Gulu Gulu

Before I came to Prague, I was convinced it would be easy to find a job. A couple of months before we left, Nicole talked to her friend Eddie, who said he found a waiter job within a week after moving to Prague. My sixth day in Prague, I thought, well, tomorrow I will have a job. Thats what happened to Eddie, after all. A day went by, however, and no job. Three more weeks went by, at which point I should have had four jobs, but still, no job. Then Eddie comes and stays at our place this week, and after a couple of days, he has already found me a (possible) waiter job.

Its at Cafe Gulu Gulu, a French Italian restaurant in old town, about a five minute walk from our apartment. I stopped by yesterday and immediately had an interview. They were looking for someone who speaks English and has experience as a waiter. Knowing Czech, French, Italian, Spanish, and German is helpful but not necessary. In the interview, I was able to drop a little French for the owners, which made them like me slightly more. My English was good enough for them, and I lied about having experience as a waiter. They gave me a menu to stúdy and told me to come in today for an audition.

I was pretty nervous last night and this morning. Handing out plates to customers at Casa de Luz could hardly be called waitering experience. I just never thought of myself as a possible waiter before, so I figured it wasnt in me. Sometimes I have this irrational fear (redundant since there is nothing to be afraid of, and so all fear is inherently irrational) that I can never learn any new skills, and can never do a job that I havent already done before. Even the prospect of cooking at Angelicas Kitchen, a restaurant not at all unlike Casa de Luz (Rachel and I even baked some desserts from their cookbook while volunteering at Casa), seems like something Ill never be able adapt to, since its new. The only thing that gave me hope today was Nicoles golden amulet, which she let me borrow for good luck.

I was at Gulu Gulu today from 11:30 until 3, and about half way through, I felt elated, knowing that I could be a real life waiter. It was so easy! All you have to do is seat the customer, give them menus, put their orders in a computer, take their food out to them, and then take their money and give them change. Granted today wasnt busy, and I had a relatively short shift (normally waiters are there straight from 10 am until 11 pm), but I was really happy at how naturally it came to me.

The arts editor for the Austin Chronicle once wrote a one act play about waiters complaining about annoying customers who tip badly. But at Gulu Gulu, the customers are really nice, and they arent even supposed to tip, so I would have nothing to complain about. Or write about, though I dont think I would ever want to write a play to complain about a job, even if I were a waiter who was badly tipped.

I used to look at waiters and think, "How do they do that??" Well, now I know! I even got a free cheeseless pizza to boot! (get the pun? pizza is considered Italian food, and Italy is shaped like a boot.) The only downside is that I wont know for a week if I have the job, so I have to keep looking. What if I get to be a waiter, though? I just wont be able to believe it. Me, a waiter!