Sometimes life gives you a preview of your future before you even know what path you’re on.
For me, it happened during one of my very first jobs out of college, where waiting tables at a Chinese restaurant in South Mississippi became the stage for my very first “reading.”
I don’t remember how I got the job or why they would even hire me. I had zero experience. But either the owners of the family-run restaurant saw something in me, or they were desperate, and just like that, I became one of three white waitresses on staff.
What I didn’t realize then
It turned out to be the best training ground for what I do now. I learned how to work with a team of diverse cultures and languages, unlike mine and most of our customers. I mastered how to build quick rapport with strangers, juggle time and energy, smooth out conflicts, and even manage money. I even picked up bartending skills since we all had to make our own Tiki drinks from the recipes taped to the kitchen wall. And—though I didn’t know it then—it’s also the first place I was ever asked to read a fortune.
Most of the time, I worked weekday lunches and maybe a Friday or Saturday night. One busy evening, I had two couples in my section, and one of the men quickly made himself my main event for the night.
He was loud, teasing, and zeroed in on me for entertainment. Maybe he was nervous, or maybe he just wanted to impress his friends and have an audience. Either way, I became his target.
“Law-u-ra?” he squinted at Laura on my nametag. “That doesn’t sound very Chinese-y-like to me. What province in China has red-haired people?”
That set the tone.
Every trip back to the table was a new round of teasing, from endless Tiki drink orders to having me pronounce our fanciest appetizer: the infamous pu-pu platter.
By then, half the restaurant was eavesdropping on the running commentary. For my section, dinner came with a side of live entertainment.
Finally, I brought the check with the little tray of fortune cookies. Everyone grabbed theirs, read them, laughed—except my heckler. Mr. Obnoxious frowned, waved me over.
“Hey, girl. Come here. Something’s wrong with my fortune. Just look at it!”
He handed me his slip of paper. The print was off, the words cut off mid-sentence, so the fortune was basically unreadable.
The table leaned in. The other diners leaned in.
Everyone was waiting.
I held the slip, looked at him with all the seriousness I could muster, and said:
“Oh, dear. Is your life always like this?”
For a second, there was silence. Then he cracked up, his friends roared, and the whole room joined in. He held up the slip like a prize and announced:
“I’m framing that sucker.”
And that was that. My first “fortune-telling,” even if I didn’t know it at the time.
Looking back now, it was a preview of the career I never saw coming: turning the unexpected into entertainment, finding humor in the moment, and giving people something they’d remember long after the meal—or the fortune—was gone.
I offer a variety of intuitive entertainment services in-person and virtually that can create engagement and excitement for your next special occasion.
And smart cookies know to book me early before my calendar fills up!
