I doodled on my notepad, tuning out what the restaurant manager was saying. I hated these quarterly meetings, but I was forced to attend because I was the team leader for the wait staff.
I didn’t want to be a waitress again, but this was the only job an eighteen-year-old could get while in college. The hours were crappy. The pay was mediocre. The only bright part was working around so many guys. The wait staff was mostly male, and they were all friendly and protective of me. My favorite part of the day was seeing Danny, my supervisor. I had known Danny for almost three years. I had previously worked with him as a waitress at a cheap family pizza place when I was sixteen. I had quit that job after six months and had missed talking and flirting with him. I was quite shocked to see him when I interviewed at the new restaurant.