Lindsay Keegan

as i passed olive garden on my way to hops i saw the one legged man in the wheelchair that used to come in for lunch rolling down the sidewalk with his wife pushing him. i’m only assuming that they tried to have lunch at hops and saw that it was closed.

when i walked up to the front door there was a security guard posted there. i paused for a moment and looked at the yellow sign pasted on the door that dan made me orange glow last week (up on the ladder. i was very unhappy) and as i reached out to grab the handle the security guard stood up from the bench and said “it’s closed.” i told him i knew and that i used to work there, and he nodded his head and i went inside.

it was so empty. there were no people. the first person i saw was tom, our general manager. before he could even open his mouth i said, “this is so sad! how can they close my hops on me like this?” “i know, i’m sorry,” he replied. i told him that it wasn’t fair, that i loved working there. to which he said: “i know, but it’s business.”

if closing where i work without any notice is business, then i hate business.

carlie was there and she and i interrogated the guy they sent from corporate. she demanded to know who he was and why they shut down our restaurant. i told him that this “fucking sucks,” and he laughed and said he was sorry, but that they were going to try and do transfers. it really isn’t like me to curse in front of an adult that i don’t know, but i couldn’t help myself. the phone kept ringing and for the first time neither carlie or i were allowed to answer it, the guy from corporate had to. carlie and i are hoping to get transferred together, but we’ll see what happens.

i told aaron our other manager, very seriously, that i was going to miss him. he got fidgety and uncomfortable and answered, “i’m going to miss working with all of you.” that’s ok. i hated him in the beginning but he was really my favorite manager in the end.

mike the grill cook talked to me for the first time. he said my name. i didn’t know that he knew who i was, i just knew that he yelled at me about menu counts every time i went to the back of the house to yell them out. i told him that since our time as coworkers was over, now we could start talking to each other. he’s moving to sanford with dan. i told him i was scared with him and that it was nothing personal, but i just didn’t associate with the boh guys. he laughed. it was fun to joke with him, and i’m sorry that i didn’t talk to him sooner. i’m sure pete will love hearing that, because he liked mike.

we ate pizza and talked about the regulars. we sat at 208 and watched people walk up to come in for lunch and then walk away. i picked up my paychecks and my tip share and left. tom told me to “stay good”. carlie and jen and jen gave me hugs goodbye. the whole thing seemed very sad.

i didn’t think that i would care that much about leaving hops, but i remember last time when i took some time off i really missed it. i really missed the people. and when i came back all the important people that i cared about were still there, and i made some new friends as well. it’s just sad and i think it sucks. i really did like working there. i know there are other restaurants and other jobs, but nothing will be the same as screwing around with scott and mikey and amanda and carlie and vivi and mike and joe during a slow friday night at hops.