training kevin jones

at pizza hut we have a steady base of "regulars" -- those people who come in to eat on a regular schedule. there's mary who comes in pretty much every afternoon for the lunch buffet, and eats the caeser salad (only available during buffet hours) and a slice of lightly toasted garlic bread with cheese. jenny used to be a daily visitor, and as soon as she'd walk in the door people working would shout to the back "jenny pizza! jenny pizza!" until the person on make table would throw in a small hand-tossed american sausage pizza. and then our blonde feisty waitress, emilly, has a slew of businessmen and construction workers that come in once a week to be waited on by the young blonde thing that will boss them around and be slightly mean (men.....men are weird). we have our night-time regulars as well. there's an older couple that comes in and talks only to al really. there's a few families. one of these families is the joneses. they come in twice a week, usually around nine o'clock, and sit there for two or three hours. by that time we're so dead that they have the entire store to themselves. mr. jones will walk around with the infant (joshua?) while mrs. jones sits and talks with her sister or the kids. christina looks to be about 7 or 8 years old, and she's a quiet mousey little girl with glasses who probably reads a lot. she reminds me of me at that age. they just had a baby a few months ago. he mostly sleeps and rarely cries while they are at pizza hut.

everyone's favorite by far is kevin. he's five or six (he keeps declaring six, but i think he's really still just five). he's small for his age, and has a cute little high pitched voice and smacks his lips between sentences. if i didn't know better i'd think he was four. anyway.

kevin will follow you around the store. he's a talker, and he will fill your head with stories about his kiddie choir practice, or how hard it was to play the violin that day because his "back was killing him." he tells me about the prices of baby things like swings and strollers, and informs me that he's saving his money to buy himself a car so that he can put baby stuff of his own in it -- he's thinking about starting to have some babies soon. if you're not in the front of the store, he will stand on a chair by the register and chat you up, or follow you to the doors to the back (but doesn't cross the invisible line into employee territory).

kevin keeps talking about one day working at pizza hut, so i decided to bring my favorite movie to life (empire records) and make him a nametag, and declare him an employee. he usually forgets to bring it in. he told me he wore it once to pucchini's (HA!).

well, monday night i was closing as server and the joneses came in, complete with kevin's nametag. since we're best friends kevin was following me EVERYWHERE. despite being past nine, we got three more tables out front that i waited on. since kevin was following me around anyway, i introduced him as my trainee. everyone smiled as he agreed, and followed that up with "i'm six! when i'm sixteen i can work here! that's ten years!" while i was turning orders in and getting things done, he approached one booth and talked with the couple sitting there until their food came. he dismissed himself by saying "it was nice to meet you! enjoy your pizza!" when delivering drinks i let him pass out the paper-wrapped straws, which he got a kick out of. i also let him deliver the bills and mints, and taught him to say "thank you for coming in" which turned into a five-minute conversation with each table.

i think the highlight of the evening, however, was when the tables started leaving. as one couple paid at the register, kevin hopped back up on his chair to talk to jessie. the customers handed him an entire dollar for his "hard work" that evening. he was super excited, running up and down the dining room to tell his father. the last table (besides the joneses) to leave, and probably the one that enjoyed him the most, was a couple there with their infant daughter. they had long talks with kevin about his name and twins and babies. they gave him four quarters for his great customer service skills. he was in a state of pure bliss, having made two whole dollars in tips that night. his parents were amusedly amazed, thinking it funny that his chattiness and desire to help me with every little task got him paid that night.