Cheryl Beckham

My daughter has not been feeling well for over 2 weeks now. We have been thinking that it might just be her allergies, but this morning I woke up with the same symptoms, mainly a sore throat. So I called the doctor and the only appointment is for 4:15, which means that I’ll be late for work tonight. Thank goodness it is only a Monday night and Monday’s are typically a slow night and that the gal that works the day shift is willing to stay a couple hours later until I get there. I can only hope that this isn’t Strep Throat, that would really suck. Guess we will see what the doctor says and take it from there. If it is Strep I won’t be able to work for a few days, I wouldn’t want to give everyone at work Strep Throat ya know!

I love that I get the opportunity to meet so many people and learn so many interesting things while tending the bar. I hear some of the craziest stories and see some pretty outrageous photographs that my customers bring in to share with us. I have meet a few celebrities and other well known people along the way that I have always enjoyed waiting on and talking with when possible. There just isn’t a certain or particular type of person that frequents the place so I never know what I’m going to get into when I walk into te place.

Last night was a slow night, if it wasn’t for a few regulars that are good tippers, it could have been a disaster. So to pass the time I listened in to a few discussions that I normally wouldn’t have bothered with, but I was getting too bored not too. One of my good customers has started getting into Online Trading, which I don’t know diddly squat about, so I was all ears. I’ve never had a job that offered any type of IRA Accounts or any other kind Stock Options and probably never will, but that doesn’t have to stop me from getting into Stock Trading with one of today’s Online Broker. So we made a pact last night, when he gets it all together and has all that he needs to help himself then I will turn to him for my ETFs or Mutual Funds or whatever we think would be best for my wants and needs.

Let’s face it folks, a lot of it is who you know and who you are related to, since I don’t have a very large family it looks like I will continue to rely on who I know.

I remember how excited I was when I was planning my wedding, oh so long ago. Funny to think that I didn’t use the Internet for anything to do with that memorable event and funnier that I can’t imagine planning a wedding without the use of the Internet. One of the servers that I have worked with for several years now, Heidi is getting married and since the of rest of her family lives on the other side of the country, she has asked me for help. There is a lot to planning a wedding, so I couldn’t say no to her, but I know that it is going to take up a lot of my time and I’m sure I’ll be experiencing several headaches throughout the whole process. She is a good gal, a good worker and she deserves to be married and live happily ever after!

Randy, who is one of my favorite long-time customers has been out of work for all most a year now, so when he came in last night with his face all lit up and a noticeable bounce in his step I just knew that he must have landed one of the non profit jobs that he had recently interviewed with and was so excited about. When he saddled up to the bar and announced to the small crowd along side him that the next round of drinks were on him, it just showed me to be correct in my assumption and the evening that started out pretty slow and boring turned into a night of celebration and a profitable one for me, tip wise!

Randy will soon be starting his new nonprofit career at a school for kids with mental issues, which isn’t but a few blocks from the bar, so I’ll still be seeing him often, which is good news for me. He is a good guy and a generous tipper, even when he was unemployed he never shorted or cheated me, which says something about a person’s character. If a person is nice to their food and/or drink server then there is a good chance that that person is a genuine nice person or it could mean that they have worked for tips at some point in their life and they know how important it is to be nice and to leave a decent tip as well. Note that I said that there was “a good chance” that the person was a nice person, that doesn’t apply to everyone of course.

Believe me I know how lucky and blessed I am to finally be able to say that I have the most wonderful neighbors. The last place that I lived at I had the worse neighbors ever, as soon as one would move another one would move in, it was just horrible. So when I had the chance to move you can believe that I jumped on it and fast like. Besides paying $100 less a month for rent, closer to work and a nice yard, I am surrounded by loving and caring people that I can depend on and they in return and count on me.

My neighbor on the right of me has a wonderful back yard, complete with an underground pool that she has made a point on giving me pretty much an open invitation to enjoy at my leisure. So far I haven’t gone over there but a few times this summer, but we have several more months of hot weather ahead and I’m sure I’ll be over there more and more as the summer wears on.

The neighbor on my left also has a swimming pool in his back yard, but it isn’t being used this summer because he had the misfortune of purchasing one of the pool covers that was on clearence at the end of last years summer season (at one of the discount stores that will remain nameless) and come to find out it was damaged. Long story short his pool suffered due to the damaged pool cover and he hasn’t been in the best health this year so the pool is pretty much going down the drain (excuse the pun).

I can’t help him much with the pool issue but I do go over about once a week to check on him. I see if he needs something from the store that I could pick for him while I’m out and about. See if the kid down the street is keeping up with his lawn, that my neighbor is paying this kid good money to tend to during the hot summer months since it is way too hot for him to be tending to this year. And I always make a point of taking him over a plate of dinner a couple times a week. I always cook way too much and it is a pleasure seeing his face light up when he answers the door bell to find me there with my hands full of home cooked goodies. I know that he would do the same for me if and when he could.