When I applied to Flanigan's Seafood Bar and Grille in 2007, I did not even fathom a part time job as a hostess teaching me so much about life. In 2006, I chose to attend Cardinal Gibbons High school - a beautiful, but very expensive private high school. I agreed to help my parents pay for my school during our country's hard economic times. Since then, I've had a job from the moment I was legal to work- fourteen.

When Flanigan's saw my job history I was all set for the job. It was my very first job as a hostess. On my first day, I stood jittery at my lonely hostess stand. I had butterflies in my stomach as I greeted the first people that walked in. Everything was good so far. I was then appalled as I scoped our one-hour wait list. This place is insane, I thought. Flanigan's has thirteen tables total, which swerve around the bar and onto the outside deck overlooking the angelic Deerfield Beach. How could a restaurant so tiny in size be so busy? It blew my mind! The people that came in were so striking to me. Everyone that walked in there stirred up a conversation with me and was so amiable with me. That night, I couldn’t stop laughing. I had jobs previous to Flanigan's and I never met people that were so kind. Their benevolence made me happy to do anything for them.
So that night, I ran around that restaurant like a maniac to get people to their plush leather booths.
I never stopped running around that tiny restaurant. Two years later, I still work at Flanigan's. I get that same excitement I felt two years ago every time I walk in there. The kindheartedness of that restaurant has grown with me. Not only has my love for people grown, but I have grown as well.



Nothing in life is given to you and the best things in life follow hard work. Abraham Lincoln once said, "Every job is a self portrait of the person who does it. Autograph your work with excellence." I've learned that I can accomplish anything if I set my mind to it. Flanigan's has given me confidence to give my best to the world. This tiny restaurant will always have a place in my heart. It has taught me life lessons that are impossible to learn in textbooks.