The Brevity Bell

In 1964,
I was in high school
working in a restaurant
as a busboy after school
and on Saturdays.

The restaurant was closed
on Sundays.

The restuarant was in
the basement of a dry
goods store, next to
the toy department.

It was a small place with
three U shaped counters and
a dining room that could hold
about 50 people.

Unloading dishes for the
dishwasher is where I heard
The Beatles for the first time.

The dishwasher said to me,
" Hey listen to this stupid
stupid song on the radio. "

I listened and heard,
" I want to hold
your h a - a - a n d. "

He asked me,
" How stupid is that? "

I replied, " Well I like
holding my girlfriend's hand
walking home from school
and carrying her books. "

He laughed and said,
" Be careful buddy or
you might be carrying
more than books. "

I went out to get more
dishes.

Come closing time on a
Saturday night I was
mopping the floor at 6pm.

As I was mopping the floor,
Mr Beech, the manager popped
his head in the kitchen door
and said,
" Don't forget to check the
freezer before your leave. "

It was always the last thing
that Mr Beech said to me
on Saturdays.

I waved and continued
mopping the floor.

I was given that warning because
the freezer had the plug near the
floor.

If you weren't careful, the mop
would pull out the plug to the
freezer.

Well - - , I was not careful.

Monday morning the cook opened
the freezer and all of the meat
was spoiled rotten.

When I came into work on
Monday after school, people
were telling me,
" It's been nice knowing you,
you're gonna get fired after
what you did."

I saw Mr. Beech cutting
veggies and he motioned
for me to come over.

Boy, that knife he was waving
around sure looked big.

When I got next to him,
I looked up and asked,
" Yes Mr Beech? "

I looked up because he was
six foot plus and I was a
little over five seven.

Mr Beech looked down at me,
directly in my eye and shook
his head, he said, "I need
to fire you."

I thought to myself,
" Doggie DuDu, my first
real job and I am
going to get fired. "

Mr Beech repeated himself,
"I need to fire you but I
can't. You come to work
everyday and you show up
15 minutes before start
time. It's hard to find
people who can do that.

But if you do anything wrong
from now on, you are gone.
Now get to work."

As I went to the first table
to collect the dishes for
the dishwasher, I thought,
wow, that was a close call.

Dad was right.

When I was younger, my
Dad had a favorite saying.

"You need to do an honest day's
work for an honest day's pay and
show up. If you can't do that,
they'll send you home for good."

The next morning at breakfast
I told Mom what happened.

She had a sad look on her
face after I told her.

" I am so ashamed of you.
How could you do such a
stupid thing. Your Dad
better not hear about this."

I always did what Mom said,
most of the time and this
was one of those times.