An Uncrowded Restaurant

Translated…

The restaurant has its high and low seasons, just like the rises and falls of the tides too.  With a day as the unit, perhaps, the “high tides” of the restaurant come at lunch and supper time; and if based off of the week, then, on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, would the restaurant be more populated; and if the unit is a year, then, at the end of the year, the lunar New Year, on Mother’s Day, and in the summers, are the most crowded times.  High and low, low and high, high and low, and high again.  And still, this is merely, an estimation, not an exact.

The business would have its unexpected highs and lows too; in the expected least populated times, there’s, an influx of guests; and, at the estimated most populated times, there are, only, sparingly, a few guests who’d dined in; or maybe, on the days of expected unpopulated days, there are, almost, NO people dining in.

And in turn, on the days of expected rise in guest numbers, the numbers rose more than expected, and this, was still, NOT unexpected, because every worker was already, prepared, and having a lot of business, is expected.  And still, with the sudden onset of the low seasons, it’d become, very surprising, the most professional of all waitresses and waiters started having multiple arms and eyes, without any way, of putting their extra arms and eyes to good use, only stood like statues, waiting, for the guests, between the tables and the chairs.  Waiting on who comes by.  The business of the restaurant are waves, made up of, many rabbits, the blue rabbits, the free rabbits, those who hopped and leapt, very unexpected, sometimes, they’d come, and sometimes, they’d not, and, after awhile, the workers started, expecting this unexpected vacancy as the “norm”.

People are usually prepared, but the restaurants are never, fully prepared.  In those unexpected reduced populated days, the restaurant became more than lonely.  The square, rectangular tables, the small and large round ones, the unused plates, the cups, the emptiness became like an untouched full moon, with that strong attractiveness about it, trying, to call on the guests like the tides, to fill up the seats, and up the sales.  Come in, sit, come on in, the naked, the empty full moon, close to temptation, almost.  And still, this sort of an invitation became, a sort of a blockade—the more that something isn’t wanted, the more people wouldn’t want it, the more the restaurants aren’t full, the reduced number of customers.  Such, a sorrowful sort of a vicious cycle this is!

The setting of the restaurant, was made for the days where it’d be filled with guests.  For instance, the mirror, there are, many mirrors hung on the walls all around the restaurant, the walls, on the doors, on the poles, the cabinets, all of these mirrors give off the effects of the bigger space when the restaurant is populated, allowing the waitresses and waiters to see wider, so no matter what s/he is doing, s/he can see the man sitting at the corner, waving toward her/him impatiently.  And still, in the less populated days, all the emptiness these mirrors reflected, became bigger too.  This sort of a vacancy is not a void, instead, it’d feel, more suffocating than ever.  This, would be the cage that this restaurant had, designed for itself to live in.

and now, it’s only, “populated” by tables, chairs, plates, and other dinnerwares…

But, I’d loved watching this sort of an anti-climax, being so welcoming, so upbeat, so rowdy about, absolutely, NOTHING, in the forest made up by the mirrors, can’t even, catch, on single rabbit.  And, all those worries of how much is made, are left, to the high class guests, and, all of the waiters and waitresses, stood, close to each other to the sides, start spraying cleaning agents onto the mirrors, to wipe off the dusts, the fingerprints too, smiling, and enjoying this sort of a leisure in the busyness.  It didn’t matter if there are guests or not, the waiters and waitresses show up, and they get paid just the same.

On this particular less than unpopulated day, a table called out to the waiters to open up two bottles of wine, the customers were, dining, as they discussed matters of business, they’d become, somewhat, flushed from the drinking, and, this sort of a drunkenness can, help make up for the lack of sales of the restaurant in the noon hours.  After they’d left, they’d left behind, two scented corks, the mushroom shaped corks, rolled around on the round table.  And if you’d placed that cork under a microscope, you can see the cell walls, like the rooms of a hotel, one next to the other, and inside, the scent of the fermented white grapes, along with, the boring times, of this restaurant, in its, down time.

So, this, is the rise and fall of a restaurant’s day, there are the rush hours, like during the mealtimes, and, the times when there are, only a couple, or even, NO people dining, but, the workers are staying in the restaurant, just, waiting endlessly, for the customers to enter into the shop……