TGIF

Friday night is one of the busiest nights at the restaurant, and consequently one of the most stressful. The servers try to keep their cool in front of the customers, greeting them with the most genuine smiles they can muster and asking them how their days are going.

Me: "Good evening! How are you all doing tonight?"

Customer: "Fine thanks, and you?"

Me: (Well, if you really want to know, I'm working a double today and have been here for 9 hours already. I had honey mustard in my hair for 3 of those hours, but no one bothered to tell me, so I'm pretty upset about that. I didn't get a break to eat lunch or dinner, so I slammed some chocolate mousse as fast as possible, which was followed by instant regret and a stomach ache worse than that one time I tried a KFC double down. In addition, the cooks are behind, the kitchen looks like a war zone, and most of the staff are running around more frantically than the Sandiegans in Jurassic Park 2.)

* most genuine smile I can muster *

"I'm doin' pretty well, thanks for asking! What can I get you folks to drink?"