Chicago Tribune

Balancing Act: Relationship real talk from the folks who see it all — restaurant staffers

You learn a thing or two about romance when you wait tables for a living, when your days and nights are populated with couples sharing drinks, couples sharing meals, couples sharing, occasionally, the same side of a very small booth.

"We're like front row seats on a relationship, I think," said Christine Cikowski, co-owner of Honey Butter Fried Chicken in Avondale.

Servers see you size up the date you're meeting for the first time. They glimpse you holding hands across the table. They catch you checking your phone a little too often.

They see it all.

"We're definitely all talking about it," said Jenny Lovin, a server at Logan

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