ROSE

I marveled how good the waitresses were at Joe’s Spa where I worked to earn money for college in the 1950’s. They were an elite group that formed a close bonded relationship among themselves. One waitress in particular stands out in my mind these many years later. We knew her as “Rose”. Rose had an uncanny ability to remember orders like I had never seen before or since. On those Saturday nights when all of Southie descended on the Spa after the bars closed the waitresses had to be on their toes because of the demands for food orders.

Most of the waitresses used note pads to record the orders but not Rose. She would take orders from 2 tables with 6 seated at both without any notes whatsoever. When she approached me I knew I had to be ready with my notepad because she rattled off the orders with no hesitation. “Liverwurst with wheat bread hold the mayo, club sandwich with an extra slice of bacon, turkey on white without lettuce, ham and swiss cheese on white ,etc.”

God forbid if you got her order wrong. She was of the no nonsense class of waitresses that didn’t suffer fools. If she could remember all of her orders then she expected you to do likewise. She was my favorite waitress and has a special place in my memory bank of good people I have known.