Elaboration: My First Job or Two Weeks that Sucked

(***Elaboration was needed in response to T.Snyder's comment on my entry a few days ago about jobs I'd held. )

Picture it.
The year is 1985.
The eyeliner is thick and black; the hair is coiffed to the sky; the clothes are blinding neon and/or cheerful plaid and paisley.
Kellie is shy and sixteen (and weighs in under 100 lbs - slightly anorexic-looking, though not).
You wouldn't recognize her, but trust me, it's her.

It is time for Kellie to find a job.

Where? Where would be a fitting place for Kellie to get a job? Why, Luby's, of course! (Because Kellie based this job on the cool girls in flags who worked there. Wanting to be cool herself, she overlooked the fact that handling food sucks.)

Picture it again. Stick Figure Kellie in an ill-fitting, full-out polyester, no blend, uniform made mostly of this color, except for the built-in white apron. And yes, there is a hair net attached to the paper hat.

She is the pretty picture of a Luby's busgirl.

Her tasks are normal busgirl tasks - clearing and wiping tables, sweeping, retrieving more food for people. Ah, yes. Retrieving food for people....

As Luby's is a cafeteria, when patrons wanted more food (that they did not bother to pick up as they went through the line), they had to hand over their first receipt so the receipt for the new item could be stapled to it for checkout. Most everyone complied.

Except for the huge table of about 12.
Kellie is greeted by a dozen blank stares when she politely asks for the receipt.
One young woman speaks up and says, " I'm Mr. Whateverthehellhisnamewas's wife." (The assistant manager.)
"Okay," Kellie responds, still waiting patiently for the receipt.
"Manager's families don't pay,dear," responds Wife, in a tone suggesting she suspects Kellie is a special-needs work program student who needs things explained slowly. Though Kellie is not (that kind of) special, clearly this information was not provided in the "How to Clear a Table and Sweep without Bothering People" training video, and there was no "How to Provide Free Food to Appease Abandoned Wives of Assistant Managers who Work 70 Hour Weeks" video. And no actual employee had mentioned this rule OR pointed out the assistant manager's family.
Feeling ridiculed, Kellie delivers the free food item and busies herself the other side of the dining room.

Another duty Kellie, the busgirl, is charged with is the Carrying of the Trays for Patrons with Babies in the High Chair. High School Kellie likes children. Her own niece is but 4, and Aunt Kel is her best friend. Kids are GREAT! The tray-carrying task does not bother her as it is better than cleaning up food spilled by people trying to push a high chair and balance a tray. She sees the logic in the task...to a point.

Out on the floor, Kellie hears a 'ding' echoing through the cafeteria. The 'ding' means the pre-cashier (pre-cashier tallies the food on the tray; the one before you leave is the money cashier) has seen a high chair moving down the line. The 'ding' is a signal for Kellie to come running.
Kellie dashes to the line.

Low and behold!
There is a child of about seven years pushing the high chair.
In the high chair.... is a Cabbage Patch Kid.
Kellie stares in disbelief. Clearly this won't be allowed. It is dinner time. There is only one empty high chair left. What if two or more real babies come in? Surely, the parents will take care of this. Kellie begins to turn around.

The pre-cashier, a bitchy-without-cause mean woman, sneers, "Come back here! You will carry that tray."
Cursing to herself, Kellie picks up the tray, carries it to the table, and decides at that very point in her life, that some parents are morons and should not have been allowed to breed and other people allow them to get away with it.

She also knows with certainty that Luby's has sucky rules, and she would rather sell shoes.