12/7/04 by Racheal

I am currently in chicago being a nanny. Here is an update. So, tonight was the night on the town. We walked the Magnificent Mile and did some shopping. The Virgin Megastore is my downfall. I should NOT go in to record stores or book stores. EVAR! I bought several great cd's tonight. Well, four! But still. I can't go there anymore. Anyway, the kids wanted to go to the Rainforest Cafe. If you have been here, it is sort of cool for about 5 minutes, but then it gets really fucking old. The fake animals are loud and annoying. But, the fish are REALLY cool the entire time. We did sit under the star sky thingy and it was cool too, because it had shooting stars in it. But, the best part was the Waiter. This is next part is called. Profiles in the Service Industry: Bill Bill walks up to the table. He is tall and sort of balding, but not badly, just a widow's peak. He has kindly brown eyes and laugh lines that make him vaguely resemble Johnny Fever on WKRP. In general, he looks like a nice man. He has a slightly buscemi-ish air about him... like he is a little insecure, but could be really funny if given the chance. We order our food, and I must say that I have never learned so much about a man in such a limited time frame. It just goes to show, that you can get almost anybody to tell you anything you want to know if you bat your eyes a couple of time, or if you have supreme conversational skills... but that is you, I have NO idea why this man told me so much. Bill is a lonely man in his middle age. He lives alone with a cat named choo choo. His family is hardworking middle class people who are second generation immigrants from Germany. Their parents immigrated to the US shortly before WWII. This is a sad thing, because for years they only joked about their excessive worry being out of place as they were German and not Jewish. Funny they should joke, because Bills Great Grandfather Harold was a Jewish man in Germany, who chucked his heritage in order to be spared of Hitler's wrath. This may have seemed like survival, but the death came swiftly in disguise. The rich and cultural heritage passed down through centuries of Jews was lost in one generation. But, the family continued their tradition by making Bills' middle name Herman. Good for him! He has a link to the past now. Even though, Bill is not a vegetarian, he has read a cookbook written by the personal chef of Elvis. Did you know that Elvis had to have a bowl of freshly cooked bacon on his piano at all times? I seriously doubt you did, and probably didn't want to, but NOW you do. And, the world is set spinning again. Thank you Bill for imparting such great knowledge upon us. Also, Bill predicted that I would like my veggie burger... which I did. Luckily, Bill is a man of many interests and was able to continue the great conversation over coffee and a special volcano desert with a flaming sparkler poking out of the layers of rich chocolate brownie and vanilla ice cream with caramel topping. Recently, Bill attended a birthday party for his best friend’s sister where he sang the happy birthday from the rainforest cafe song. He sang a lounge version of it... it was hit. Of course, he really hates the song at the restaurant. Because, with the ratio of tables to birthdays being so high, he has to sing it many times a night. Lately, he has been feeling that the version they are singing is a little dirge like.... of course, he demonstrated, and I decided that he was correct. He hates singing that song, and can't figure out why others would want that. He is taking off on his birthday which is December 17th. He feels it won't be fair, because it will be his birthday and he doesn't want to sing happy birthday to another person on his own birthday. Also, he doesn't want to be sang the rainforest cafe happy birthday song either. So, he scampered off to request this day off. I should have taken this chance to ask him out, since I know he will be free that day, but you know what? I couldn't really bring myself to do it. One of Bill's other hobbies include bowling. He thinks it would be great to be able to see the Neiman Marcus catalog, because they have a personal bowling alley in the catalog that sells for a mere 1.5 million dollars. Don’t get him wrong, he thought that bowling was a modest man's sport and that most bowlers didn't have that sort of bank, but boy oh boy... he would like to see that bowling alley. Besides, bowling is about the beer and the pizza, especially if you are a bad bowler like Bill. Another thing, on Saturday... if you would like to meet Bill, you may do so, because he is working the breakfast with Santa. The Santa costumes are great, they are rented from a professionally costume supplier and cost anywhere between 82 and 1000 dollars. Full velvet and all! He will be there all morning, additionally, he is working late the night before. So, please stop in and say HI to your new best friend Bill the Waiter at The Rainforest Cafe Chicago. You won't regret it.