Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress [Paperback]

Candacy A. Taylor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2009

"Career waitresses do more than just serve food. They are part psychiatrist, part grandmother, part friend, and they serve every walk of American life: from the retired and the widowed, to the wounded and the lonely, and from the working class to the wealthy. The classic diner waitress is an icon of American culture. . . . This book takes a moment to honor and recognize waitresses' contribution to our communities. Doing this project has helped me to redefine my perspective on life, work, and happiness. It has made me reevaluate the myth of the American dream that says you need to have an 'important' job to be happy."--from Counter Culture

In large cities and small towns across the country, the best diners and coffee shops are more than just restaurants: they are neighborhood institutions that bring together communities. From the Gold 'N Silver Inn in Reno, Nevada to the U.S.A. Country Diner in Windsor, New Jersey, these special places are not defined by their menus or décor, but by the waitresses who have establish bonds with their customers and their communities over years-and sometimes decades-of service. Counter Culture is a window into the lives of career waitresses who have worked in diners and coffee shops for up to sixty years. Since 2001, Candacy A. Taylor (a former waitress herself) has traveled more than 26,000 miles throughout the United States collecting stories of these "lifers," as many waitresses aged fifty or over playfully call themselves. She interviewed fifty-seven waitresses in thirty-eight towns and cities. Their compelling stories are complemented and enhanced by Taylor's striking color photographs of the waitresses at work.

Taylor expected that the waitresses she'd meet would feel overworked and underappreciated, but was surprised and delighted to find that the opposite was true. The proud, capable waitresses Taylor interviewed loved their jobs and, even if given the opportunity, "wouldn't do anything else." Nearly all the waitresses said that the physical labor of waitressing helped them to age more gracefully and that the daily contact with customers and coworkers kept them socially engaged. Lifers generally make more money from serving regular customers with whom they forge bonds over decades and their seniority earns them respect from their coworkers and managers. Taylor's sensitive and respectful portrayal of career waitresses who have turned their jobs into a rewarding lifetime pursuit turns Counter Culture into an invaluable portrait of the continued importance of community in our changing society.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Oral historian, photographer and former waitress Taylor turned her aching joints into the springboard for a mission: uncovering the experiences of diner waitresses in this sociological overview. Most are "lifers," now senior citizens who abhor the idea of retirement. Others may see these women as uneducated service workers, but waitresses see themselves as psychologists, nurses and family to their beloved regulars, who expect a little sass with their ham and eggs. Along with their extraordinary work ethic and oversized personalities, there are reminders of the occupational reality of below-minimum wages (which must be supplemented by substantial tips) and lack of medical and retirement benefits (which might be one reason these lifers just can't stay away from their greasy spoons). With color photographs (mostly by Taylor) of waitresses in their diners on almost every page plus feisty first-person anecdotes about how the women handle nasty customers and customers who sneak out without paying the bill (one waitress threw a ketchup bottle at them), this unique perspective is much like the professional diner waitress-difficult to pigeonhole, impossible to ignore.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From the Back Cover

"A loving ode to women who are the heart and soul of America's diners, Counter Culture is a treasure for all who value food with character, served by real characters. Its stories about veteran waitresses are fun, poignant, and tremendously informative, including detailed information about the unique talents required for the job. The evocative photographs of these rare personalities and their workplaces are a siren call to hit the road and meet them while they're still around."--Jane and Michael Stern, Roadfood.com

"I wish my mother, a career waitress, were alive to page through this wonderful tribute to her work. These strong and shrewd women have seen a lot of life from behind the counter, and Candacy Taylor does a terrific job of portraying them and letting them speak for themselves."--Mike Rose, author of The Mind at Work: Valuing the Intelligence of the American Worker

"Thoughtful, compelling, and beautifully illustrated, Counter Culture is a worthy tribute to its subject--the uniquely talented women who have dedicated their lives to providing comfort and service along with that cup of joe."--Debra Ginsberg, author of Waiting: The True Confessions of a Waitress

"Older coffee shop waitresses are everywhere once you start looking but are often invisible and taken for granted. Counter Culture is an informed, entertaining, thought-provoking, and moving homage to a group of workers and to their occupation. Candacy A. Taylor's photographs and interviews reveal how funny and perceptive career waitresses really are."--Dorothy Sue Cobble, Rutgers University, author of Dishing It Out: Waitresses and Their Unions in the Twentieth Century

"The photographs, testimonials, and insider information in this beautifully designed book all exalt 'lifer' waitresses--as they have every reason to be exalted. Counter Culture will make any reader yearn to reach a waitress's honor roll: to be a regular."--Alison Owings, author of Hey, Waitress! The USA from the Other Side of the Tray

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Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: ILR Press (September 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080147440X
• ISBN-13: 978-0801474408
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #436,129 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Candacy Taylor M.A., is an award-winning photographer, writer and cultural critic with a B.A. in Fine Arts from the San Francisco State University and a Master's Degree in Visual Criticism from the California College of the Arts. Before graduate school, Taylor worked as a member of Local 816 as a scenic artist and set designer for television and film productions. In the commercial and entertainment world, she created visual environments for companies as diverse as Quaker Oats, Beach Blanket Babylon, Hallmark, Java One, Lincoln Mercury, Hyundai and Banana Republic. For almost ten years Taylor has produced award-winning multimedia projects. She is a national speaker for conferences and has received numerous grant awards for her work including two Story Fund grants from The California Council for the Humanities and a San Francisco Arts Commission. Her most recent projects are on beauty shop culture and By The Horns, a documentary on a subculture of women in bull sports. She is also producing a documentary based on her book, Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress.

Her work has been featured in The New Yorker, The San Francisco Chronicle, AARP, The Magazine, BUST, Aging Today, Southwest Airlines, NPR's Weekend America and over 20 others.

Website: www.taylormadeculture.com
Blog: http://counterculturewaitress.wordpress.com/

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Paean to the "Lifer" Waitress, February 17, 2010

By 

Kenneth R. Mabry (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress (Paperback)

How do you feel when you walk into a coffee shop or diner and see an older waitress, one who may have done the job for decades? (In this book these waitresses are called "lifers"). Mixed with some maternal nostalgia, perhaps, many of us react with a quiet embarrassment. Our feelings may be tinged with pity and condescension toward, we assume, these uneducated, low-skill workers who are stuck doing back-breaking work for meager pay.

In Candacy Taylor's touching, inspiring, and beautifully-photographed book, we learn that many of these myths don't apply to this population: the career waitress who has chosen this work, often over other options. Some have college degrees and have worked in offices but prefer waitressing in casual eateries. In fact, many of these woman earn more than their peers who work in offices, stores, and factories; they own homes and cars, raise children, and participate in cultural and community activities.

Organized into topical chapters (such as regular customers, the waitressing stigma, tips, and retirement) and buttressed by some helpful research on labor and employment, Taylor, a former waitress herself, spent years crisscrossing the country, interviewing and photographing scores of servers working at places like the Sip 'N Bite in Baltimore, the Pie 'N Burger in Pasadena, and the Busy Bee Cafe in Atlanta.

Among the common denominators of the successful waitresses are a love for service and a desire to keep active and continue working. Listen to Linda Exeler from the Colonial Cottage Restaurant in Erlanger, Kentucky: "Waitressing is my life. It's my calling. This is what I was born to do. I feel like God gave me a gift and this is what it turned out to be. I just feel I've been a very blessed person to have the ability to have feelings for people." Rachel Lelchuck worked at Louis' Restaurant in San Francisco for 55 years, retiring at age 82 due to a debilitating case of asthma. She said, "I still miss the place. It's on my mind day and night (crying). And my customers wrote me lovely letters, sent me beautiful flowers, and are still faithful." How many people in so-called "better" jobs can speak with such love and devotion for their work?

This book treats a subset of the server population, and caution should be taken not to over-romanticize servers as a whole. Many toil in this field in a kind of purgatory of hard work that offers no health and retirement benefits and sub-par earnings. But Taylor has done a marvelous job of showing us how these "lifers" have used their commitment, integrity, and authenticity to make a lot out of what strikes many as so little. The next time I am served by one of these fast-disappearing icons of Americana, I plan to leave an extra dollar--or two--on the table.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars shared stories shared by many, October 3, 2009

By 

Alicia J. Huizinga (west michigan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress (Paperback)

This book was brought to my attention by no less than four 'regulars' when it was reviewed in the newspaper. Working as a full-time server in a very, very busy cafe I know what it's like to feel underappreciated. Counter Culture has shown me a new way to look at the contributions I make in our customers lives. Like the women in this book my coworkers and I live normal lives outside the restaurant; we pay mortgages, car payments and send our kids to college. We may have to work a little harder than some but, this is no low-class job. We have become a part of their daily lives, and they in ours.
This book is being passed around quickly and joked about when we all see those same customers that are described, both good and bad! Not only are the stories heartwarming but interesting if read by server or customer. If you read it you may find your self. Are you a 'regular'? Are you a good customer or bad? Find out in this detailed reflection.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Career Waitresses -- Who Knew?, March 17, 2010

By 

Tracy E. Blackstone (Alameda, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress (Paperback)

This is an amazing book -- a look at a job everyone takes for granted, and which many assume is a job held by people who can't do better for themselves. Boy, is that NOT the case! These astonishing women love their work, love what they do, and would not do anything else for a living. This book interviews women who have chosen to make waitressing their Career, and done a fabulous job of it to the benefit of us, their customers. It's an intimate look behind the scenes at this amazingly complex job and what it takes to be successful at it. Every one of these women has a great story to tell and the author gives them full rein to tell it. Great photos, fabulous histories, and a long-overdue salute to the women who pour our coffee, serve our food, and get a whole lot done that we never see. My waitress is Dolores Jeanpierre at Ole's Waffle Shop in Alameda, CA. She and all the women in this book are awesome!