Willie “Donny” Bonds walks into Tony’s Restaurant at 3:45. Parties won’t arrive until 6, but until then his night is filled with preparation. First, he is told what job he will be working: bartender. However, he also will seat parties and go from table to table making sure they have the drinks they want. Donny refers to his bartending job as “drink boy”.

Once he finds out what job he is working, he goes through the restaurant and checks all of the waiter stations.

Silverware, check.

Cheeses, check.

Burners, check.

And the water pitchers? Missing.

Since one of the stations is lacking water pitchers, he informs someone and they work to replace it. He also has to check that the wine cellar is locked, there is back up liquor in the bar, and the private room is either set up for a private party that night, or everything is closed up if there is not.

Even though this is what Donny calls work, it is also a place where he goes to be with his family. Donny has created a very close and irreplaceable relationship not only with his co-workers, but with some of the regular customers as well.

“The longer I work here, the more I get to know people,” Donny says. “We are just like family, I’ve been here so long.”

Some of the customers who come in are just regular people looking for a good meal, some are customers who come in very frequently, and a certain few are famous celebrities. Donny gets to meet them all. Even though the people who come into the restaurant vary, they’re all the same to the managers and workers.

“Everybody’s a star here,” Donny said.

Some of the people on that wall are Tony LaRussa, Frank Sinatra and both George Bush’s. Some famous people who have come in that are not on the wall are George Clooney and President Barack Obama.

“Barack Obama came in one night,” Donny says. “[He] walked right up to everyone who was working in the restaurant

and shook their hand.”

Including Donny’s. This may sound like a lot of glitz and glamour, but Donny’s job is not everything it is made out to be. Every night, Donny puts in hours of work in order to ensure that the whole night is successful.

As soon as everything is in proper place, the parties and guests start arriving.

The first party of the night arrives at 5:50. It’s consisted of two women and three men.

“Good evening may I serve you something to drink?” Donny asks.

Once Donny retrieves the drinks that they have ordered, he seats the second party of the night, asking the all too familiar question. Not monotonous-familiar.

The woman orders a cosmopolitan and Donny heads to the bar to make it for her. He carries the pink drink over to her and checks to make sure that everyone has napkins.

Next, Donny seats a party of five, which has now grown into a party of eleven, to one of the biggest tables in the main dining room.

“This evening, Aaron will be in charge of your table,” Donny says to the party.

Donny goes through the same process for the rest of the night, enjoying the time he can spend meeting and chatting with new people.

“I enjoy meeting different people every night,” Donny says. “Every night is different.”

This may all seem like a lot of work, but Donny’s night has just begun.