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mars Feb 2020
I got this job because I was seventeen
Available everyday at three
In debt with a man after I went clean
My boss at the time was thirty six with a goatee
Five dollars an hour plus tip, you see
It was fine for me.

I met the others standing by the kitchen line
All of them with the same look in their eye
Lying to family and friends saying, financially, their fine
Getting nothing on a tip and never knowing why
Yet they return the next day to serve white wine

Looking around I see all of us wanted more
But I’m in debt and you have to pay the rent
Do it all in one day and go home to a son that’s four
Under the thumb of an old vice president

The roof over the kitchen is about to cave in
And we watch with silent eyes
Because our uniforms are being held with safety pins
Promised new ones but Corporate lies

And when the bubble in the ceiling pops
We’ll be by the dumpsters flicking cigarettes on the road
While the greedy pigs come in drawing lots
Waiting for the gas stove to explode

Paid vacation sounds lovely
Been here every week for the past year
Sometimes I’m called to  come in early
Pick up the broken glass from lunch rush beer

The people come in
Angry as they usually are
Now the glares don’t even touch my skin
It makes me laugh how many nasty people sit at the bar
The high-class families who come in for din

It’s been eight hours and six years
Since we started our shift
Staying here for three more is the biggest fear
But we’re already ******
We’ve been here for long we know this career

What else am I supposed to know
Other than how to make dough

It’s been a long night
You can see it in the height
Of cigarette buts by the dumpster
Where we can freely talk about the customer

It’s a busy life
Feels like we’re running out of time
To get out and ignore the strife
But there are times when the tips make us feel sublime

And we can buy a warm meal
Cause maybe it will heal
These aching muscles
That come from a constant hustle

Don’t you see why they say
At the end of the day
We need an ashtray.
Zelda Nov 2019
Linux and Windows and Mac OS X
I say I got nothing to lose but
When the server goes down I panic
Got to verify your new laptop
Got a phone or 2 or 3
Got to verify a phone or 2 or 3
We're connected, we're disconnected
Maybe clear the cache, clear our minds
You say shut down, restart, but I keep
Windows running
I'm sleeping, you're awake
You're tired, me too
I say shut down, restart, but you keep Linux running
You're sleeping, I'm awake
I'm tired, you too
But we keep Mac OS X running
We're frustrated, we're cursing, we're evolving
I say I got nothing to lose but
When the server goes down I panic
Let's rewind a minute
Team Viewer
We'll debug the errors together
Refactor this code together
Like we used to
and it'll be up and
running...
running...
running...
Linux and Windows and Mac OS X
I got nothing to lose if I don't have you
And the server goes down
And the server....
And there are too many bugs to debug
And the code just doesn't make sense
And the server....
And the server...
And the server...
Linux and Windows and Mac OS crash
Autumn Jan 2019
I guess mushroom swiss burgers
are supposed to have mushrooms.
THEY ARE NOT supposed to have
lettuce, tomato, or pickle.
ONLY mushroom and swiss.

The angry and life deprived woman I was looking
down at sternly informed me.

Her burger was rapidly fixed.

The friendly, quiet, and easy table to the left
tipped me eight dollars for my troubles.

There are some good people.
It all comes out in the wash.
the joys and not so joys of being a server
Salmabanu Hatim Nov 2018
It was pouring cats and dogs,
I saw her drenched to the skin,
She ran to the canopy where I stood,
Her wet look,see through blouse,
and hunched shoulders,
Made A Sound in my heart,
Thud, thud, thud...................
I offered her my coat.
The next sunny day I saw her at the bus stop,
"Hi, remember me from yesterday."
" Sorry pal it was dark,
I don't recall you.
Your FILE NOT FOUND!"
I insisted,"Don't let my heart's 'Server Down."
Your smile, your style,your grace
I have clicked SAVE in one FILE.
Please be my life's Animated GIF.
She:"I am involved with someone,
I have no more 'Disk Space' in my heart's storage for you.
Please 'Ctrl+alt+delete' me from your life."
Seline Mui Sep 2018
Minute by minute
hour by hour
the angry swells so heavy
I'm about to pass out
and i want to never wake up.
Lost and confused trying to find myself again
So I pick up a pen and spill the ink
Black is what I see and what I bleed
Joy is a mystery that I can't seem to grasp
losing hope and faith
is it you or is it me?
Was this even meant to be?
You stole my identity and said you were my friend.
Ripped out of my arms, whispering goodbye.
And the hole widens with anger and spite.
Why doesn't this feel right?
This was suppose to be my chance, my dream!
To show the world that I am enough,
that I'm real and I feel!
This depression and stress, I want it to rest.
I need it to rest.
Why do i keep feeling like I'm not enough?
Is it you or is it me?
God, can you hear me scream?
I don't know what to do, I'm dazed and confused.
Chasing the dragon in the bathroom at work,
my only source of peace, my fake fidelity.
Sticking needles in places scars used to be.
Once healed, now marking its territory.
Again and again, how longer will I bend,
How longer will I need to prove myself?
How much longer will I come second place?
Where is your faith and why do I seek your approval?
I keep blaming you, but is it me?
A shoutout to all that feel this way, you're not alone, and I hope i'm not either. Hugs and kisses. XoXo
Amber K Feb 2018
"Hello, how are you?"
I say in a voice I can't believe is mine.
I hate it so much.
It's become like nails on a chalkboard to my ears.

I ask the human in front of me,
"What can I get you today?"
They ignore me.
Finally someone approaches.

It's an older lady,
gray bushy hair with wild eyes.
I smile and begin to take her order.
She begins to make rude remarks towards me.

She leaves,
someone else approaches.
It's a man angry about a price I did not set.
He takes it out on me.

I take all of the verbal punches.
From people who have had their worst days,
to people who are just too privileged to give a little kindness,
I smile through it all.

I don't really think anyone who walks in,
really sees me as a human being.
They don't see that I fight social anxiety for a living,
or that I go through things too.

They don't care.
They don't want to care.
When they ask how I am,
they don't want an honest answer.

I wonder if they would smile,
or compliment me instead of insulting me,
if I weren't standing behind a counter,
taking orders and giving change.
Working with the public is rough. I've had the job I  have right now for awhile and everyday I am still shocked at how customers (and bosses) treat workers at restaurants. I try to smile and be kind to every customer service worker I ever come in contact with, because it can definitely get to you if you have people insulting you or treating you like crap from 7 in the morning until 3 in the evening.
the server seems not
of a serving attitude
for almost twenty hours
it's been in an off latitude

why does the server
keep mucking us around
its ongoing behavior
is so seriously profound

we're at our wits end
putting up with it
constantly being down
we've had enough of it

servers must serve
a purpose well
instead of giving us
service hell*

we await the server's
change for the better
of late its been acting
*like a tantrum setter
Ron Gavalik Oct 2017
The kid with the beard and the ***** apron,
he's just trying to make it.
His shoes have small tears on the sides,
from the way water saturates and weakens the material.
He’s got this way of gliding from table to table,
the same way a dancer owns a stage.
He slides plates of salt-ridden tacos currently in vogue
to a roomful of overfed, undersexed office drones

A woman in a skirt and flip-flops rolls her eyes at a salad.
A ******* in a blazer flicks a ****** under the table.
Still, there's a twinkle in the kid’s eyes,
like he's on the make.
If the right circumstances unfold
he’d snag a loose twenty
from a wallet or a purse.

This is the server's life,
always under the thumb,
hated and stressed,
but always laughing
at the end
of each shift.
Based on experience.
Haley Greene Jun 2017
8/11/2016

i want something electric, so vivid and blinding that it leaves an imprint in my vision like walking into a dark room after being in the sun
i want passion so rare it leaves me foraging for whatever's left of me by the time you're gone
i want to speed down the coastline [evolved yet unchanged]
i don't know how to unglue myself from what you are
maybe i'll keep giving into the callousness in my heart that's been growing like a cancer since the first betrayal
you've used those lines before
they're carved in me with lingering pains that things are an illusion and i'm here to boost your ego
i've played this game long enough to know who the bad guys are
but what if i'm the bad guy for escaping something stable and unwavering
for a toxic replacement
[albeit you're pretty easy on the eyes]
teeter-tottering between saying something and actually doing it
my soul on a string like a tether ball where the players are you versus everyone else
and you say one thing
one tiny, insincere affirmation
my mind goes around the pole in circles until it's completely wrapped around the edges the way you have me singled around your rough fingers
creating knots out of my insides
yet all of your red flags fly violently
so i swing the other direction
loosening at the peak before you come back around and hold me like a child again
a vicious cycle
dangling a dangerous scenario in front of me like an animal eyeing food until it's clawing at your leg to rip it from your hands with their bare teeth
even in my fair share of evenings i was better off not having, you're miles ahead
pretending to be big kids an adult's world
and my mind goes miles a minute at the thoughts
you're not helping slow it down
you are no more an animal than i
Haley Greene Jun 2017
8/12/2016

a single space and two bodies  
you are drawn to the same air as i
but only (and only) sometimes
i wait for the message
that says "hello beautiful"
sift through the crowds to reach you for "goodbye"
and those days always come and go
when they're here, they're here
when i have nothing to show for myself
i can't stand to be next to a mirror
picking apart all the things you say you love about me
up and awake wondering when you'll set your sights on a new shiny distraction
i don't believe in putting a padlock on handcuffs and swallowing the key
nothing gold can stay
yet my mouth waters at the thought of pulling you in
but this place is a social experiment
where you and i can be whoever you want
i am a social chameleon
adjusting to whichever patterns and personalities fit my surroundings
believer and doubter
but the light and darkness aren't ambiguous
just the shadows between
and that's where we'll be
if you let me
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