Martha’s Diner had seen every kind of customer in its forty years, but nothing prepared new hire Emily for her first trucker order. The burly man in the John Deere cap barked out: “One radiator flush, two spark plugs, and a dipstick!”
Emily’s confused look made the regulars at the counter snicker. Veteran cook Roy leaned through the pass-through. “That’s oatmeal, two eggs over easy, and toast, darlin’.”
Quick on her feet, Emily returned with the order plus a surprise – a small dish of applesauce. When the trucker looked puzzled, she deadpanned, “Your transmission fluid looked low.”
The resulting roar of laughter could be heard clear out to the parking lot. By day’s end, Emily had earned herself a new nickname – “Gearshift” – and the trucker left with both a full belly and a story to tell at every stop from here to Birmingham.
