Booth Nirvana

I was looking for a place to whine and moan about my shift last night (which I did in my first blog post).  During this search, I came across the Waiter Rant site.  I'd never heard of him before now, despite the book deal.  After reading some of his stuff, I was inspired.  No, I don't plan to write a book, but it did seem like a good idea to blog in order to vent.  So, the April 26th 2004 entry particularly got my attention.  He mentions how some people just HAVE to have a certain table and referred to it as table nirvana.  The restaurant I'm currently working at doesn't seem to have a coveted table that I'm aware of. 

However, I worked at Denny's for awhile and during that period there was this one corner booth that everybody and their freakin' brother wanted to sit at.  Even the night shift at 2 freakin AM, people are coming in and it's clear we're only seating one side of the restaurant yet they "don't want to be around people" (Oh, no, the horror! Other people?! In public?!) so we'd have to oblige their request if they wished to sit in the other section of the restaurant. 8 out of 10 times, they would head straight for that big, cushy booth.  The other 2 times, they'd go to the table furthest away from the rest of the restaurant because, you know, it's not like I was the only server for the entire restaurant, which I was.  

It's not like I was acting as hostess, cashier, server, and taking To-go orders all at once.  Oh, wait. I was.  

The booth was designed for parties of five or six people.  Sometimes seven people could fit in.  However, even during the morning shift or swing shift, parties of three would often ask for it.  Everybody wanted to sit there.  It was a bit crazy. 

There was only one woman I didn't mind letting her sit there even if only two people were to join her.  She was a teacher and would often use the space to grade papers, along with her two colleagues.  She always left 20-30 in tips and her friends always left 10-20 in tips, so naturally me and my other co-workers would try to spot her and run to greet her at the hostess stand.  She used to work in a 24/7 restaurant before teaching, I found out on evening. 

Honestly, I've never had so many people ask for a booth before.  It was big and that was it.  There was no grand view.  It's a mystery.  Booth Nirvana.