(This is the kind of story that should be an audio file, because with the accents, it is far funnier.)
I used to work in a restaurant that had captain's chairs along the display kitchen so that patrons could dine and watch the chefs at work. It is kind of a silly idea, but people LOVED it. The waitstaff that had to work those sections had to work behind the line. That is, the walked up and down the stoves, fryers, ovens, open flames and all the sweaty chefs. This created a great relationship between the back of house (kitchen staff) and front of house (everyone else). One of the cooks was from Alabama and he worked the cold side (salads, apps, desserts) on a night when I was regularly scheduled to wait tables in that same section.
His name was (is?) McDavid and because that isn't your typical Pacific NW name, we all called him 'Bama. He had such a cute southern accent and you couldn't help but pick it up when talking to him. Also he was short and had the greatest goatee, kinda like a yard gnome, but much, much, much cuter. Once when I was working it was kind of a slow night and we got to talking. It was hot so 'Bama rolled up his sleeves and I noticed how incredibly hairy he was and I just couldn't help but comment.
"Wow, 'Bama, that's a lot of hair!"
"Yeah, my cousin used to say to me, 'If your Mama ever had another baby, it woulda been a hairball.'"
"McDavid! That's just awful! What did you do?" I asked.
"Well, I got him back. I said, 'Yeah? Well, if your Mama had another baby it just woulda been dumb.'"
Um hmmm, yeah. Now THAT'S a comeback.
Posted by kerewin at July 13, 2005 10:49 PM