Happy to Serve: The Floor 17 Cafe, #1

By Christopher Mentzer

Hi, I’m Chuck! I’m a server here at the Floor 17 Café conveniently located on the 17th floor in the Tower of Water. That’s the Askinar Towers in case you didn’t know. Unlike a lot of waiters out there, I love my job as I get to serve many strange and unusual patrons here. Within these pages are my observations of life as a server and they are all from my blog that I created when I first began working here. It even has comments from my fellow servers and some of our loyal customers! So pick up your copy today, you’ll be glad you did.

Comments

            Johano1: Worst. Blurb. Ever!

            Superstud2000: Sorry, but it’s my first book.

            Johano1: That’s the point; no one is supposed to know.

            Gretch2112: It’s lack “Oomph”. There’s nothing there that says, “Buy me.”

            Patty88: I like the blurb. It’s simple and straight to the point.

            Superstud2000: Thanks Honey!

            Johano1: Of course your woman is going to defend you!

            Maury2000: What is this a coffee break? Get back to work!!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christopher Mentzer
• Release date: Sep 26, 2016
• ISBN: 9781536593433

Christopher Mentzer

Having read the Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis, and all fantasy books by David Eddings, Chris took a stab at Fantasy with minimal success.  He even attempted Science Fiction with a couple of buddies while in college. The bottom line was, he lacked discipline and the desire to stick with any one project. All that would change in 2005, because in November of that year, Chris entered his first writing challenge held by the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) website. Although the goal was 50,000 words, he obtained his personal goal of 25K, which went on to be the foundation of book 1 of The Askinar Towers Trilogy. He later wrote foundations for books 2 and 3 in ’07 and ’09 respecitvely. His inspiration for the towers books came from John DeChancie’s Castle Perilous series and Doctor Who’s Paradise Towers. Chris lives in Mesa, AZ. He is currently employed in the retail industry working as a personal shopper. In his spare time, when not writing or stalking the social media streams, Chris loves to read books by fellow indie authors.

Book preview

Written by

Christopher Mentzer

Chuck’s First Customers

Hi I’m Chuck! I just got hired on as a waiter here at the Floor 17 Café. My uncle, Maurice, is the head maître D and I’m his favorite nephew. Ok, his only nephew. We have a good relationship as family and a fairly decent one at work but he makes sure he doesn’t show favoritism towards me which is why he’s always yelling at me in French. I can understand French perfectly but can’t speak it very well. I sound like a vulgar tourist from another country.

I’m also starting this blog to share my experiences and observations of life here in the café. Uncle Maurice said it was okay, especially when I mention that it would be free advertising for the café. He said do it before or after my shift but never in the middle of it.

Anyway to prove he doesn’t show favoritism towards me, my first customers were this rowdy group of adventurers called Destiny’s Six. They seemed to be in here more often than not but that’s primarily because of the time change in the different realms. We’re located here in on Floor 17 of the Tower of Water and this group comes and goes mostly by the elevator out in the hallway. I was told the last time they left they were gone for an hour, according to the café clock, but for them it was two weeks!

This group consists of a Minotaur, a Giant, two Halflings, and two Elves. Only one female in the group, the elf named Sarinna and she’s the ranger. She gave me this look like she could see into my soul. I’ve heard this about Elves though maybe it was just my imagination. But as you might tell, I look forward to her...sorry I meant the group’s arrival again.

I also learned that their order is always the same which is another reason Uncle Maurice gave them to me as my first customers. The Minotaur orders a whole chicken, grilled and served with garlic; the two Halflings share a large basket of chili cheese fries and each has a double thick chocolate shake; the male Elf, Lochan orders the Tower Deluxe hamburger and then apologizes to Manitoba (that’s the Minotaur) after every bite. If you didn’t already know, Minotaurs look a little bit like a cow and so Lochan pretends he’s eating one of Manitoba’s own kind. This is the kind of humor that goes on within the group.

My girlfriend Sarinna eats a sensible salad; plenty of vegetables and nuts on it, but she covers it in chocolate syrup for some reason. I was going to ask but Maurice told me not to; if I cared to continue breathing. Not sure if he would make good on that threat of if she would. I chose not to pursue it. Finally Baruch, the Giant, orders a super deluxe pizza and two orders of hot wings. He washes it down with tea and never ale. Speaking of ale, the whole group orders between 3 to 6 pitchers of ale with their meal. The number of pitchers depends on the success of their current adventure.

Since they all order the same item each time, I was instructed to keep a premade order sheet on hand in one of my apron pockets but I am to take their order every time they come in. I was told by a fellow waiter that once in a great while they will change their order to see if the waiter is paying attention or just drawing conclusions from previous visits. Although all of the food here is free, and they don’t have to worry about paying, they do tip. The size of the tip depends on whether the order was taken correctly and the timeliness of the waiter and service.

That’s pretty much all in regards to my first customers. I took their order as given, keep their bread baskets full, (the Halflings and Elves love the bread), and made sure pitchers of ale were restocked when needed. At the end of the day (they came in three times) I earned one hundred gold pieces which transfers into 500 credits on my Tower Card. It’s a personal credit card and that’s how we pay for things on different floors of the Tower of Water. I also get an employee discount in the gift shop on Floor 5 but more on that later. After their last departure, Sarinna ran over to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek. It’s great to be alive! After they left, Uncle Maurice gave me a twenty minute lecture on fraternizing with the patrons of the café, and yes, it was all in French!

Happy to serve,

Chuck

COMMENTS

Maury2005: Great job on your first post, now get back to work!!

Johano1: My man Chuck! This blog will make you a Super Stud!

Devan07: Thanks for serving us, Chuck. You make a great waiter.

Swanky and Posh

Hello again, it’s me Chuck, the new waiter here at the Floor 17 Café. Thanks for all of the comments on my first post. Yeah, it was only three but at least it’s something. I’m already up to 20 followers so I’m hoping that this blog will be beneficial in the long run. I’m still new to all of this technology so bear with me as I try to figure it out.

I’ve only been a waiter for a few days now and I’m getting to know everyone as far as the staff goes. There are five other waiters or servers, if you will, that work here with me. Two of them have helped me become better at my job. Johano has really helped out when he can. He serves people at the tables near the row of doors directly opposite the main entrance. He calls them the Realm Doors as each takes you into another world. He always carries an umbrella with him as it sometimes rains along those walls. It’s not called the Tower of Water for fun! One of his regular customers is a pair of dwarfs who inhabit a corner table. From what he told me, they are brother and sister and are known as The Stonefist Twins. It’s hard to tell which the sister is as they both have beards. But I think one of them winked at me yesterday.

Gretchen is another server who has helped me a bit. She’s an attractive brunette who knows she’s good-looking and sometimes flaunts it in your face. She can be annoying at times as she likes to tease you. She’s also good at practical jokes and has gotten me a couple of times. She once told me that per café policy, since I was the new hire, I was required to count the ice cubes before and after my shift. Everyone had a good laugh over that including myself.

Manuel is on duty today as maître D and, if you think Maurice is a tyrant you haven’t listened to Manuel. I honestly think that if it weren’t for the fact that I’m related to Maurice, Manuel would have had me dishonorably discharged. No, I didn’t say that wrong! Manuel used to be a military man; Second Infantry Division of the Rhombus Five Aerial Tactic Team. They were nicknamed the FATT Boys, as a slur of course, but no one told me that.

So a couple of times I attempted to be chummy with him by calling him a FATT boy and you could actually see the color of rage go up from his neckline to the top of his slicked back hair. It goes without saying that he treats us all like soldiers and most of the time he sees customers as the enemy. Gretchen said that he was shell-shocked and is seeking counseling for his problems.

This brings me then to my new patrons, The Bowermans or, as I called them, Mr. Swanky and Mrs. Posh. A lovely couple from Rhode Island, that’s the American State and not the actual island. They were celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary by going on what they called a rambling tour of the different floors of the Tower of Water.

They came up here having visited the gift shop on floor five and were recommended this café. Of course if they hadn’t told me about the gift shop, I would have guessed it on my own. Mr. Bowerman was wearing a Better with Bacon t-shirt. Although they didn’t visit that diner, located on the 92nd floor of the Tower of Fire, he insisted on owning a shirt promising to return and visit there since it sounded so swanky.

Mrs. Bowerman was showing me her collection of snow globes, also found in the gift shop, and every place that they stopped she commented that it was so posh! I fail to see how Rising Falls on Floor 1 could be considered posh but I’m not one to argue.

I managed to take their order and for the rest of the meal they commented how the café was swanky...no, posh...no, swanky. This went on for about ten minutes and I thought for sure that it would erupt into a fist fight. But when I brought them their food, it appeared to have mollified the situation. I had some pieces of bacon added to Mr. Bowerman’s potatoes which really got him to relax and he fell in love with his wife all over again. I guess there really is power in bacon!

For those of you who don’t know, since I mentioned the Tower of Fire, there are four towers which are called The Askinar Towers. Each tower is represented by one of the four elements: Water, Fire, Earth, and Air. There is supposedly a fifth tower but I was told by Gretchen that it’s just a legend. On my next day off I think I’m going to explore the other three towers just for fun. I hope my Tower Card can be used in the other towers. It says Tower of Water on it but hopefully that just means the tower I work in and not exclusive to that tower’s businesses.

One final note before I stop. Maurice held a staff meeting yesterday. He wants all of us to come up with ideas for live entertainment on Saturdays. It’s a way to increase business here at the café and it’s something different to listen to than the music we have piped in from somewhere. We have two weeks to search and I’ll let you know of my progress in a later entry.

Happy to serve,

Chuck

COMMENTS

Brenda10: Greetings from the Askinar Towers Library. If you’re looking around the towers Chuck, check us out on Floor 97. We’re accessible from all four towers.

Anonymous: Call me FATT Boy again and you’ll regret it.

Gretch2112: How dare you call me annoying you red-headed string bean!

SuperStud2000: Gretchen, if the shoe fits...

Johano1: Nice on-screen name Chuck! Suits you perfectly.

KittyKat98: The way you describe it, Café 17 does sound pretty posh and you seem swanky yourself!

SuperStud2000: That’s Floor 17 Café. And yes, it is somewhat posh. Swanky huh? I like that!

KittyKat98: Super stud? That’s way better than swanky!

Power Lunch Bunch

Hello, Chuck here!

It’s been a week now since I’ve been hired on as a waiter here at the Floor 17 Café. I’m still getting used to the different, uh, life forms that come in to eat but I am adjusting quicker than some of the others. At least that’s what Johano said. He and Gretchen are two of the other servers that I’ve become good friends with in this last week. I told you about them in my last entry.

Before I tell you about my new customers, let me describe the café itself. When you come in off the elevator here in the Tower of Water, you cross a small foyer and enter what you would normally think of as a restaurant. That’s right it doesn’t really look like a café at all. The tables are all covered in a rich fabric, and the carpet is an ocean blue. I guess that’s to remind us that were in the Tower of Water. No need for reminding us as the entire atmosphere is damp.

Anyways Gretchen took ill over the weekend and so I offered to take her tables in addition to my own. Since Destiny’s Six has been on an extended adventure I only have a couple other tables to tend to. One of her regular customers are the businessmen that she dubbed as the Power Lunch Bunch. It didn’t take much to persuade Maurice to take her tables. He knows that the businessmen are important clients and that they tip very well. So yesterday I served them for the first time! 

All three of them entered off of the elevator and, walking single file, make a beeline straight to their table. It’s considered their table, as no one else would dare sit there. It happened only one time and the businessmen had them promptly fired! That’s right, FIRED! Don’t know how it happened but after a couple of phone calls were made, the person seated at their table soon learned he was unemployed. Of course, that’s another good reason to consider them as important clients of the café; when you’re fired by these guys you’ll never hold down another job ever. It’s like on your permanent record or something.

I did my utmost to keep the three of them happy; keeping their service prompt and courteous. Once their meal was over all they said to me was, You’re no Gretchen, but you’ll suffice. Then they walked off. I didn’t know whether to be insulted or relieved. Johano suggested that I feel the latter as six members of the staff were fired since they started coming here. Something about Gretchen though had pacified them and no one has been fired since she began as a waitress. I guess whatever I did to make them happy, they’ll consider me as an alternative should she be absent again.

Maurice was very happy for this as well and gave me a 50-credit bonus as thanks and to encourage me to give them the same good service each time. He also assured me that this had nothing to do with being family so he presented it to me in front of the other staff. Everyone else was proud of me, everyone that is except for Manuel. Nothing seems to be good enough for him.

While I was wandering around on my day off I stumbled across this public park on Floor 68. I know for a fact that it was floor 68; not just because that’s what the elevator said, but the name of the park is The Floor 68 Public Park. I learned that they stole their name idea from the café. Personally I think we should find a way for them to give us royalties for using the idea