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The Radio Waitress and the Almost Academy Award · Family Tree Food Stories

• 0:00
  Sylvia Lovely: Hello, I'm Sylvia Lovely along with Nancy May, co hosts
• 0:03
  of Family Tree Food and Stories.
• 0:06
  My now husband Bernie and I were both attending Morehead State University
• 0:10
  and in the early stages of dating.
• 0:12
  I was a sophomore and he was in graduate school and was working his way through
• 0:16
  with a part time job as radio host of What's Next for the local station.
• 0:21
  His stick was to interview people about places and people
• 0:24
  of interest in and around the small town of Moorhead, Kentucky,
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  where the university was located.
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  That could include just about anyone and anything.
• 0:34
  We were really into dating and getting to know one another when I
• 0:36
  noted that he was agitated one day.
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  I don't have a guest for this week's show and I don't know what I'm
• 0:41
  going to do, he said in a panic.
• 0:44
  His plan had been to ask someone from the campus favorite local hamburger
• 0:47
  joint to come on and talk about the restaurant business in a small town.
• 0:52
  Since I was in the stage of romance of wanting to impress by coming
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  to his rescue, I volunteered.
• 0:57
  I'll be your guest.
• 1:00
  He was certainly tempted, as he was desperate.
• 1:02
  I really need to do something with that restaurant, he replied.
• 1:06
  I think he was on the verge of accepting me no matter if I wanted
• 1:08
  to make up a story about aliens landing in the restaurant parking
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  lot and enjoying a cheeseburger while planning how to invade Earth.
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  I remember the confidence I felt for coming to his rescue.
• 1:20
  Here's my idea, I began.
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  What I said broke every rule in the book for interview integrity.
• 1:26
  But you have to remember, neither of us were particularly sophisticated
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  when it came to worldly matters.
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  From families with little education and economic security, we were the raw
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  turnips that had fallen off the truck.
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  I will pretend to be a waitress at the burger joint.
• 1:40
  Which shall remain nameless, by the way.
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  I went on.
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  I'll give this some thought, talk to a couple of waitresses and chat about
• 1:47
  the trials and tribulations of serving.
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  How hard can that be?
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  I thought.
• 1:52
  Oh, I forgot to mention that the restaurant in question
• 1:55
  was also a show sponsor.
• 1:58
  The appointed day came and we did the interview and were pretty self satisfied.
• 2:02
  I can't remember if it was taped or live, but it doesn't matter
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  in light of what came next.
• 2:09
  All I recall is that a brouhaha ensued and the restaurant threatened
• 2:13
  to end their support of the station and management was angry.
• 2:17
  Bernie and I were in a world of hurt.
• 2:20
  The fact that I had made up being a waitress was not the immediate issue,
• 2:24
  though it certainly could have been.
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  Our ruse was never revealed.
• 2:28
  What mattered was that in the middle of the interview, Bernie asked if
• 2:31
  I could describe any challenges that a waitress might face.
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  I proceeded to describe what might have appeared as a crisis if I was a waitress.
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  Well, I began.
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  One day during a shift, I spilled red jelly all over my apron.
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  I couldn't take time to change and just served with a great big
• 2:48
  stain all down the front of me.
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  Not only did I say that, but the way I emphasized stain made it even more
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  prominent than it should have been.
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  It was a painful aftermath for both of us.
• 3:00
  I was embarrassed, Bernie was left to apologize and possibly lose his job.
• 3:05
  The sponsor threw a fit, and at the end of the day though, the sponsor forgave.
• 3:09
  Bernie kept his job, and all went on.
• 3:12
  I never volunteered my services again, nor would they have been accepted.
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  And he even married me in the end.
• 3:19
  But I could have qualified for an Academy Award.
• 3:21
  I think I did such a great job of acting it out.
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  So, my point is, you see how much food is at the root of all our
• 3:29
  lives and our greatest stories.
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  They are often stories that made us cringe when they happened, but are
• 3:34
  remembered with fondness and part of family lore as we grow and mature.
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  They can likely bring belly laughs, as this one did.
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  They remind us that we are whole beings.
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  Mistakes, triumphs, all wadded up together.
• 3:48
  Look for your own food stories and share them with us.
• 3:52
  Nancy May, Sylvia Lovely, co hosts at Family Tree Food and Stories.
• 3:57
  We're putting together a family with food storytelling at its root.
• 4:01
  Join us and get in on all the fun.