I had to force myself to get past the author's introduction, I have a strong negative bias toward feminist manifestos, but once Ms. Owings was finished with her political ranting she introduced me to a pretty interesting group of waitresses. Some are positive, some negative, some hate their job, some love it, and each story is interesting and unique.
The concise biographical sketches average about five pages each and the women frankly describe their experiences and their lives. Single moms, married women, waitresses in diners, franchises, and fancy high class restaurants talk about cooks grabbing, customers grunting and owners screaming. A few might fit the "waitress" stereotype but they are all very different people from different backgrounds and the author does an excellent job describing them and their circumstances as well as their pressures on the job. Some waitressed short term, others are "lifers" with up to 50 years of experience. Most of the women are likeable and some are downright heroic. They all describe a job with similar pressures, and how they try to deal with them. Even the cloistered nun who served the other nuns at mealtime had to deal with stresses unique to serving food to others.
Since the vignettes are a few pages each the book is easy to pick up and put down, it is not necessary to set aside a block of reading time. I enjoyed it more than I expected, it may not be great literature but the frankness and intimacy of their stories has a compelling power. It's worth a few hours to meet these ladies.
