TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

As Ashley Bledsoe dashes between tables at the Coco's on Rosedale Highway -- coffee pot in hand, loaded tray on her shoulder -- she presents a vision of such boundless energy, her customers need a nap just watching her.

Now picture that same ball of fire pregnant. As in very pregnant. As in I'm-going-to-have-this-baby-tomorrow pregnant.

"I worked the entire nine months and worked until the day before I had my baby," said Bledsoe, recalling the birth of son Lucas nine months ago.

"Then I came back to work six weeks after."

Swollen ankles and screaming back pain aren't enough to keep Bledsoe from her customers, and that work ethic has not gone unnoticed by Jim and Diane Windes, two of her regulars.

"I hardly knew she was gone when she had the baby. Back to work right away!" wrote the couple in their nomination of Bledsoe, 30, as the best server in Bakersfield.

And the timing of her customers' affirmation couldn't have been better when she was notified during a phone call for this report.

"I love my job, but I hated my job more than anything today. But then you called and it's funny how this puts it into perspective.

"It kind of makes me want to cry because my mom said people will notice when you do something good," said Bledsoe, who trailed off and, true to her word, began to cry.

But Bledsoe's tears were the happy kind. In fact, joy is pretty much the word she lives by when she's waiting tables. And a sense of humor goes a long way, especially when she's serving laughter-challenged patrons.

"I remember I was working at Hodel's and I had nine Dr Peppers on a tray I was carrying. I went up to the table and this little girl was in a beautiful dress, and just at that moment, I knew I was going to drop the tray.

"I didn't want to spill them on her, so I made them go on me. It was nine Dr Peppers! And I said, 'Hey, everyone: The drinks are on me!

"And no one flinched or laughed or said anything."

Tough crowd to be sure, but Bledsoe has pretty much seen every type of customer in all the years she's waited tables after graduating from Centennial High in 1999. It's the lonely customers who leave a lump in her throat, parties of one who usually are widowers.

"On a busy day I could serve 100 people, and it's almost 50-50 in terms of pleasant encounters. But I always tell people, 'Thank you for your patience.' It's a rare quality to possess these days. I always try to reward good behavior. I'm a mommy and I don't believe in rewarding bad behavior."

And as Bledsoe knows only too well, rewards are a two-way street. More than once in her nearly 10 years at Coco's has she chatted with a table of diners, making a real connection, only to be stiffed at tip time.

"It hurts my feelings."

But those rare occasions are offset by the gracious customers who come her way.

"The neatest thing that happened to me recently was we have the carwash next door, and this lady came in to have a cup of coffee. It was a $2 bill. I go over to her table and there was $22 and a note. It pretty much said that though I didn't really talk to her much, she was listening to other conversations with customers around her and she said she knew God wanted her to bless me that day."

And the working mom of two knows a blessing when it's staring her in the face. Take her family: Though it's been tough for her partner of 11 years, Nathan Dufresne, to find job, she values the time he spends with baby Lucas and their 7-year-old son, Mikael.

"Couldn't do what I do without the best stay-at-home dad ever."

Bledsoe is used to taking on additional service jobs seasonally to make ends meet -- "El Portal is where I learned to speak Spanish" -- but she knows she'll have to return to school at some point to make her dream of becoming a nurse a reality. Several years ago she pursued her first love, baking, at the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts in Vancouver, British Columbia, but being a pastry chef just wasn't in the cards.

"My grandmother had a pie shop, Hulda's Pie Shop, back in the late '80s or early '90s, so baking is in my blood. But when you do it eight hours a day, it sucks the love right out of it. The first 10 caramel apples are fun, but after 250, it's not so great."

Whatever career Bledsoe eventually settles on, she knows one thing for sure: She'll miss waitressing. The way she sees it, she's paid to talk and joke with her customers.

"If they decline dessert, I say, 'Well, I must have been sweet enough for you.' That's a knee-slapper. I even slap my knee when I say it."

Bledsoe realizes the schtick she's fond of serving up probably would go over as well as a flat souffle at a fine-dining establishment, where, she noted, servers are encouraged by management to tone down their personality.

"I don't like fine dining. There's nine specials listed on the board and I'm more the type to throw the coffee on the table and say, 'How y'all doin'?' I get a Southern accent when I'm serving. I have Okie in my blood."

Still, Bledsoe can't help but wonder what the tips would amount to at an exclusive restaurant.

"You might serve three drinks and get a $45 tip, because (the bill) is like $100 a shot. That would take me a whole day at Coco's.

"But I'm not it in for the money. If I was, I'd be at the Petroleum Club or somewhere like that. But it's about being genuine, I think, and being comfortable with who you are."

There's more to being a good server than that, of course, and Bledsoe has studied what the elements over the years. Her motto: "We're not in the food service business; we're in the people business."

Being able to multitask and achieving balance are crucial traits as well. And there is, it turns out, a golden rule: "Never mess with your cooks. Ever. Like, really."

All Bledsoe asks of her customers in return is that they keep in mind she's human. She still remembers the starchy (though, oddly, well-intentioned) advice she once received on a bad day at work.

"This old man said, 'Hon, this just isn't your calling. You're just not cut out for this.' He's going to think forever and ever I'm a horrible waitress, when it was just that day."

Bledsoe wishes she could have asked that customer to walk one of the estimated 30,000 steps she takes a day, in her nonslip lightweight shoes.

"Every person in America should spend one year in food service. It would change your perspective in how difficult it is. There's so much more to it than people even realize."