Servers Can Do More Than Complain- We Can Save Lives

Cancer Sucks

Allow me please to step off the Bitch Box and show a softer side for a brief moment. Back in February, I wrote a story about a fellow server named Briana who was fighting leukemia. Her best friend Katie wrote me and asked if we could all send Briana positive thoughts and good vibes to help her through the rough time. Lots of people responded sending out love to Briana but Katie let me know that Briana lost her battle yesterday and she passed away. It’s a sad day for her friends and family but we can only hope that Briana is in a much better place now, perhaps a restaurant where there is no side-work, perpetual silverware that is already rolled and where everyone always tips 40%.

I didn’t know Briana, but thanks to Katie’s emails, I felt as if I did. I wonder if Briana ever read all the notes that people wrote to her and I wonder if it made her feel even a tiny bit better. It’s never easy to say goodbye to someone we love, but when life is cut so short, it seems so very tragic. Briana was so young. Four years ago, I lost my best friend to cancer and it still hurts me to think that he is not here to talk to and to make me laugh. I miss him every day and still question why he had to leave this earth so early. There is nothing we can do but accept it, right?

As I sat at my computer with tears in my eyes and wishing I could have done more for Briana rather than write a lame blog post, I received another email from a girl named Melissa. She told me that one of the cooks at her restaurant has been diagnosed with cancer. His name is Bo and he is only 22 years old. A 22 year-old should not be worrying about how to beat cancer or how to pay for it. He should be enjoying life. His friends at the restaurant set up a donation page to help him raise funds for treatment and I want everyone to consider donating a couple of dollars to it. There is no minimum to donate so even one dollar is going to make a difference. This blog gets about 5,000 visitors a day. Think if every single one of you donated one single dollar how much money Bo could have to pay for his treatment. Now imagine if everyone gave $5. I already went to the site and donated and I ask that you try to do the same.

Is this the chance I get to help someone? Wouldn’t Briana want us to help Bo? Can it be that this blog can do more than satisfy my need to rant and complain? We have all lost someone to cancer. It seems like that fucking disease is everywhere now. Maybe it’s just that we are more aware of it thanks to how connected we are in this digital age, but it is constant. Bo needs our help. Melissa wanted me to remind you how much we look at our our restaurant co-workers as an extension of our families. Many of us spend more time with them than our actual relatives so it is no surprise how much affection there is for our restaurant families.

You can read Bo’s story here and then you can go to his GoFundMe page to donate. Please donate what you can. We all make tips and we all have a few extra dollars that we can give to someone in need.

Please share this page with your friends. Put it on your Facebook page and let’s see how much of a difference a bunch of bitchy waiters can make. We want to show the world that we can do more than complain about annoying customers and bad tips. When we have to, we can step up and help take care of one of our own.

Please go to Bo’s GoFundMe page to donate. You will be happy you did. I feel better knowing that I gave him a few extra dollars that can help save his life.

And to Briana’s friends and family I have this to say: there were a lot of us out here who had her in our thoughts and prayers. I am sorry for your loss. Even though most of us did not know her, all of us cared for her.

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