Jack Squat for Lunch

We had a company lunch today at Venice, a no frills eatery in a small, small town. The dining room wasn't big enough to accommodate 40 employees at the same table.  So we sat in groupings.  The senior leaders choose the long rectangle table situated in the middle while the rest of us encircled them.


I guess the purpose of the luncheon was to provide us with bonding time outside the office. Although one could not overlook the fact that people tend to stick with the same friends they hang out with.  If anything the waiter certainly made the outing memorable.  God bless him--he was the only server on duty.  Salads came late and interspersed.  The fresh loaves of bread didn't arrive until the majority of us had finished our meals.  For some people their food came just minutes before the bread...they had to wait an awfully long time to eat.


Forget trying to remember who ordered what.  Aaron, our fearless head waiter, would enter the dining room with a tray of food and announced what he had.  Either you remembered what you ordered and raised your hand so he could deliver it or...as in the case of the Chicken Italian salad, no one claimed it.


"Someone ordered it," he stated, after asking three times who the salad belonged to.  "It's written in the order." 


Unfazed he simply placed it on an unoccupied table.  "I'm leaving it here."  


Someone was hungry enough to claim it.


Then there was the time he came bearing a dish of, "Veal," he announced.  It was immediately acknowledged.  


"Veal is delicious," he commented loudly for all to hear.  "It gets a bad rap though for being a baby cow."


We all laughed.  Who says such a thing, especially a restaurant staff??


Here's my favorite.  An hour and a half or so into our lunch Aaron appears--still serving food--with, "Who ordered the Chicken Borchette?"


One of our senior leaders replied, "Is it spaghetti?"


"No," Aaron answered nonplussed.  "It's Chicken Borchette."


By the time my group is done eating, he was sweating but still wore that mischievous, happy grin on his face.  On the front of his tee-shirt was a printed name tag that read "Jack Squat."  

*Image taken from www.gourmet.com