New job, new hairstyle. Over the course of 2 years, I eventually worked my way through a 500-pack of bobby pins. Long hair had to be pulled back in a bun. There were other rules: short nails, natural and non-chipped nail polish if any, no facial hair for men, no perfume, etc etc etc.

We even had to learn about the paintings hanging on the wall. There were quite a few original Robert Motherwell paintings and I honestly thought it was a bit of a scam. A customer once asked me about the all-blue Motherwell that was hanging by the bathrooms (lol). She said that it was wonderful and that she could see the story it was telling. All I ever saw was 3 blue splats of paint.

At the end of my training week, a manager gave me a mistakenly-made salad to bring home. I was told that it normally wasn't allowed but it was a shame to see it go to waste. That was the first and last time I was ever given official permission to bring food home.

Brown rice and salad.

Yesterday's soup of the day, salad, and rice

This was always frustrating because it wasn't really food. It was more of a snack. Salad and soggy tortilla chips.

Real food! Restaurant ingredients repurposed into beef stew (potato, carrots, beef) and brown rice.

Pressed box sushi. It's normally cut into smaller, rectangular pieces. The young sushi chef had extra every now and then, and would secretly slip it into my apron pocket at the end of the night. I think I got 3 of these from him during the entire time I was working there. Let me tell you, instead of eating the dainty cut pieces, this sushi tastes so much better when eating it like a sandwich.

Fish cakes or crab cakes.

The steakhouse didn't have pasta on the menu, so this was the ONE outside item that appeared during family meal! Pasta is cheap and quick to prepare, and it helps if yesterday's soup of the day can be transformed into a pasta sauce.

"Pasta in a white clam sauce" was what one of the servers called it one time, to which another said, "Oh, you mean yesterday's clam chowder!?"

With a cucumber salad...

Or just a Caesar salad...

Ground beef (a menu item was burgers) and tomato pasta

Penne pasta, broccoli, and salmon

Beef, red peppers, potato, white rice. The white rice was unusual because the menu only served brown rice. It's probably because it was a cheap buy for family meal.

A stew of beef chunks, and white rice.

After working the lunch shift, we would go to the gastropub next door for their many beers and ciders

They also had thin pizzas and, of course, sweet potato fries. We could choose 2 kinds of sauces to go with fries and I always went for spicy mayo. I think my teppanyaki place got me hooked on it.

Salad, the bread from the French dip sandwiches, and something not on the menu: mashed potatoes.

The same meal, turned on its side. A tuna sandwich, probably not the best choice for the servers to be breathing down on their tables later. The restaurant didn't have tuna on the menu.

White rice, salmon, and salad.

Pasta, potatoes, and salad.

Salad, chicken, brown rice.

Caesar salad and brown rice. The croutons were always a bit soggy.

Rotation for Sunday lunch so that everyone has to do it, because it was the least popular shift. It's busy, stressful, and people don't tip well. I solo opened the place on Sunday morning for about half a year, and then was left off Sunday rotation for the next half. It was great.

But after Sunday lunch, almost everyone on the lunch shift would go next door to the gastropub and hang out.

More post-lunch shift meals.

We were obsessed with sweet potato fries. I still am, actually.

Chicken fajitas, white rice, and black beans from the menu side of black beans and brown rice. No brown rice for staff today!

Rice and chicken

Pizza!? And white rice.

Guacamole, salmon, salad.

Everyone thought she was lying about going to the Vatican but then she came back with an air of moral superiority.

This donut shop was on my way home. My only gripe was that they never had completely plain donuts.

Chicken patty from the chicken burger, and Caesar salad.

Black beans, none of the brown rice from the black beans and brown rice dish, and steak fajitas.

The kitchen. The round molds are for the burger patties.

The grill! One of the grill men told me that he measured the doneness of the steaks by pushing against them with the tongs and judging how hard/soft they were.

Beef, salad, rice.

Rice and nearly tasteless beef stew.

Chicken, rice, and a rare treat: fries!!

Cash tips. I filled up this jar every week. I made more money than I ever had up to that point.