"So the owner tells us, 'I don't want any of the customers doing drugs. If you see it, make them stop.' Meanwhile, in the backroom there's a large mirror surrounded by couches and coke spread all over it."

--Waitress at nightclub/restaurant in the West Village

I've met very few waiters who really wanted to be waiters. It's just not something you dream about doing as a small child. Now I know most of you think that all waiters are really actors, and to some degree that's true, but waiters have a host of different careers they are trying to pursue.

I've met actors, writers, musicians, accountants, and one girl who said she worked with a real estate agent. So it's really all types. That being said, let's return to Roger. He's waits tables downtown from NYU, and when he's not at the restaurant, he's trying to get more acting jobs.

And that's where the conflict comes in. How much time and effort do you devote to what you want to do, when what you have to do pays all the bills?

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It's really hard because you have to constantly remind yourself that your not here to be a waiter. There's a couple of other actors, like the girl I worked with tonight. But there's another guy who's a photographer, and he's very, very close to just being a photographer. He has all his equipment, and he does photo shoots. He can almost support himself, but he still needs to supplement his income from waiting tables.

He and I will talk a lot about achieving dreams, and push each other. He once said, "You know, I take pictures. I do photo shoots. I can call myself a photographer. The worst thing you can do is call yourself an actor, or a model, or a dancer. But you're not. You're a waiter. You're not doing anything to further that career."

At the point we had that conversation, I realized that I was really just a waiter. I had moved here and I was telling people I was an actor, but that was a lie. I'm not an actor if I'm not pursuing it. I've since gotten on a schedule where I'm all nights, which is great.

And I think of the people who work there saying they're actors and models, and other things and I'm the only one doing something to pursue it.

'Cause I don't like waiting tables. I really don't. I don't like the feeling that, not all people but most people, that you are below them, because you are taking their order. They order you around, and they're demanding. They don't realize you are being nice to them so they'll leave you some money. It's kinda' like you're begging for money sometimes, ya' know?
7:41:45 AM     comment []