The Coffee Cup 01

Just before the summer of 1977, I was hired as a busboy at a local hotel’s restaurant. The hotel was only three years old and had been built on the site of another hotel that had burned down many years before. The hotel had a creek that ran through the property. This town at one time had been a stopping point for people traveling west through Texas. It was fairy common for travelers to stop at this creek in the 1800’s, and the town had been established due to this.

　　I first was assigned to the evening dinner shift as I still was in school. When school was let out for the summer, I moved to the far more hectic morning breakfast shift. The girl who opened the restaurant quit abruptly one morning (she literally ran out yelling that she quit and was gone before anyone else arrived) so I was assigned to open the restaurant. This necessitated me arriving at about 5:30 in the morning to get the dining room set up and ready for the breakfast rush before the restaurant opened at 7:00. The rest of the dining room staff showed up at around 6:00.

神秘的咖啡杯 01

那是1977年的事了,快到夏天了,我在当地的一家酒店的餐馆里找到了一份工作.这家酒店才开业三年,是在一家很多年前被烧毁的酒店的原址上建造起来的.一条小河流经整座酒店.我所在的这个小镇曾经一度是一个停靠站,很多旅游者在向西穿越德州的路上都会在这停一停.在19世纪,对于旅行者来说在那条小河边休息整顿是很普遍的,正因为如此,才有了这个小镇.

　　因为当时我还是个学生,所以我一开始先被派去上晚班.学校放了暑假后,我就要上早班了,和晚班相比,早饭紧张忙碌的多.一天早上,负责开门的女孩突然辞职人(事实上她是尖叫着跑出饭店,说要辞职.在大家都要没到之前她要走了),所以就由我来负责开门.这样,我就得早上五点半就到饭店,在餐厅七点正式开放前,把餐厅整理好,为一会早餐时间的忙碌做好准备.