Around the end of January, I began working as a hostess at a restaurant. The restaurant is in an area of downtown Charleston that draws in tourists, so I get to meet some pretty interesting people, to say the least. Not only do I interact with the customers, but I also interact with literally every person that walks by the restaurant, because the hostess stand is outdoors on the sidewalk by the street. With that background information given, here are ten interesting encounters I’ve had while on the clock.
1. A random man once walked by and asked to add me on Facebook. He had his phone out, with the Facebook app pulled up, ready to search my name right then and there. Being the idiot that I am, I didn’t even think to simply say, “I don’t have a Facebook, sorry,” and I told him my name so he would add me, leave me alone, then I could delete the request later. About a month later, this same man comes walking down the street, phone held up, recording a video. He approached me, stuck his phone in my personal space, and said, “Look at her, she’s a pretty girl… You know why I’m recording you?” I shook my head and buried my face behind a menu. “I’m bothering you ‘cause you ain’t add me back on Facebook!” Needless to say, I still have not accepted the friend request.
2. The restaurant at which I work literally has “oyster” in the name. More than once (yes, more than once), people have asked, “Do you guys serve oysters?” as if a giant menu wasn’t displayed at the entrance of the building with listing the various oyster-affiliated dishes we offer as well as the word literally being in the title of the place.
3. During a shift a Sunday afternoon shift, the restaurant was pretty slow -- at 1 PM, the only people in the dining area were employees. That is until a 50-something-year-old woman came in. Totally hammered, she asked where everybody was, confessed that she wished she had a boyfriend, hugged me, then walked out.
4. The hostess stand is directly in front of some parallel parking spots, so I constantly get to watch people fail miserably at backing their way into a space. One particular time, however, I witnessed someone attempt to parallel park for seven straight minutes. I have to admit that I admire the determination, as most people give up after about three tries. After they finally parked, they got out of the car, came up to me, and asked what street we were on. When I told them, one of them said, “Dammit, we’re on the wrong street,” and got back into the car and drove away.
5. After a young, beautiful bachelorette party finished their dinner inside, they made their way outside to collectively plot their next move for the night. As they gathered near the hostess stand, I could audibly tell just by overhearing that they were not from the area. At one point, one of the girls approached me and asked which bars they should go to if they “wanna get ratchet,” to which I had no idea how to respond.
6. Later on that same night, a different bachelorette party poured out of the restaurant across the street and seemed to be plotting their next move as well. They noticed me, standing alone on the street, and made their way over to ask me to take a group photo of them, since I seemingly wasn’t doing anything else anyway. But they weren’t content with just a regular photo -- they had me follow them to the patio next door and stand up on a bar stool so it could be shot from a higher angle because one of the bridesmaids claimed that it “makes you look tall and skinny.”
7. While doing my side-chores of checking the paper towels in the restroom, I overheard two very drunk women complaining about how they haven’t had a ladies night in “foreveeerrrrr,” how their husbands don’t try as hard in bed anymore, and their opinions on breastfeeding. And no, they were not at all phased when they came out of their stalls to find that they weren’t alone in there.
8. I had to work the night of this previous St. Patrick’s Day, which is apparently a very popular holiday in Charleston. While at the hostess stand, a group of college-aged guys came prancing by on the sidewalk across the street in their over-the-top green attire. One of them noticed me and began singing in a very off-tune manner, “She’s the mooost beeAAuuUUtifuLLL giiirl in the woOOoorld!!!” to which I laughed and brushed off. An hour or so later, that group returned from their endeavors, and this time on my side of the street. The guy who had earlier serenaded me, saw me standing there and said, “Oh my gosh you’re still here! I’m so happy,” gave me a hug, then continued on into the Irish night.
9. An intoxicated, middle-aged woman was sitting at the bar with her boyfriend and for some reason felt the desire to get up, come outside, and start a conversation with me. Within fifteen minutes of talking, she tried to fix me up with all three of her sons, told me the stories behind each of her tattoos, explained the situations of her ex-husband and her current boyfriend, told me I felt like the daughter she never had, and left her number on a receipt and told me to call her if I ever need anything. Sweet, but strange.
10. (This happened to another hostess at the restaurant.) After seating a group of middle-aged men and handing out their menus, one of the members of the party asked if she was on the menu, to which she uncomfortably giggled, said no words, and very quickly walked away.
