My Second Job

After a few years of scrubbing toilets on the weekends, I decided I needed a job where I could get some more hours. Fast food seemed to be the most popular choice among my peers, but I had heard horror stories about greasy burger joints and pizza shops. There was a Blimpie sandwich shop on the outside edge of my neighbor city (there weren't any fast food places in my hometown), so I decided to apply there.

I enjoyed this job because it gave me a chance to serve people face to face (unlike my maid [I mean "room attendant"] job where I was only cleaning up after people after they had checked out or gone out). And I got to wear a red shirt and visor! Looking back though, I think my favorite thing about that job was my employee discount because MY OH MY I am still in love with the grilled chicken sandwich with honey mustard and the BLT with lots of mayonnaise (sadly, it is a long lost love, because I don't live anywhere near a Blimpie now [which is probably for the best because I have since realized how many calories and fat grams live in just one tablespoon of mayo]).

My foster grandparents used to come in often. It still makes me feel so loved because they drove past a Blimpie to eat at my Blimpie (or maybe it was just a Subway...or a Subway and Blimpie...either way, they drove a long way to eat there, something they hadn't done before I worked there, and something they didn't do anymore when I stopped working there). Grandpa would usher his cheerful but senile wife (Alzheimer's) to a table, and I would serve them waitress style. They are both gone now. Thinking of this time in my life makes me miss them.

I'll never forget the day my oldest friend came in... (That isn't really the right word...longest friend? No. He's actually kind of short. The only person on this planet who has been my friend since Kindergarten? Yes. Him.) Anyway, my long-time friend and my...what would I call him? My childhood sweetheart? Okay, so TWO GOOD FRIENDS (this story keeps getting snagged!) came in to ask me what I thought of a guy I had just gone out with for the first time. My long-time friend told me this guy liked me but didn't think I liked him back, so he was unsure if he was going to ask me out again (my friend knew this because they were coworkers). This is all starting to sound a little too middle school, and since I had just graduated from high school I'm going to end this paragraph.

It turned out that my long-time friend convinced my now-husband that he should ask me out again. The morning he came in to Blimpie to see me, the first time after our first date, I almost dropped a whole tray of bread loaves on the floor. The morning light streamed in through the large glass windows and he stood there looking handsome in a black cowboy hat. And the fact that he stood there at my counter was proof that he liked me which caused my heart to leap! Oh Sappy Young Love, I kind of miss you.

Those are my favorite Blimpie memories. My least favorite memory involves an unfortunate run-in my finger had with the gargantuan meat slicer...CRINGE...I've said too much. But since I've already said too much, I just have to say that was the freshest meat ever! Ugh. I'm still trying to forget about that, so I might delete this paragraph later.

This post did not end up being what I had planned.