GLUE: HBS Section A 2006

My Last Day as a Waitress!

So, today I waited tables for possibly the last time in career and I wanted to tell you guys about it. To qualify the subject line, however, I guess I would be available for freelance waitressing in the future if the price was right!

Our local morning coffee shop and bakery in Towanda, PA, is called “Stella’s.” I happen to frequent it since she makes great food and there is always good company there. When Stella asked me if I wanted to fill in for one of her waitresses (“Since you seem to know everybody who comes in here”) I was pretty excited and said yes! After my graduation announcement was in the paper, she asked me if I still wanted to do it, and I replied even more emphatically, “Yes.” Today was the big day.

We were open from 7 am to 2 pm, the breakfast and morning crowds. I got to see so many from my hometown from teachers to the judges (current and retired), waited on the Sheriff (twice, breakfast and lunch), parents of my old friends from high school, the bail bondsman and lawyers (the county courthouse is right down the street) and a few businessmen and women. I made about 20 pots of coffee and generally took the orders, served the food, cleaned up the tables and washed the dishes. It was the best practical exam and refresher in customer service I have had in a long time (smiling and calling people by their name never fail). I was also uniformly called “sweetheart” and/or “honey” both men and women of all ages. Some of the veterans called me “ma’am,” too, in deference to my former Army life, which I smiled more broadly at.

I wondered what the economics of the day would look like and so here are the numbers: $3/hour for front waitress, plus tips. The average ticket was about $4.50 and average tip about $1. I would probably gross about $10K: 6.3 in wages and 4K in tips annually, before social security and health costs come out. I think I would qualify for the earned income tax credit, also. I was pretty proud of myself for doing “honest” labor, especially as I am thinking about going into white collar life from now on.

While this was a novelty to me, it wasn’t for my partner, Shana, who was moved up to cook/waitress for the day and was my supervisor. She works at Stella’s during the week and Saturday, then takes classes at night. She is working toward her associates and will get that in the fall. Since her financial aid doesn’t cover the summer session, she is going to work at LeRoy’s sandwich shop (where I began my illustrious waitress career) on nights and weekends starting this week. She has most customers orders memorized and starts their order before they sit down. She gets the annoying older man a special cup and puts up with his picking because he has cancer. She puts up with the smoking and lack of air conditioning everyday. She is trying to make it, up hill all the way.

I am struggling with figuring out where I fit now as a post-graduate school person….a “Harvard” person…but also as a hometown person who loves the countryside (one thing I have figured out is how quickly people want to put labels on you! They want to get you in that box so quickly!!!) I am especially thinking about this as I see rural America, where I am living this summer, and think about Manhattan, the ultimate urban area, where I will live in just a few weeks; as I see rural retirees, office employees, factory workers and, yes, waitresses, doing what they can to make a happy life for themselves and their families. I remember what Arnaud said one time about the poor not really thinking they are poor, the middle class not thinking they are middle class. I think we all want to find a place for ourselves almost as much as others want to put us in a box.

Just writing this down has made me think about my needs and wants more purposefully (and I hope, objectively), than I have before. I am missing the section and the way we talked about these things.

I loved the other posts and hope to see some of you in New York (soon!),

Kate