Waiter!

Spending time as a waitstaff member is not a bad way to learn about people. You see them at their best and when things are not going well for them. Working as a waiter one summer at a resort hotel, I had the opportunity to watch a lovely couple go from dedicated to each other to nearing a divorce in the span of their one-week vacation.

It started with a running gag. For breakfast, his daily habit was to read the news and sports section of the paper. He passed on the lifestyle section to his wife. While he read about the Red Sox, she read and laughed at the astrology column. It was all in good fun till on day three she mentioned that his reading for the day stated that he should not invest in any risky investments. He laughed that the five-dollar bet he placed on the RedSox to win that day was hardly risky; they’d been having an incredible season.

She disapproved of his gambling but tolerated it. But in that way, the small snowballs into the large today’s comment hit him just wrong, and he replied with a retort he’d have been wiser to swallow.

The next morning, she mentioned that her reading for the day suggested that she be temperate in her statements with those close to her. He eagerly replied that this was the reading she should have had yesterday. After that, they were off to the races, and one retort followed another.

Lunch at their table was frosty, and dinner was positively glacial. While she was away from the table, he remarked to me that he might as well plan on sleeping in a tent tonight rather than in their room. I snuck off to see Richard the Maitre D’. If things at table 19 were going to explode, he deserved to know before his entire dining room exploded.

Richard smiled and told me to go to Carl, the band leader, as soon as the last course was cleared and have him play Sentimental Journey. I told him it was one of my favorites, but what effect did he think it might have on the current situation? “Just do it, Wes.” so I did.

As soon as the band started the song, the couple stopped arguing, got up, and began dancing to the tune. I glanced at Richard, who smiled and tapped his finger against his temple. He knew something I didn’t.
Later that evening, the staff were sitting around in one of the large bay-windowed dining areas drinking coffee. I asked him what was going on with the battling couple. He explained that he’d worked at this hotel for ten seasons. In the winter, he snowbirded south to work the winter season at a hotel in Florida. In the spring, he returned to Maine to prepare for the season here. He’d run into this couple many times, and witnessed their behavior. They were dedicated to each other, but tension built up, and they tended to let it off during their vacations. He advised that I watch them on the last day when they would be a loving couple again.

That was fine, I said, but what about the playing of Sentimental Journey? He smiled at me and said that after you watch people enough for seasons, you sometimes know how they will respond to specific cues. It just happened that that song transported them back to their courtship. How did he know this, I asked.

He replied, ” I was their waiter back then, and I got to know them that summer when they became engaged. You know, Wes, being a waiter is not a bad way to learn about people.”