The REAL Life

Jason walked out of the kitchen carrying a plate of burgers and fries, "Here you go Mr. Johnson," he said, "Just how you like it." he said as he placed the plate down in front of an older gentleman.

"Thank you Jason," he said, looking up at him, "How are things?" he asked.

"Things are going good Mr. Johnson," he said, "I'd love to talk but I need to start prepping for the lunch rush." he said as he walked away, "See you again tomorrow," he said.

"I'll be coming by with the grandkids tomorrow," Mr. Johnson said.

"Look forward to it," Jason said, loud enough so that Mr. Johnson could hear at the distance they were separated.

Abby First [surname] walked into the cafe and glanced around, looking for an employee. She spotted Jason and walked up to him. "Hey, I'm looking for a job." she smiled.

"Aw responding to the ad great," Jason said as he looked at Abby. "Hey.. don't I know you from somewhere? Did you go to Penn State?" he asked.

"Yeah, I did! I just got out, I'm an I dependably architect now, but I need a part-time job to get by with my bills at the moment." she laughed.

"Huh.... well thats not it," Jason said, "I just graduated from Columbia University..." he paused for a minute as he thought, "Well anyway, why don't you follow me around back. What's your name?" he asked.

"Abby First." she answered as she followed him to the back of the store.

"First... First..." Jason said as he turned on the stove, "Wait a minute.... weren't you in my class at Hanover High School? I'm Jason Bolde I was the quarterback for the our football team." he said.

"Wait. Your THE Jason Bolde? How is that even possible?!?" Abby exclaimed. She was absolutely shocked that she was meeting this guy again. They had been in two different leagues in high school.

"Coincidence I guess," he said, "We will have to reconnect later, cause we have the lunch rush coming in. You can take orders right?" he asked. One of the employees poked his head out back, "Hey Jason, Mr. Daniel's said that for a change he wanted some onions on his burger." "Got it," Jason said as he tossed some onions onto a burger. "Oh Rick." he said after the worker left. "Yea," Rick said as he poked his head back in. "This is Abby our new waitress, you mind if she shadows you during the lunch rush so that she could get used to the orders?" Jason asked. "Yea sure," Rick said as he left the kitchen again. "Abby you can follow Rick and get started." Jason said.

"Yeah, I can take orders." Abby nodded quickly. She looked over at the Rick guy when he came into the kitchen. "Okay, I will." she responded, and followed Rick out of the kitchen.

"Alright Abby," Rick said, "Welcome to the diner, we will have the lunch rush coming in soon so you might want to learn fast. Here is the chart that numbers all the tables," he said as he handed Abby a laminated chart. "I just want to say that we have a large amount of regular customers who have certain orders they always want. So you will just have to apologize to them and ask for their order again when they say 'I want my usual'," he said, "And if you follow me we can start taking orders."

"Sounds good!" Abby grinned as she looked over the laminated chart.

Jason rang the bell from the kitchen, "Mr. Daniels' burger's ready!" he shouted placing a plate. "Got it!" Rick shouted back, "Abby go grab that plate and bring it to table six. Introduce yourself to Mr. Daniels and make sure he doesn't need anything else." Rick said to Abby as he approached another table.

"Okay!" Abby smiled, then walked over to the man and set his food down in front of him. " Hello sir, my name is Abby, is there anything else I can get you?" she asked.

"Why hello there Abby," Mr. Daniels said, "I do believe I am good but if I need anything I will be sure to ask thank you." he said.

Rick came up the small window to the kitchen, "The Garrison's are here, but Ms. Garrison is forcing them both onto a diet so they have different orders than usual," he said to Jason.

"Well alright then," Jason said as he grabbed the order from Rick, he then turned and went to collect ingredients.

"Alright," Rick said, "And hey, why did you hire this Abby girl so quickly? You never do that."

Jason chuckled, "We went to high school together. She should be fine don't worry."

"Eh, alright," Rick said as he went back to taking orders.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late." Kristen panted as she popped in the back door. "My car broke down on the freeway, only to start up again, good as new, when it got to the shop." she grumbled.

"Don't worry it's fine," Jason said as he grabbed another order from Rick, "Get working though, lunch rush is about to start. And we got a new waitress."

Rick went up to Abby, "Hey Abby, table twelve needs to be cleared, get on it when you can." he said as he went to greet a couple that came in the door.