What's Left Behind

                It’s your typical Sunday morning and it’s time to rise and shine. Today will be a good day; I don’t care what anyone else has to say or do it’s all about me and my positive at-ti-tude. So, I get up, I feed the four-year-old before I leave the house, empty out the dishwasher, wake up the hubby, and off I go for my adventurous day! Oh, a flat tire; look at that.  It’s okay though because my work is only like a half a mile more up the road; here we go. Hiking I went.

                I get to work and the boss asks why I am so sweaty, I tell him he doesn’t really want to know. We laugh, he asked why I was late; my response? “It’s why I’m so sweaty,” he gave me a look of disgust and I pointed to my car. He had a nice laugh.

                Table flow is good. Everyone is happy so far. “Paige we have a 7, you want it?”  the host asks. “Of course I do,” I replied with gumption. More people means higher check amount, means bigger tip.

                These people are so sweet and kind. Laughing with each other; the two kids don’t even have their electronics out, and the one boy was sitting on the old man’s lap listening to a story about his childhood, “… we followed the train tracks. The went up North Maine by your favorite grocery store and down past the school as far as Monsanto.” Listening to this and watching the little boy be so intrigued was very enticing and uplifting to see.

                After these kind folks ate, I sent their check along to them and they went to pay. They helped pack up and the older gentleman and they had to take him home. He was too old to drive himself. I went up front to cash them out. They left a $30.00 tip on a $150.00 ticket. That is amazing. Actual 20% tip from a table of 7 people. After sending these remarkable people on their way, I found what was left at the table. Some things one would rather not find and wish that customers would not lose.

                 Picking up gross, stuck-to-paper pancakes; prechewed dinno-chicken-nuggets; macaroni and cheese off the carpet; one would think nothing could be worse. This table who had brought out the old man who couldn’t drive, let him leave his teeth behind. That’s right guys, dentures. A pair of dentures. Ya know, most things left are things like: children’s toys, bottles, binky’s, reading glasses, rings, but no one prepares you for the teeth. The gums are pink where the glue should have been and probably was but has somehow lifted off because of the saliva from the old man’s mouth.  Left, on a napkin, perfectly formed to fit this poor old man’s gums. You’re probably thinking: what did you do with the dentures? I hope you threw them away!

                The answer is no. Sorry to disappoint everyone; I would not want to make that old man pay another $200.00 (or more) for a pair or set of dentures. Being kind and putting them in the safe is not difficult when I remember all the Late-night shifts I’ve worked in my life. Cleaning up after the drunks and having to literally sweep/wipe/mop up their vomit, urine, or poop off the stalls. If dentures are the least of my worries on a day shift. I am so pleased.

https://www.google.com/search?q=dentures&biw=1188&bih=566&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi73tDQobPPAhXBeD4KHfxvALYQ_AUIBigB#imgrc=7BZbllglZ_WJUM%3A