8 INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT DINER WAITRESSES
1. Women didn’t patronize or even work in diners until after the 1920s. Diners were parked across from factories and filled with laborers. They had a saloon-type atmosphere and women generally didn't feel comfortable in them. It wasn’t until WWII that women were encouraged to work and eat in diners.
2. In 1941 in The Diner magazine, writer Sam Yellin listed the reasons why women should work in diners, he said:
A. Women will work for less pay
B. Women will work harder than men
C. Women are always happy
D. Women can talk and work at the same time
E. Women are cleaner and more efficient than men
F. Women are more honest than men
G. Women don’t steal
H. Women won’t stay out late drinking and call in sick the next day
Buttercream diner waitresses (est. 1950s). Napa, CA
3. The stigma that diner waitresses have loose morals may have come from the 1920s when prostitutes lied and told police that they were waitresses (to explain the cash they were holding).
4. The average career waitress makes $20 to $30 an hour with tips.
5. Regular customers are their lifeline. Some regulars come in three times a day. Many career waitresses in Counter Culture have waited on four generations of the same family and if a waitress quits and moves to another restaurant, her regular customers will follow her throughout her entire career.
6. Seniority pays off. Despite the common assumption that waitressing offers no benefits, some diners offer their longstanding waitresses a higher hourly wage, health insurance, retirement benefits, Christmas bonuses and paid vacations.
7. Waitressing is easier for lifers. Being experienced and having regular customers cuts their serving time and labor in half.
8. The physical nature of the work actually helps older waitresses age better. Ina Kapitan, age 83 says, “Waitressing helps my arthritis. If I stayed home and did nothing I would be crippled. My doctor says whatever you’re doing, keep doing it.”
For more about diner waitresses see Counter Culture
Ina Kapitan. Miss Florence Diner. Florence, MA