Hey, Waitress!: The USA from the Other Side of the Tray Paperback - 2004

THE FIRST CLASSICAL WAITRESS, so to speak, was Hebe, daughter of the Greek god Zeus and the goddess Hera.

"Alison Owings serves up a delightful chronicle of waitressing--from the first commercial eating establishments to a contemporary Pizza Hut--as seen through the eyes of its stalwart practitioners. Hey, Waitress! is a great pleasure to read, not least because it's a long overdue tribute to some of America's most tireless and least appreciated working women."--Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America

"Owings is keenly sensitive to the class antagonisms of restaurant service. And bless her sisterhood of overworked, underpaid, harassed and harried informants in their aprons, hairnets, and rubber-soled shoes. This is oral history at its finest."--Susan Brownmiller, author of Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape

"Welcome to the real world of table service. Alison Owings delves deeply and perceptively into the too-often out-of-view lifestyle of the female server. Hard working women tell their own stories in their own voices and as anthropology--as oral history--it's a comprehensive and thoroughly enjoyable work that will bring cheer and enlightenment to both those inside and outside the restaurant business."--Anthony Bourdain, author of Kitchen Confidential

"Alison Owings has written a clever, compassionate book to celebrate the unsung and terribly important heroes of the workforce: waitresses. This book contains a rich trove of social history; I guarantee that after reading it you will look at the next waitress who serves you with different eyes. And if you want to get a good reading on how classy or unclassy people are, just watch how they treat their waitress!"--Letitia Baldrige, author of A Lady, First: My Life in the Kennedy White House and the American Embassies of Paris and Rome and Letitia Baldrige's Complete Guide to the New Manners for the 90's