The Newbie
From Chicken Soup for the Soul: Laughter’s Always the Best Medicine
By T. Jensen Lacey

To make mistakes is human; to stumble is commonplace; to be able to laugh at yourself is maturity.
~William Arthur Ward

I was just a teenager, working at a small restaurant in Northport, Alabama. The restaurant was “country-style,” serving what we in the South call “meat and three” lunches and dinners. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, it means one serving of a type of protein (meat) along with three side dishes.

I had only been working at the restaurant for a few weeks, sometimes toiling as many as seventy hours on my feet. But I was glad for the work, and the tips were good. I was, I thought, “getting the hang” of waiting tables while saving my tip money and putting it in my college fund. (Keep reading)