felt about this woman. So, I started loudly banging glasses together until she came back again (this time I ran into the kitchen before she could catch me!)