Staff members began to disappear at the end of August. One by one, they’d hang up their short pants and suspenders—or, if they were ladies, they’d hang up their pastel-colored, hoop-skirted dresses—say their goodbyes, then punch out for the last time and make their mass exodus back to school. I’d routinely departed with the end-of-August college crowd every year. But not that year. That year, with no place else to go, I was one of the handful of people who stayed behind and finished out the season at the restaurant. (more…)