By KAREN ROBINSON-JACOBS

It was nearly Christmas and Lisa Johnson, an agent with Realtor Ebby Halliday, hadn't seen a commission check since Halloween.

"I started borrowing money from my parents," said Johnson, 33, who works full time in Halliday's Routh Street office in Dallas. "It really took a toll on me." So she polished up waitressing skills she hadn't used since college and began moonlighting, working evenings serving cocktails at the new Hully & Mo Restaurant and Tap Room in the Quadrangle in Dallas.

Lots of restaurant workers are lifers, but the industry has always attracted a transient group, too - people between jobs or looking to supplement their income.

With today's economic meltdown, the restaurant life raft is rapidly filling with applicants from inside and outside the restaurant industry.

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