April Fools

April Fools

Closing a restaurant and getting it ready for the following day can be tedious, at the very least. As my closing partner and I prepared the tables for lunch the next day, it occurred to us that the next day was April Fools Day. Suddenly, I had an idea.


Each table had to have four sets of cutlery rolled up in red napkins. We called these rollups. A manager would inspect each table in the restaurant prior to letting us go home. So, you wanted to make sure your closing duties were complete, otherwise you could be awhile longer. My partner, Bill, endorsed my plan.


While Bill would take the manager around checking tables, I would follow them and replace all the roll-ups with empty rolled up red napkins. I then informed a waiter who would be working the lunch shift what we did and where we hid the real roll-ups. To add more excitement, I then moved the real roll-ups to another undisclosed location in the restaurant. In other words, the lunch staff will be scrambling looking for the cutlery during the lunchtime rush. April Fools!!!


I was working the dinner shift on April Fools Day and looked forward to hearing what happened earlier that day.


No sooner did I get to work when a waiter came up to me and flatly stated that I was to have a meeting with Anna, the manager that day. I was instructed to take a seat in an empty part of the restaurant. Perhaps my joke went too far. A knot grew in my stomach. Things were not looking very good, as Anna was a by-the-book manager. I took my seat and waited, anxiously.


Anna arrived straight faced and serious. She held a pink form in her hand. Oh, crap! She sat directly across from me and proceeded to replay the chaos my stunt created at lunch. I was in deep trouble. My job was in jeopardy. I went too far, this time. Anna then reiterated company policy and subsequent disciplinary actions, in cases like mine. Here it comes, I thought. Anna asked that I read the pink form and sign it. She slid it across the table. I slowly reached for it, holding my breath all the while. I turned it over and read the following, "April Fools!" 

Donald O'Connor

DonaldOConnorSpeaks