What Working at Restaurants Can Teach Writers

When I was nine, I decided I was going to start my own restaurant. I made a sign that said “Gourmet Platay” (yes, platay isn’t a word, but the rhyme rolled off the tongue) and taped it in our front window. I added OPEN right below it. I placed a table in the middle of the living room with a fake floral arrangement my grandmother had given us, and I figured it would be moments before an interesting customer came through the door. I didn’t know what I’d offer on the menu, as our house wasn’t stocked with the type of food I imagined Gourmet Platay serving, but I knew I’d figure it out. I set out two water glasses and found a pen and notepad and waited. I waited and waited until one of my older brothers saw the sign and took it down. He said, “You can’t just start a restaurant like that.” I didn’t know then that one day I’d create another restaurant—in book form this time. But I had to figure out the business first. When I was fifteen, I begged my parents to let me take a job as a busser at a seafood restaurant. I wanted my own money, and The Galley was a seemingly-fancy place where a lot of teenagers worked. It had a nautical theme with porthole windows, fake lobsters on the wall, and a captain’s wheel; baskets of dinner rolls and a giant salad bar. Businesses held their holiday parties there, and it was the spot for graduation lunches. On New Year’s Eve, reservations were impossible to get. When I applied for a job, they told me I needed a tuxedo shirt and black pants and that I would start that weekend. I didn’t know then that one day I’d create another restaurant—in book form this time. But I had to figure out the business first. I remember my first shift—spilling water down a woman’s blouse and dropping a tray. I remember the hostess told me the tablecloth was crooked, so I had to redo a whole setting. I remember […]

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