Truth be told, waitressing not easy
By Tim Placher, Herald News; June 17, 2003
"Tell the truth. How did it go last Thursday?" said the guy on the next bar stool.
"You must have heard about my little adventure working as a waiter at Truth," I said.
"Are you kidding?" he said. "I've been following your server saga ever since you wrote that first waitress column. So, give me the dirt. Did anybody throw anything at you?"
"Just a few good-natured insults," I said. "Actually, the whole experience was a lot of fun."
"What did they have you doing?" he said.
"Working my butt off, mostly," I said. "The place was really crowded with people who came to see if I'd make a fool of myself."
"So, did you?" he asked.
"I think I did pretty well," I said.
"That's not what I heard," he laughed. "A guy came in here yesterday and told everyone you spilled!"
"Let me clear up something," I said. "That tray I spilled was full of empty bottles. Empty, I tell ya! The gigantic roar that went up from the crowd in the dining room was grossly disproportionate to the magnitude of my mistake."
"The customers really gave really you the business, huh?" he said.
"Let's put it this way," I said, "when those bottles hit the floor, the people screamed so loud, you'd have thought my pants accidentally fell down."
"Did you actually wait on tables?" he asked.
“Oh, yeah," I said. "They gave me an apron, a note pad, a list of the daily specials and turned me loose. But, I got a whole lot of help from Dawn Sudsberry, the woman who challenged me to work with her for the night."
"What was she like?" he asked.
"Dawn was sweet, bright and an outstanding server," I said. "It was plain to see customers love her."
"But she helped you out?" he asked. "Even though she'd been mad at you for all the stuff you said about servers?"
"She was more than gracious," I said. "And I won't lie. Dawn carried me all night. She picked up my slack at every turn. Any success I had in handling the job was entirely due to her help."
"So, how are you going to thank her?" he said.
"I'm not sure yet," I said. "I have to figure out some way to let everybody in town know how great she is and tell them what a class operation she and the rest of the Truth staff are running."
"I'm sure you'll think of something," he said.
"I can't thank them enough for the fun experience," I said. "Truth is a really nice place. The food was great and the staff, highly professional. A lot of Thursday's customers were there for the first time, and I heard many of them saying they'll go back soon. I know my wife and I will."
"Your wife was there?" he asked.
"Sure was," I said. "She was hooting louder than anyone when I spilled. I probably should have cut her off after that second glass of wine. As a native Jolietan, she wasn't used to drinking anything stronger than Schlitz."
"What about the tips you earned?" he said. "Aren't you giving them to the local United Way?"
"Yep," I said. "I actually did really well. I walked out of there with $190. The Herald News is matching that amount, so it was a good night all around."
"That's a respectable haul," he said. "Your service must've been halfway decent."
"Don't kid yourself," I said. "The patrons were much more generous than my service warranted."
"So, what are you going to do for an encore?" he said. "It'll be awfully hard to top this waitress stuff."
"Do you know what's funny about the whole waitress controversy?" I said. "For as mad as all those waitresses got at me for writing about them, they were awfully quick to share their own horror stories about bad customers."
"Ooh, that would make for a good column," he said.
"Nope, can't do it," I said. "When Dawn handed me my apron, she made me take the server's oath."
"What's that?" he said.
"What's said in the kitchen stays in the kitchen!" I said.
"Too bad," he said. "I'd love to see you spill some of those secrets in the newspaper."
"Hey, could you lay off the spilling references?" I said. "I'm telling you for the last time. The bottles were empty!"
Tim Placher is a Joliet attorney and retired waiter. You may reach him at .
Copyright 2003 Tim Placher