The University Daily Kansan
Thursday, April 19, 2001
Music
Section B • Page 3
Fear and loathing in the service business
Servers recall tales of restaurant foolery
by Aaron Lerner
joyplay@kansan.com
joyplay writer
They are moments that are feared, dreaded and usually inevitable.
Just ask anyone who has worked in the restaurant business and they can surly tell their most horrific encounter with a customer.
Embarrassment and humiliation seem to be a part of the job description for many student servers in Lawrence.
Although waiting tables is one of the more common jobs for college students, the stories that go with those jobs are unique.
Give her some credit
Stephanie Meyer, Overland Park senior,
spent three years as a server at KC
Masterpiece in Overland Park, where she
had one of her more memorable experiences.
Meyer was fresh out of training and excited, yet nervous, about taking a large table of seven businessmen who were in for a lunch meeting.
At the end of their meal. Meyer dropped the check off with the man who requested the bill.
After several unsuccessful attempts to process his credit card, Meyer discreetly approached the man and politely whispered that the credit card had been declined.
that I can't pay for this?""
"The guy exploded," Meyer said. "He stood up in front of the entire restaurant and was yelling at me saying, 'So, what, are you saying
Tears of humiliation swelling in her eyes. Meyer found a manager to calm the man and then he threw another credit card at her.
Kate Anderson, Naperville, Ill., senior, who works at Johnny's Tavern, hates it when customers are rude. She said she had dealt with everything from being groped to receiving paltry tips.
Photo illustration by Selena Jabara/KANSAN
"The entire restaurant was staring at me." Meyer said. "It was absolutely horrible. From that point on, anytime a credit card got denied I would make someone else let them know."
Big-tipper stripper
Kate Anderson, Naperville, Ill., senior and server at Johnny's Tavern, had a bad experience one night when a "less-than-respectable" young man came into the tavern and rudely demanded to be served a beer immediately.
The customer, who appeared to be quite intoxicated, used vulgar and abusive language as he ordered, Anderson said, giving her the right to refuse the man's order.
"I told the guy that he would either have to calm down or be asked to leave," Anderson said.
In an attempt to make amends, the customer gave Anderson a $50 tip before proceeding to harass another group of women at the bar
At this point, Anderson, with the help of the bar's bouncers, asked the man to leave. Taking quick offense to Anderson's request, the man removed his shirt and became physical with the six bouncers who were needed to restrain him.
The man continued to remove his clothing until he wore nothing but his underpants, and then began to make obscene gestures at Anderson and the bouncers before ultimately punching his fist through one of the restaurant's windows.
out five cop cars," Anderson said. "Once the guy saw the police, he said he was going to come back and bomb Johnny's."
Fortunately, the man was unable to carry out his plan and spent the next three days in tail.
'on top of the six bouncers it took to hold him down, we had to call the police, who sent
Special order
Speaker for Chad Shields, Leawood junior, has worked as a server at various locations for the past five years. Shields' most memorable serving experience involved a group of fellow employees.
He had just started a new job as a server at a Lawrence eatery when he waited on a man whom he had been told was a "regular" who often requested special orders and was usually considered a tremendous pain.
When Shields relayed the "special" salad request to the restaurant's cook he exploded, spewing a "hot loogie" into the man's salad before covering it up with thousand island salad dressing.
"Now I'm not talking about your standard, mild 'waiter' revenge" type of a spit, "Shields said. "I'm talking about an entire sinus cavity-clearing type of oyster throat that you can only cough up by first snorting deeply like some scene out of Scarface and then dislodge by clearing your throat like a 50-year smoker. You know, the kind that goes end-over-end when you spill it like a thrown baton of Jell-O."
Shields was able to convince the cook the customer didn't deserve something that repulsive. While the cook prepared a new salad, another server came into the kitchen.
"I really didn't think anything of it until a moment later I glanced over and saw her picking at the freshly trashed salad in the bus tub." Shields said. "I yelled at her to stop, but she
was really enloving it."
Fearing the girl would become nauseated if told what she may have eaten, Shields told her the cook had made a mistake and the salad wasn't to eat.
Shields said he had previously noticed the girl glancing and smiling occasionally at the cook and naturally assumed she had somewhat of a crush on him.
"Seeing what was probably on her mind, I asked her very quietly. 'Til bet you wouldn't mind swapping spit with him one of these days, would you?" Shields said. "All she did was smile, and so did I."
- Edited by Jason McKee
Harlem choir to visit Lawrence
The Girls Choir of Harlem will perform at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Lied Center. The performance will feature a selection of classical, cultural, Broadway and spiritual songs.
About 50 girls will come to Lawrence, under the direction of mezzo-soprano Lorna Myers. Myers received her bachelor's and master's degrees in music as a voice and opera major at the Juilliard School of Music.
School of Music
The choir consists of 240 girls in grades 4 through 12 and is taught in conjunction with The Boys Choir of Harlem. All members attend The Choir Academy of Harlem where they are trained in music history, theory, voice, movement and instruments.
The program is designed to transform the lives of urban youth through music, build self-esteem and let students experience the rewards of creativity, according to press material sent by the choir.
Walter J. Turnbull, founder and director of The Boys Choir of Harlem established the female choir in 1979.
The Girls Chair of Harlem will perform at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Lied Center. Contributed photo
Tickets cost $32 and $25 for the public, $16 and $12.50 for students, and $31 and $24 for senior citizens. Purchase tickets by calling 864 ARTS or online attickets.com.
— Katie Nelson
Poetry readings start at coffee shop
By Melissa Bronnenberg
Jayplay writer
jayplay@kansan.com
jayplay writer
Bekki Diefendors is trying to get back in the habit of reciting poetry and encouraging others to do the same.
When Diefendors, a University of Kansas graduate, decided to start a poetry reading night, she knew Aimee's Coffee Shop, 1025 Massachusetts, was the place to take her idea.
"The atmosphere is really neat," she said. "It's the kind of place people like to hang out."
Aimee's has comfortable couches and chairs for patrons to relax, sip coffee and enjoy the dimly lit atmosphere.
Last month's reading brought in 40 audience members and 10 readers, and she hopes spreading the word will make tomorrow's Poetry Open-Voice at 9 p.m. even more successful.
She thinks the laid-back atmosphere gives people the courage to share their poems. Participants simply sign up on a list and wait until their name is called.
"It gives people an outlet when they've put so much of their heart into their writing." Diefendors said.
Aimee's isn't the only outlet for poets. Nova Carter Cafe, 745 New Hampshire, also has open performance nights. Employee Kate Von Achen said the cafe encouraged poets, musicians and local artists to showcase their talents.
If Open-Voice becomes a permanent fixture at the coffee shop, Diefendors said it would probably be the third Friday of each month.
Diefendors said there would probably be a break to let people look at their work beforehand.
"We're open to anything that anyone wants to do," Von Achen said.
— Edited by Brandy Straw
ODDITIES
Office furniture
piles up after
dot-coms fizzle
SEATTLE Please, have a seat. In fact, take two.
There are plenty of empty chairs and desks thanks to the recent crash of the dot-com market. Start-up companies that are shutting down have flooded Seattle office furniture stores with leftover property.
The furniture glut is so severe some vendors are giving away used desks and chairs. Others, like Budget Office Furniture, have been forced out of business themselves.
"It it's either go out of business or get thrown out," Ron Zoeller, president of the 15-year-old company, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "The furniture business is lousy."
The problem is evident at Ducky's Office Furniture. Workers spent Monday hauling extra furniture into the parking lot, where much of it will be given away during a one-week parking lot sale.
Ducky's owner Buff Winderbaum said he planned to give away one-quarter of his inventory.
"We just don't have space for it," he said.
Prosecutors too busy to hear thief confess
NEW ORLEANS — A bank vault manager who stole about $663,000 decided it was time to clean the. Only problem was he couldn't get a federal prosecutor to hear his confession.
Pacheco, who worked for Bank One, resigned March 8. He tried to confess to federal prosecutors that day, but the U.S. attorney's office was too busy to see him.
"He wasn't able to get an appointment with the government until March 1.4 because of some scheduling problem," said Vinny Mosco, attorney for Ricardo Antonio Pacheco. "He really wanted to get this behind him."
According to an embezzlement charge filed Monday by federal prosecutors, Pacheco had been stealing money since April 1991.
"What makes this so bizarre is that there was never any suspicion, not even a hint," Mosca said. "He used a complex record-keeping system to keep this thing going. He survived an audit every month."
The U.S. attorney's office and Bank One declined comment on the case.
Pub's retractable roof models Brewers' stadium
MILWAUKEE — It's open bar at Maloney's Pub — literally.
Inspired by the Milwaukee Brewers' new Miller Park, pub owner Jerry Rhodes outfitted a section of his bar with a retractable roof that can open in 22 seconds.
Miller Park's signature feature is its fan-shaped retractable roof, the only one of its kind in North America.
"We heard about Miller Park,
and we wondered if we could do it with a bar. I told the architect we wanted a retractable roof,
and everybody just laughed at me," Rhodes said. "It turned out better than I thought it would."
Rhodes had the roof constructed over the beer garden. The roof will keep the garden's outdoor ambiance alive, he said.
Laurel Prieb, Brewers marketing vice president, said he hadn't heard about Maloney's.
"We're always pleased when Miller Park provides inspiration," he said.
World War II veterans honored after 56 years
BROADHEAD, Wis. — World War II veterans Frank Dedrick and Thomas Brussev were finally awarded their Purple Hearts, 56 years after being wounded in battle.
At a ceremony Monday, Sen.
Russ Feigold gained Dedrick
and Brusveen, who was given
the medal posthumously.
Dedrick, 84, who served in the Army Air Corps, earned his Purple Heart when he was injured in a plane crash during the Battle of the Bulge.
"I received some other medals, and the Purple Heart was never something I thought about much," he said after the ceremony. "But the kids thought I should have it, so now I've got it."
Brusveen, who died in May 2000, had been injured in Germany in April 1945 when his company came under attack by German artillery fire.
Brusveen's sister, Dora Kittelsen, attended the ceremony to accept his medal.
The Associated Press
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KU Hillel Spring Speaker Series presents Rabbi Vered Harris
Making Modern Midrash:
Creating Legends to Inspire the Soul.
Sunday April 22nd
How to Register for the Speaker Series
- All sessions are free.
- All sessions are free.
- Talk will be on Sundays from 5:00 p.m. until approximately 6:30 p.m. at the KU Hillel House located at 940
- Mississippi in Lawrence, KS.
- Refreshments & snacks will be served.
- Please call Hillel at 749-5397 to register for sessions so that we can accommodate you.