To X-mas restaurant workers

A letter from some grateful souls

WE KNOW you’re probably not overjoyed to be at work on what’s probably the biggest holiday in America. You might rather be at home with your family or friends. Or perhaps you’re just working because you want the holiday pay. Either way, we’re glad you’re here to take care of us when we have nowhere else to go on Christmas Day.

The reasons we end up in your fine establishment are many. We may have no family, and all the grocery stores are closed. We may not be able to cook. Perhaps our neighbor’s pack of hounds broke into the kitchen and ate our prized turkey. So we’re here, staring at this menu, trying to figure out makes the cheeseburger a Christmas Burger. Is it just because it’s Christmas Day? It doesn’t matter. We’ll take that and some fries.

Some of your restaurants try to offer a Christmasy dish or two, with perhaps the best effort from a chain restaurant open on the holiday going to Denny’s with its turkey and gravy. It’s not as good as the one the Bumpus’ dogs ate, but it’ll do in a pinch.

We’ll let you in on a little secret, though, restaurant workers. Some of us aren’t here just because we’re hungry, and your restaurant is the only one open today. A few of us could use the company, even if it’s limited to being asked if we’d like some more coffee. We would, by the way. If you have any good stories you want to share, if you’re not too busy, we’d love to hear them.

To all the workers from the local Chinese place all the way to Waffle House, we want to say thank you for taking care of those of us who, for some reason, are out and about today.

It sure means a lot to us. And we promise to tip well.

Yours truly,

A grateful customer