But then, as I was about to leave at 7p, the floor manager gave me the puppy pupils, asking if I could please stay, just til 9p.

Tips, I thought. So I stayed.

I was tired and hungry and feeling a lot like Dante in Clerks

and trying to get over my yuck attitude when the couple from table 61 walked toward me on their way out.

“I just wanted to say: you walked by our table, back and forth, a lot tonight–”

Me, thinking to myself: Oh god. What did I do? Were they cold? Did I knock their table? Could they tell how cranky I am?

“–and you are so graceful. You carry yourself so well,” the man said.
The woman nodded and added, “You are poetry in motion. Know that about yourself.”

Thank you, kind strangers. You brightened up my night life.