I USED TO DANCE HERE.

A recent tip declaration sheet, reflecting a bunch of weirdness - lame excuses, new employees, and some scratched out.

Here at W. D. Deli our pay period is every two weeks.  This morning, as Mr. Beers was working on our payroll, he made this observation: "I had to enter new hire information for six (SIX!) new employees! And of those six new employees, only one (ONE!) is still employed." It's been a rough spell here in the area of Human Resources, people. Don't get me wrong. We have a wonderful good strong core group of people who have weathered a lot here at the deli. But for the past month and a half or so, there's been a steady stream of people who come in and apply. They interview with us. They may even come back for a second interview. We explain the job to them. They will call and email and call again and email again to see if they've gotten the job. They start work. We start training them. They talk about how much they like working at the deli. And then they stop showing up for work after one or two or three days. It's disheartening. And I've asked around. I've tried to find out if we are doing something wrong or crazy or what - - and more than one source has told us that other businesses are experiencing the same kind of stuff.  We've been around long enough to know that things like this go in cycles. And this little bit of this little cycle is no fun.

Mr. Bobo drowning in a sea of job applications.

But take heart, gentle reader. Good things are always happening at W. D. Deli. Just last Thursday Mr. Bobo greeted a kind customer who came in and confessed, "I've never been here before." But then he retracted. "Well, I have been here before. But it was a long time ago. I used to dance here." I have heard a few stories about all the different businesses that have come and gone at 3123 Broadway. I asked the gentleman, "You mean when it was The Arena?" He smiled and nodded and recalled that The Arena was the first gay bar in San Antonio where folks would go to dance. He also told me that it was declared OFF LIMITS to the military. He told me about one night when he was at The Arena and the military police raided the bar. "They turned all the lights on and lined everybody up against this wall," he said, pointing. "We had to stand up against the wall for two hours while they checked IDs, looking for military." He described a scene that the kids who go to HEAT or Pegasus would not believe. We talked a little while and the mood lightened enough for him to reminisce, "Back then my hair was thick and my waist was thin! Things have certainly changed!" He had lunch at the deli, and I got him to pose for a picture or two with me before he left. What a sweetheart.

And just this past weekend I got a few more people to pose for a picture or two when Mr. Beers and I made the road trip to D/FW for Mama Liz's Birthday Weekend Super Fun Time. It was a sweet time, the highlight of which was getting to spend some hugging time with mom and the siblings. We had a great time. We went to a piano bar in Ft. Worth. We enjoyed a big old hamburger dinner with everybody. We even got to go to a "Singing" at a senior center in North Richland Hills.

Don't let those sweet faces fool you. Everyone in this picture is a special kind of crazy. And I can't wait to see them again.