The waitresses at Paradise Exiles: Donatella, the Sustainable Marine Biologist

When I met Donatella, I wasn't alone, but with my daughter, so I really did not pay too much attention to her. Why? Firstly I see my daughters quite infrequently as they live elsewhere. Secondly my daughter does not like me to talk up young waitresses. And thirdly I couldn't classify Donatella. And when you can't classify a woman it is hard to find the right pickup line.

Donatella was small, maybe 1.60 m and had brown hair. She was a little bit on the curvacious side, but still attractive and looked quite sweet, although a bit earnest. And she wore glasses. I had never seen a waitress at the Exiles wear glasses before. The glasses actually were extremely beautiful, round with many colours, pink, yellow and black and fit her face exceptionally well.

I was sitting with my daughter at the Exiles for many days and talking about lots of personal things in German. We were served by Donatella at least fifty times. Her face always stayed totally detached, which was natural for a waitress who did not understand a word of what we were talking.

After being served by her for many days I found it uncomfortable not to have any contact with her, as if she was just a vending machine. There are no vending machines wearing glasses. So I asked her: “Where are you from?” She responded: “from Vienna.” I was surprised, because I knew that one of the bartenders used to have a Viennese girl friend. But she never seemed to be close to this bartender. And it was quite unlikely that she would be working at this place in September, as his girl friend was studying in Vienna, and the term had already started then. “What”, said I, switching to German, “ so you speak our language?” “Sure”. So Donatella had overheard all our private conversations and not even once moved her face, although German is quite rarely spoken in Malta, the dominant foreign languages being Spanish, Italian, Russian and Slovak. “But you don't look Austrian.” “Because just my mother is Austrian, my father is Maltese.” “Which district are you living in Vienna?” “The eighth”. The district tells you a lot about the lifestyle of the people. The eighth district has a lot of nightlife so it is for people who want to have fun. ”Nice area”. “And what are you doing here?” “Visiting my father.” “And what are you doing in Vienna?” “I am writing a thesis on sustainable marine biology.” I pride myself of being able to start at least a short conversation on a wide field of topics, but sustainable marine biology was not one of them. So I responded: “Very appropriate topic for a Maltese.” She nodded: “Yes, and there is so much still to be researched.” and left us. My daughter giggled, satisfied by the total collapse of my approach: “Dad, haven't you given it up, yet.” 

© GG 2012    

All content purely fictional, any similarities to real persons, places, firms, etc. are purely coincidental.