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Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe
Syosset, New York
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The Yiddish word for "kindness" is "frayndlekhkayt."
The Talmud says, "The highest form of wisdom is kindness."
We expect our "tate-mame" (parents), our rabbis, and our teachers to be "frayndlekh" (kind), but what about our waiters?
Alan Richman (Oct. 2000, GQ magazine), wrote that "the professional Jewish waiter is as endangered as Ratner's kippered herring--and no prettier." He adds, "...the first commandment of conversing with an elderly Jewish waiter: Watch your words, because what the customer says is seldom what the waiter hears."
Richman adds, "My father, who is 86 and started eating blintzes at Ratner's in the 1930s, remembers them as 'a sour bunch of people who walked around with towels under their armpits, and then they'd use the towels to clean the tables.'"
There's the story about the bedraggled guy who walks into Lindy's on a "kalt" (cold), "vinter" (winter) night and sits down at a table. The waiter pads up to take his order and the guy says, "Bring me 'tsvey' (2) eggs and a kind word, please.' The waiter takes the order in "shtilkayt" (silence).
A few minutes later, the waiter comes back with a plate of eggs, sets them in front of the customer and turns to go without uttering a word. The customer wails, "Wait a minute. What about my kind word?" The waiter turns, faces the customer and says, "Don't eat the eggs!"
Then there's the story about the Jewish tourist who sees a sign in a New York City restaurant that says:
WE PREPARE ANY TYPE OF SENDVITSH.
He calls over the elderly waiter and asks,
"Is that sign true?"
"Yes, it is," answered the waiter.
"Then bring me an elephant sendvitsh on
'tost' (toast)."
The waiter stared at the wise guy for a
moment and then replied, "I'm sorry, sir,
but we can't start a whole elephant just
for one sendvitsh."
People love to rate restaurants. The Zagat 1989 New York City Restaurant Survey contains a review of Ratner's (138 Delancey Street): "By default, this Lower East Side breakfast 'institution' is the best kosher dairy restaurant in New York, with 'heavenly heartburn' and 'elderly waiters who serve 'insults on onion rolls.'"
Same year, same book: "Fine & Shapiro (138 W. 72nd St.) "West Side 'perennial' deli that leaves a lot to be desired; 'grouchy waiters and rising prices bother some, but many return for otherwise hard to find 'kosher-style' fare that includes 'enormous gefilte fish' and the 'best matzoh balls soup in NYC.'"
F-a-s-t f-o-r-w-a-r-d to 1997. The Zagat Survey of NYC Restaurants includes this rating for The Carnegie Deli (854 Seventh Avenue): "A tourist trap you won't mind getting trapped in", this 'epic deli' has it all--theatrically 'rude waiters,' 'Fred Flintstone-size sandwiches' and a 'critic-proof' rep as the 'quintessential NY' deli."
The Zagat Survey, again, rated Ratner's in 1997: "You gotta love" this "charmingly charmless", "real old-time' Lower East Side kosher dairy; it's a 'hallowed Formica temple' for soups, blintzes, onion rolls and so on served by classic 'disgruntled' waiters.
Want to work in a Levy "restoran," be nice! Show "frayndlehkayt" (kindness). You may be "klug vi der velt" (very smart), but unless you're nice, you won't be hired to work at any of the many Levy restaurants. Andy Lansing, president and CEO, says the technical skill and competence are important, but being nice and having passion for one's work are the two most important qualities that the company employees need to have. It's more important than their ability to analyze a spreadsheet, set a table, or fry an omelet."
"To me, only after you get past the nice and the passion is when I'm interested in what your experience has been or how good you may be able to do the job," says Lansing.
In an industry notorious for high turnover, Levy's employee turnover for 2006 was just under 23 percent, while the industry average ranges between 53 percent and 94 percent, depending on the type of restaurant.
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Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe agrees with Dave
Barry: "A person who is nice to you, but
rude to the waiter, is not a nice person."
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