It is 7:24 am and I am sitting at a café in North Melbourne. I’m sure you’re not wondering why but I’ll talk about it anyway. I was 15 when I started in the hospitality business working as a waitress, and since then have had a multitude of pretty un-enchanting service staff positions all over the place.

Today I am 19 years old going on 20, and here I am an hour and a half early for my second shift at ANOTHER un-enchanting café job. Yet I feel as though I am fifteen again.

People yelling at you from every which-way asking why things haven’t been done yet, customers doing their best to make your job as hard as possible and a pay that in no way compensates for the stress experienced.

So why am I once again doing this to myself? No longer do I want to be the waitress! But where the hell is the escape door? It feels like I’m in a vicious cycle that can only be broken with some kind of magical miracle.

Maybe I just need to come to terms with the fact that ill probably end up as a 45 year-old waitress. I think I could be okay with that… one day.