Thursday, March 12, 2009

This & That Thursday Tale

As promised....a "tale" from my past...guaranteed to make you "giggle!"


"Hi, my name is Betsy and I'll be your waitress this afternoon! Can I start you off with a strawberry lemonade or a raspberry tea?"


It was my LAST day of SIX YEARS waiting tables at Garfield's Restaurant! I absolutely LOVED my job as a waitress, in fact if I didn't have three strapping young boys and a beast of a husband as well as a home I own, two cars, electricity, water, cable, phone, Internet (you get the point) I would still be a waitress today (let's face it, you can't have all of the above AND have money left over to buy new shoes every week on the tips of a waitress).


As I was saying, it was my last day of six years waiting tables. I was 23 years old and it was time to get a "grown up" job (AKA a job that my parents would be proud to tell their friends about). I had just been seated a table of 8, easy...after all I had six years under my belt of waiting on tables even larger than 8. This particular table had 8 lawyers seated, ready to order and eager to let me know they were limited on time. I had their drinks out to them in a flash, their food came out minutes later, their glasses stayed filled, extra napkins were given, the entire meal was perfect and they were happy to let me know! I took pride in my job and it reflected in my work on a daily basis...I actually had "regulars" that would ask for my table (but enough about how totally awesome I was)...when it came time to bring the check the young gentleman at the end of the table asked me to bring one check and he would take it, I obliged. As soon as I handed him the check I began to gather empty plates and glasses and the gentleman holding the check called out,


Gentleman: "Excuse me mam, can you tell me what this amount on the bottom of the check is?"

Me (walking over to look at the check): "Oh, sure...that's your PITUITARY!"

Gentleman (with a confused look on his face and somewhat of a smirk): "My what?"

Me: "Your PITUITARY...for a party of 8 or more..."

Gentleman (now with a HUGE smile on his face): "Do you mean GRATUITY?"

Me (with a "of course that's what I mean" tone in my voice"): "Oh, sure!"


Yes...for SIX years I had said PITUITARY and NOBODY corrected me until my LAST DAY!


*I should mention that I sometimes have issues with fully understanding others pronunciation of words and so I say A LOT of words incorrectly (that goes for sayings too...that will be next week's story).


4 comments:

  1. Thanks! You might want to check out my blog to see what I mean.
    Patti

    ReplyDelete
  2. This cracks me up! My husband is always mispronouncing words too. I think he has the same problem and doesn't hear them correctly. I'll be sharing your story with him.

    Have a great day.

    Jackie

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Betsy

    I am finally remembering to check your blog. This made me laugh. I'll check in with you occasionally!

    Kath from MLA in NYC!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm hoping your next story is about Questions & Breakfast, which I attended yesterday. ;)

    ReplyDelete