New York, New York

The New York we all miss...

We went yesterday to a GUESS? sale, looking for some jeans, in particular. Call me whatever you want, but I would never pay $150 for a pair of jeans, no matter what made they might be. But when they are on sale... let's just say I'm open minded :) . Anyway, while there, we found a t-shirt with some kind of a NY subway map, that I had to have... so I bought it, of course. The thing is, memories of NY came back to me and now I just feel like describing a bit our NY life.
It was mainly about work, work and... that's right, work. Nevertheless, we still managed to have a great deal of fun, too. About work... my first job was as a bartender in a midtown restaurant. Used to work from 12 pm to 10 pm; I had some great customers, whom I enjoyed talking to; Christmas time was the best, we would sing carols, would play silly word games.. I could say I felt pampered, couldn't believe new yorkers would be so nice to an immigrant :) . I like to believe that I've learnt a lot during that period, especially the fact that since you and the owner are the last ones to leave, you'd better change your clothes extremely fast... yes, my two bosses would take turns in following me to the bathroom, while I was getting ready to leave... kind of scary, trust me. Since I don't find restroom discussions too challenging, I got bored and decided to look for a different job (sarcasm, anyone?).
Second job: hostess in an uptown restaurant. Reason of leaving: same as above (except for the restroom part, if you catch my drift). My self-esteem was continuously growing... lol.
My then boyfriend, now known as "micul" :) , was working as a waiter at a different restaurant. His manager seemed to like me, considering me to be a nice girl (how wrong was he!!!! :D ) and offered me a similar job. I was terrified, didn't think I could make it as a waitress, since I have a certain problem with my right hand. Since I had become "friends" with almost everyone there, they convinced me to take the job. I had such a great time. No harassing, no restroom incidents, and people would even help me carry drinks, especially micul, of course. But even when he was busy, Fermin, the bartender, Lucian, our best friend, or another waiter would help me when I had a large order of drinks (and I didn't even have to ask :) ). Hey, we were pretty tired when we got home, after 11, respectively 7 hours of continuous waiting on different kinds of customers, but it wasn't that bad, tthe atmosphere was great and everyone there knew how to have fun, despite everything else.
A few months after, micul got offered a job at a new, fancier restaurant. As we had "some" expenses regarding the Canadian residency application, he acceptede the offer and left. I stayed there and continued to fully enjoy it. The problem appeared after 9/11. We had no more customers, money was really short, so I had to follow micul to his restaurant, where he put in a good word for me (was I a leech or what? :D ). that job was tough, the boss was driving us crazy. If I may, only the food was driving us crazy; omelette each and every day... I was begging the guys in the kitchen to give some extra salada leaves and take away the omelette, I couldn't take it anymore. Being in a kosher place (the restaurant was Jewish), we couldn's bring any outside food, so we were stuck with the omelette.... urghhh!!! Micul used to work around 13 hours, while I only worked 8... that is until our boss had the great idea of offering me the secretary position as well. How could I say no? Micul was working lunches anyway, so instead of sleeping at home, I would be with him (not literally, but still). I afterwards realized that being a secretary and a waitress meant no more days off for me :D. The restaurant was closed on Friday, but I still had to come to the "office", at least from 8 am until 12 pm. I know, it doesn't sound so bad, BUT... the restaurant was located in Long Island, while we lived in Queens. It would take us around 1 hr. and 45 min to 2 hours one-way :D. That's some 3 and a half - 4 hours spent on the road, our biggest challenge. It was still our best option, so we had to be happy with it. To make the road sweeter, we would buy two sushi rolls (for breakfast :P ) almost every day... they were soo good and extremely cheap, as well. How I miss NY sushi :) !
I guess I wrote too much. Well... sorry about that... lol. Just felt like it :) .