Grandpa's Cafe

My grandpa (dad’s dad) owned a cafe since I’d been born and he sold it when I was 12.

I worked at his cafe for a few summers a couple days a week from age 10-12.

He had a VERY cheap special. 2 cakes, 2 eggs, 2 links. (2 Pancakes and 2 sausage links)

I remember one day he was trying to teach me how to read a clock face and apparently I made him so bad by not understanding that he said “You disgust me” and that upset me so much that the next time he asked me to come work I didn’t want to.

I remember this group of 3 came in and the ONLY thing they said to me for their order was “scrambled eggs and water.” I even double checked what they said. So, that’s what I put in for the order. My grandpa asked me if I wasn’t sure they wanted the SPECIAL. And I said “no all they said was ‘scrambled eggs and water’. My grandpa had enough faith in me that that’s all he made them. I took it to their table and these jerk offs gave me a nasty look and asked where their food was. Luckily my grandpa never reprimanded me for it and he fixed their order in less than 10 minutes. They didn’t leave me a tip.

I remember having a tan bowl with my tips. Usually I’d get change which was fine cause I LOVED playing spin the coins. Most people hold the coin up with their left pointer finger then flick the side of the coin with their right finger. I grip both sides of the coin and twist really fast. I’d start a chain of them.

I’d also spend my time adding up the prices on the menu.
My grandpa actually gave me $10 plus all my tips for working a day. :) Some days if it was from 8am to 8pm he’d give me $20!

His cafe was closed from 2-4. Usually we’d take a nap on the  “oh so cold” booths cause the air conditioning was on high and it’d get REALLY cold. Other days if he needed to get something from the store we’d go to dairy queen and get sundaes!

He had a big stereo that had a cd player. If there weren’t a lot of customers he’d let me pick some polka cds from his collection OR I could play one of my 50-60s cds.

I kind of miss my grandpa’s cafe…