Three nights a week, for some extra cash, I wait tables at a local mom and pops on the Delaware River. I love being a waitress. It's quick cash and it's challenging - my favorite combination. Even though I started waitressing back in February, I'm still considered the new girl. The other waitressed have never been able to break away from the close family-tight staff and customers and have been there for years and years. I have a feeling I will always be the new girl. As the new girl, everything is fresh to me. The stories of stalking customers, and running out of chicken (when 25% of our menu is chicken), and battles between cooks and waitresses, and the marriages between customers and waitresses and cooks and waitresses are usually delightful additions to my shifts. However, last night, I got to hear some new stories and I drove home with the shivers.

Philadelphia was hit with a horrific thunderstorm last night. Thousands of electricity customers were out of electricity, even this morning. Although we experienced some dimming lights and power surges, we thankfully remained plugged in during our open hours. However, around 9:00, a half hour after we were closed, the restaurant went dark.

Immediately, us waitresses were creeped out. Thrilled not to have to clean, but chilled. The only light in the entire restaurant came from two floodlights, which popped on during emergencies such as this. Us five girls huddled together for comfort, while we listened to the cook grumbled in the pitch-dark kitchen downstairs.

Then, one of the waitresses mentioned the ghosts. Ghosts? I wondered. What ghosts?? I knew the restaurant was old - dating back to the 30's when it was a hot dog stand (Dirty Bill's Hot Dogs it was called. We have customers who remember it). But I knew of no ghosts.

One night, the owner's son who is a head chef, and one of the other cooks, were the only ones left cleaning up at the end of the night. All the doors were locked upstairs in the dining area (Us girls lock them and leave through the back downstairs kitchen door every night). All of a sudden, they heard the upstairs back door, slam open.

"What the hell?" they said together, staring at each other. Who could that be? Did the girls forget to lock the doors and some customer thought they were open? It was pretty late and most of our customers were regular customers and knew we closed at 8:30, however, we sometimes had a few new stragglers try to come in after 8:30, thinking we were still open.

They looked up through the window where we waitresses picked up our food, which looks onto the counter area of the restaurant. They both saw a man sitting at the counter.

"Damnit! The girls must've left one of the doors open!" the owner's son said. 

They immediately ran up to the dining area to tell the man they were closed. The restaurant was empty. All 18 tables and seven counter chairs were vacant.

"Maybe he saw you and realized we were closed," the one cook said to the owner's son.

They checked the doors. They were locked.

Often times, when the restaurant is silent except for the two cooks leftover at the end of the night cleaning up, they were hear doors opening and closing upstairs. Bathrooms doors especially, and occasionally the door to go down into the kitchen, will open and close. Walk-in refrigerators, which are never locked, sometimes lock on their own.   Before a major flood back in September, one of the cooks testified to seeing five children in the dining area, really late at night when he was the only one there, getting ready to turn everything off and leave. After the restaurant was closed and renovated, he no longer saw the children. He has also seen the man.

Maybe it's Dirty Bill coming to check up on his old place. Who knows... All I know is that I drove home very freaked out and very glad that waitresses get to go home first. :-)