[Jolly Amaranto]

My first "real" job (social security deducted and all that), while still in high school, was a lowly busboy at a seafood restaurant in Kemah, Texas. There were about 5 or 6 of us who worked Friday and Saturday nights from 5PM to 1AM. Was dreadful hard work but I did it. I guess my dedication was noted as when school was out for summer, the manager offered me a plumb job. I would be the only busboy working the day shift. Come in at 10AM set up for the lunch crowd which was not anywhere as busy as weekend nights. I helped the wait staff bring food out so they gave me a cut of their tips. Once things quieted down after lunch I got a meal, anything on the menu. Then I unpacked clean linens and stacked them and organized things for the evening shift along with other odd chores. Then I was out of there before things got frantic. It was late summer and I was reloading a milk cooler/dispenser during the lunch rush. They used these 5 gallon containers that consisted of a cardboard box with a plastic liner. A white tube stuck out the bottom and served as a valve when a weighted lever crimped it shut. I had hefted the new 5 gallons of milk up into the open enclosure and really gave it a shove to push it in. The side split wide open, cardboard, plastic liner and all. 5 gallons of milk gushed out all over me, around the corner from the beverage area and down the steps into the dining room. The dining room was tiered with three levels all the way down to the big picture windows overlooking the board walk on the boat channel. Milk made it all the way to the bottom. People were jumping up and screaming as they got out of the way. I just hauled out the back door and went home. Never went back, even to pick up my last pay check. I guess they mailed it to me.