Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress

by Candacy A. Taylor

Counter Culture celebrates the well-seasoned waitresses who race to our tables, argue with the cooks and bring humor and culture to the American roadside dining experience. It's a window into the lives of career waitresses who have worked in diners for up to sixty years. They do more than serve food. They are part psychiatrist, part grandmother, part friend and they serve every walk of American from the retired and the widowed, to the wounded and the lonely, and from the working class to the wealthy. This book takes a moment to honor and recognize these American icons and their contribution to our communities.In large cities and small towns across the country the best diners are more than restaurants, they are neighborhood institutions that bring communities together. From the Gold 'N Silver in Reno, Nevada, to the Sip 'N Bite in Baltimore, Maryland, these places are not defined by their menus or decor but by the waitresses who have established bonds with their customers and their communities over decades of service. Author, Candacy Taylor (a former waitress herself) traveled more than 26,000 miles throughout the United States collecting stories of these "lifers" aged fifty and older who have been working in diners for most of their lives.Their compelling stories are complemented and enhanced by Taylor's striking photographs.Taylor expected that the waitresses would feel overworked and under-appreciated but she was surprised and delighted to find that the opposite was true. These women said they loved their jobs and, even if given the opportunity, they "wouldn't do anything else." They believe memorizing orders keep their minds sharp and the physical demands of the work are helping them to age well. They generally make more money from serving regular customers and their seniority status earns them respect from their coworkers and managers. Taylor's sensitive and respectful portrayal of career waitresses who have made their job into a rewarding lifetime pursuit turns "Counter Culture" into an invaluable portrait of the continued importance of community in our changing society.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography

170 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 6, 2009

About the author

Candacy Taylor is an award-winning author, photographer and cultural documentarian working on a multidisciplinary project based on the Green Book. Taylor is the author of Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America (Abrams Books). She is also the curator and content specialist for an exhibition that will be toured by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) starting in June 2020. The exhibition will travel throughout the United States for three years.

Taylor was a fellow at the Hutchins Center at Harvard University under the direction of Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. and her projects have been commissioned and funded by numerous organizations including, The Library of Congress, National Geographic, The American Council of Learned Societies, The National Endowment for the Humanities, The National Park Service, and The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Taylor’s work has been featured in over 50 media outlets including The Atlantic, CBS Sunday Morning, The Guardian UK, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Newsweek, PBS Newshour and The Wall St. Journal.

Reviews

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this beautiful book. Many will look through the photos and not bother reading the text but there is a lot here to enjoy. I never heard of Harvey House and their waitresses and at the same time I was listening to Willa Cather’s Song of the Lark and The Harvey House is mentioned which I missed the first time I read it. Some interesting history here. It would be interesting to see what millennials would think of it. I’ve always been in awe of a good waitress bc I knew I couldn’t do, I don’t have the physical stamina and the great personality that a great waitress has.

[Lisa Warner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress explores a unique occupation that was already beginning to die out a bit as the book was being written, but an occupation that I believe will never die out completely. Candacy Taylor does extensive interviews with ‘lifers’; waitresses who have been waitressing for decades. These interviews cover their early lives, how they became waitresses, why they enjoy waitressing and how they see the job is evolving and whether or not they want to retire. While the interviews are almost exclusively done with elderly women, I was impressed that Candacy made an effort to talk to waitresses from different states, backgrounds and ethnicities so that we could see how their experiences differed and overlapped.
“Seventy percent of the people waiting tables should not be doing this. No. It’s a disgrace (Taylor 301)!” This is a quote from an interview with Jean Joseph, but is a pretty common refrain among the waitresses. It’s an interesting point of view to explore. These women were afforded a pretty good income with flexible hours in an era where options for income and careers for women were very limited. The women believe in hard work and many of them don’t want to retire and don’t plan to unless their bodies give out on them. It’s an admirable work ethic. They don’t have much time or patience for the younger generation, but I think a lot of it can be chalked up to different generational attitudes toward working with different values. Not necessarily a bad thing on either side, just a disconnect.
This book is a quick, interesting read with a lot of colorful interviews with interesting women. I give it three and a half stars!

Works Cited
Taylor, Candacy A. Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress. ILR Press, 2009.

[Lisa Kucharski · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a photo/essay journey through the world of diner waitresses. And the ones that Taylor focused on were the ladies called "lifers." Each chapter covers areas that one would encounter - the work itself, the customers, the tips etc... But in the last chapter where a number of waitresses were focused on it becomes clear that the ladies that do well and last don't treat the job like it's a stepping stone. They do the job like a professional and reap the rewards. Also many of the people interviewed became waitresses at the time when there was few jobs for a woman to get. And interestingly enough- even though it seems to have a stigma attached to it- these ladies made out quiet well, often out earning those with college degrees.

A very interesting book about a profession that people and movies have created "stereotypes" around.. but in reality the women are actually not unhappy, not prostitutes that serve food, and not unloved. They just know how to do their job and most importantly do it well.

"If you know what you're doing you can make money. I ring in over $1000 in sales a night, when most of the waitresses here only ring in $600. I'm known for my sundaes. It's all about presentation. I add sprinkles, a cherry and a little panache. I've seen girls come to a table with a plain-looking sundae and wonder why they only get a two dollar tip and I'm getting five. It's not rocket science." Sammi DeAngelis

There's also a chapter on the generational gap- "Today people search their souls desperately to figure out their life's calling. It's a privileged dilemma that most older waitresses didn't have." This disconnect between the past generation and present is every present. For the younger one who get degrees now can't find jobs and have a lot of debt. It seems that each generation has to still find its way... and the younger attitudes may even change the way people eat out or restaurants will be run.

The book itself is interesting just in itself cause it sheds a light on what has become an area that "women" do. It covers the attitudes of those who live in this environment and it's clear that the ones who thrive here do so cause they like the physical business and to interact with people in a positive way.

And for as long as people will be eating, there were be a need for places to go and people who will bring out the food. Nice photos.

[Cassidy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joan Bauer’s Hope was Here peeked my interest in waiting. It is not a job I have not held (yet), but it comes up a lot in literature. The fact of the matter is, it bring people together and is perfect for introducing characters. The setting is familiar to anyone who has ate in a diner or restaurant. It’s a slice of Americana. Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress, by Candacy A. Taylor, is a heart slice of Americana reality.

The stories are real, and, for me, non-fiction is better than fiction. Reading these stories of real waitresses grew my appreciation for their profession. Growing-up in New Jersey, diners were a cornerstone of life. No where am I known as a “regular”, but I have encountered some fantastic waitresses. The stories collected in this unique anthologies of sorts will stay with the reader. Certainly, I won’t forget the story of the four generations of waitresses or the waitress who had chose in an accident between dumping the platefuls of food on herself or a child.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoughtful, instructive, & occasionally sassy pictorial tribute to the underappreciated career waitress. A good choice for anyone who eats in diners.

[Jeannie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read. Not exactly true journalism- some things stated w/o being backed up- many stories constructed around the same preconceived narrative- but a fun glimpse into a subculture.

[Cindy Willmot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress: A Look at the Lives of Career Waitresses in American Diners

“This book is not a scholarly study, a memoir, or a historical account of waitressing…it’s more than a coffee-table book of a pop culture icon.” About twenty years ago, after a night of waiting tables in a sushi restaurant in San Francisco, graduate student and part-time waitress Candacy Taylor asked herself an important question: How do waitresses in their sixties keep working and how do they feel about their jobs? These questions and more became the subject of Taylor’s graduate thesis. To find the answers, Taylor decided to meet these career waitresses, or “lifers” as they call themselves, where they worked—in diners and coffee shops across America. She traveled to forty-three cities and small towns and interviewed over fifty women. Not only did Taylor learn about the history of waitressing, but she learned that career waitresses defied the stereotypes portrayed in entertainment and other media. They are complex, often overlooked, and underestimated. They are icons of Americana. This book, Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress published by Cornell University in 2009, is the surprising stories of those hard working women, career waitresses, who do more than just serve food.

Although Candacy Taylor’s book is a work of non-fiction, her story of the lives of career waitresses reads like a narrative. Taylor begins each chapter with an essay on a theme specific to waitressing or “lifers.” Some topics include relationships with regular customers, waitressing skills, tips, stigma, and facing retirement. Colorful photographs of waitresses highlight the chapters, making Taylor’s essays seem personal and realistic. She concludes each chapter with
profiles of the women in her book. These emotional and endearing profiles showcase how the women got started in their career, their insights, and their feelings about their jobs, from wearing uniforms, to aging, but most especially the joy they feel serving others.

Candacy Taylor focuses her lens on an aspect of waitressing that is seldom discussed—career waitresses and their life lessons. Often stigmatized, none of the waitresses in Counter Culture are apologetic. On the contrary, as Taylor points out, “most lifers have found their place in the industry and feel proud rather than ashamed of their profession.” In fact, she lets them, in their own words, explain to the reader what waitressing means to them and why they are happy to serve. Interestingly, as the stories of the career waitresses unfold through photographs and dialogue, the reader realizes that these women do not only serve food---they offer kindness, friendship, an inviting smile, a friendly ear, and their attention. They are, themselves, acts of selfless service.

Candacy Taylor’s book Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress is a pleasant surprise and an easy ready. At first, I was tempted to just look at the photos rather than read the profiles of the career waitresses. But it is the stories of the “lifers” that make Taylor’s book engrossing. As I finished this book, I wondered if any of the “lifers” I read about were still alive and still serving. The industry is changing, and so are the waitresses. “It’s impossible to know what the future holds,” as Taylor reminds us, but “we should recognize and appreciate these women while they’re still here—catering to our quirks, delivering warm-ups, and serving comfort and companionship.” They are lifers. They are invisible heroes. For this, I give Taylor’s book 5 stars.

[James McGinnis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress provides an in depth look into the lives of the women who have spent their lives serving up smiles and a little bit of sass to their regulars; you would be hard pressed to find a better tribute to this typically unsung American hero and icon. Candacy A. Taylor spent seven years giving fifty-nine in-depth interviews to waitresses in forty-three different cities for her 2009 book, which was published by Cornell University (2). With each chapter, Taylor discusses a different facet of the lives and/or careers of these women, and she ends each chapter with a few of the stories shared by waitresses. In the introduction, Taylor explains that this book is not exactly a scholarly study or a historical account of waitressing, but that it is more so “a coffee-table book of a pop culture icon” (4).
These women, “lifers” as they are referred to, love their jobs more than anybody else I know. They have put in the years and whittled down their jobs into the most efficient execution of serving food and drink to customers, and their tips and pools of regulars reflect that. Their testimonies were wistful, witty, and often heartwarming. The waitresses and Taylor’s efforts into hunting them down are what made this book such a great read. Faye Blackwell was a waitress in a gay neighborhood who took great care of her customers suffering from the effects of the AIDS pandemic (61), and she gave a particularly moving account of the meaning that her job has given her life. Fern Osborn was a woman who has fantastic hair, a fantastic attitude, and fantastic empathy for her elderly regulars (88). Virginia Brandon was a woman who raised a family of eight kids on her waitress wages, and she only retired when her arthritic knees stopped working completely; she misses the job everyday (114). These are only a few of the colorful portraits shown in Counter Culture, but each is wholesome and helps to make the face of the coffee shop waitress into a three dimensional portrait. Counter Culture makes me wish that I had the privilege of being one of their regulars and experiencing their hospitality and care.
I have already recommended this book to a few family members and friends, as I genuinely enjoyed it. I would love to see Taylor take on other jobs and create similar books, but I do not think that she would be able to top the simple glory of this book. My only gripe is that I would have liked to have seen more of the experiences of waitresses in smaller towns. I have had the pleasure of being served by a few lifers in settings like this, and I feel that their experiences would shed a considerable amount of new light on Taylor’s portrait of the American coffee shop waitress. If I were to rate this book on a scale of 0-5 stars, I would go ahead and give it all five stars. This book made me happy, and there are not too many nonfiction books that do that nowadays. It was a refreshing look at a breed of women who seem to be slowly disappearing from our coffee shops.

[Dana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Imagine working a 16-hour shift, being on your feet the entire day, running back and forth carrying heavy trays, and being spoken to by nasty customers. Then at the end of the day you count how much money you made and it’s not even enough to buy you groceries. Does that sound like a job you would want? That’s the life of being a waitress. It’s an exhausting job that doesn’t get the credit it deserves. Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress shines a light on how hard working waitresses are and will leave you having a new found respect for any waitress you come across.
Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress was released in 2009 by ILR Press. The book was written by former waitress, now photographer Candacy Taylor. The book not only has Candacy’s photographs, but also shares personal experiences of waitressing that Candacy gained by going on a mission and interviewing waitresses. The book focuses on these waitresses’ stories, but also on the backstory of how waitressing came to be and how society has acquired a stigma about the profession. As you read about their stories you find out how strong your work ethic has to be to become a successful waitress. You not only have to be physically strong, but you also have to have tough skin. It’s not a profession that anyone can do.
My rating of the book would be 3 stars out of 5. It was an easy and light read with the book only being 156 pages long. The pages included Candacy’s photography which made the stories hit closer to home. It was nice to put a face to go along with their story. I would recommend this book to everyone to read simply because I think it would be eye-opening for many. As I said before, our society has a stigma around waitressing, if it’s from the media we consume or opinions we have created as an outsider, but this book and these stories will change how you think and feel. The book is considered nonfiction, so I could understand the hesitation from readers who don’t like to necessarily read nonfiction material. What’s nice about this book is that there is no rush to finish it. It’s something you could put down for a week and when you come back to it, it will feel like you never even stopped. It’s easy to pick up where you left off.
By the end of this book, I promise you, you will be looking at every waitress you meet differently, and I believe that was the whole goal of this book. It was to make us appreciate this profession and see it in a new light.

[Jackie Abenante · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author Candacy A. Taylor’s interest in veteran waitresses, or “lifers”, began when she herself was working as a waitress at a sushi restaurant, in a metropolitan city, while putting herself through graduate school. Her and her young colleagues were tired, sore, and worn out and she wanted to know, “if we are this tired, how do waitresses twice our age (...) do this”?
Taylor goes on to travel the country to find these older waitresses, where she learns about their work attitudes and ethic, what drove them to and keeps them waitressing, how they feel about the younger generation of waitresses, and what makes a good waitress versus a bad one. Many of these women said that waitressing was less physically demanding than what they’d done prior. Many of them grew up farming from a young age and found the physical toll of waitressing was far less than picking wheat or cotton in the fields all day.
They acquire skills that you don’t learn in school. How to carry plates up your arms, learning all the kitchen lingo to help you streamline your orders, how to keep your orders organized so you don’t forget someone’s food, and the social aspects of building relationships with patrons, other waitresses, the bussers, the cooks, and the manager.
The lifers will tell you that it’s a family. You become family with your co-workers and your regulars. You watch their families grow and go on to waiting on their children. “Regulars become such a part of the restaurant family that if they haven’t come in for a while, the restaurant owners will call them at home to make sure they are okay”.
The ageing waitress credits her job for helping to keep her physically fit, and mentally sharp. They don’t want to retire. They have had such a fast-paced life, many feel “what would I do”? Many either tried to retire, and came back after a few months, or had to take time off for health reasons and couldn’t wait to get back to work. Juanita Bernard, of Lexington, KY sums it up by saying, “I guess I’ll stay here until I can’t walk no more”.

Taylor, Candacy A. Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress. ILR Press, 2009.

[Sophia C · Rating 3 out of 5]

To focus on just one aspect of Candacy A. Taylor’s Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress is difficult because nearly every topic Taylor covers is vital to understanding the world of waitressing. If I were to choose what I believe is the strongest theme in this book, it would be that career waitresses require a personable character. “Diner waitresses are rewarded for sharing their personality and their mood with the locals,” (Taylor 25). This book emphasizes that a waitress earns her pay through the personality she displays; even on her worst days, she must still put-on an act to please her paying customers (who more than likely become her closest friends). Through nine chapters of personal experiences and advice told by real career waitresses, better referred to as “lifers,” readers will learn the tips and tricks on how waitresses provide quality service to regular customers and understand why what for many women was supposed to be a job to get them through secondary school became a life-long profession driven by passion.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. I must say that I did not like how the stories became a bit repetitive and easily predictable the further I read through the chapters. However, the pros outweigh the cons when drawing my final conclusions about the book as I was fond of the photos and familiarity of the waitresses I met along my reading. It is also admirable the way Taylor pays respect towards the waitresses she presents in this book. This non-fiction read fits perfectly with an academic course which focuses on the working class because it shows the dedication and perseverance of a waitress, as well as the back-breaking labor, and little complaints they’re allowed to exhibit on a daily basis. Anyone who appreciates a sense of old-fashioned, American work ethic (and memories of nostalgic mom-and-pop shops) should read this book!
















Works Cited
Taylor, Candacy A. Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress. ILR Press, 2009.

[Justine]

“Society doesn’t have to recognize or acknowledge her contribution when she leaves work with cash in hand, financially stable, emotionally secure, and fulfilled by who she is and what she does.” (Taylor 86) If I had to only pick one quote to sum up the message of Counter Culture to me, that was it. Counter Culture is filled with hard-working, tough women who love what they do and won’t let anyone else take away the joy they get from it. Some of these women have been surrogate mothers and grandmothers to their regulars and sometimes the only socialization that some customers get. “Most career waitresses say that men make up 75 to 90 percent of their clientele. Many are widowed and don’t know how to cook for themselves, so they rely on the diner for the meals and come in three times a day.” (Taylor 123) It can be so easy to dismiss the waitresses in our lives since they’re in it for a short period of time, but this book proves that they have the potential to make a big impact if we’ll let them.

The women genuinely care about the work, because the work means making people happy and taking care of their customers for the time the customers are in the diner. They are social, caring people to the extreme. For a class about the Working Class, I felt this book was a perfect example and a great way to humanize yet another group of people who we rely on for some of our more basic necessities. Counter Culture did not just tell us all the reasons these women loved their job, but it gave us their back story which is usually what they’ve done to struggle to keep the job they love. It gives me some motivation to find the job I love and do it, even if it doesn’t make sense to anyone else. We can get so caught up in the American Dream that we care more about the image and less about finding fulfillment in hard work. On the other side of the coin, it’s also possible to have a job we are good at without it necessarily being a life’s dream. If we can find a positive and find a way to serve others, it will be a life well spent.

[Macy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Waitressing is not for the feint of heart. Imagine bustling through a restaurant with six plates on your arms while avoiding scurrying children and spills on the floor. The rush hours can turn a diner into a war zone of splattering food and fast paced movements. Counter Cultures by Candacy A. Taylor gives a look into the daily lives of a career waitress, or in other words, lifers. Taylor took a national tour across the United States looking for the best lifers and the stories they had to tell of the joys and hardships of waitressing for life. This book was published in 2009, so the information is still relevant to this day.
Counter Cultures uses cleverly named titles to develop the aspects of a waitress’s life. For example, “Tricks of the Trade” is a chapter on the skills a lifer learns and continues to develop as one ages. Most career waitresses state that “it takes about fifteen years to turn waitressing into an art” (Taylor, 32). Other themes throughout the book include the importance of regular customers, the bad stigma that waitresses receive, and the refusal to retire. Waitressing is not for the weak and some waitresses will tell their trainees straight up if they will succeed or not. Only about “one in a hundred have what it takes to stay with the job” (Taylor, 5). Counter Cultures provides an inside look to the life and wonders of a waitress lifer.
Personally, this was an enjoyable read especially with the anecdotes of the waitresses. This book deserves at least a three out of four stars. Counter Cultures gives a new perspective on what waitressing means to a lifer and her regulars. They stay where they are since they have a connection to the people they are serving, and it keeps them healthy physically and mentally. Waitressing takes more than two arms and legs to carry food; it requires personality and personability. Overall, lifers give more than service; they give with all of their talents and heart as well.

[Pauline Santangelo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grab a “cup of Joe” to go along with this book! This one is an easy read yet offers an in-depth understanding of the waitressing profession. See if your town is showcased within the pages of Counter Culture The American Coffee Shop Waitress!
Written by former waitress Candacy A. Taylor in 2009, this aptly titled book offers interviews and fun photos of real-life women at their workplaces across America.
Many of these women have made waitressing their career. They are called “lifers” and are perfectly happy doing this work for often many decades. Other women have chosen to go into and out of this profession at different times in their job history. The challenges of this profession are examined within the chapters. Some interviewees are more candid than others, like Sammi DeAngelis from NJ. “I’ve done the fine dining where people think that because the checks are high, you’re supposed to kiss their butt.” There is a lot of honesty within the pages and the feeling of pride does show through. They are not just serving meals or working for the big tips, many of these women enjoy their work. “Lifers take waitressing seriously. They care if your bacon is soggy or if your hash browns are overcooked.”
This book talks about the relationships that are formed over the years between the waitresses and their customers as well as the relationships they form with the cooks, managers and other waitstaff. The “lifers” remark on how they have developed their skill over time and why they stay. They have their opinions about the younger generation of waitresses. Waitress Esther Paul from NV remarks, “They just don’t get it. It’s not in their heart.”
I would give this book a 4 star rating. It gives a better understanding of waitressing over several decades with its likes and dislikes. The pictures of the women in their uniforms, and the restaurants were fun to view, and the photography was well done.

[Jenna Manning · Rating 4 out of 5]

Candacy A. Taylor’s book Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress gives the reader an inside look into the daily lives of waitresses working in diners, coffee shops, and mom-and-pop restaurants across the United States. The book contains some analysis and summarization of this working-class career, as well as firsthand testimonials from those who live the lifestyle of coffee shop waitresses.

Though the insight that Taylor provides throughout the work is helpful in grounding the reader’s knowledge about the waitressing career, the testimonials in the work are truly the backbone of the text. Taylor interviewed over 70 waitresses for a work; not an easy feat, and a true testament to the dedication and care that creating a text like this requires. The work also shines light onto a career path often not depicted in writing, television, or film in an accurate light.

The book also provides context of the history of waitressing, both through Taylor’s research and testimonials. Fern Osborn of Seligman, AZ was quoted in the text saying, “I used to have restaurant owners come from Las Vegas and ask me to go back with them...because I was fast. Back then we didn’t have trays or little carts to put your dishes in. We had to carry everything” (Taylor 88). The true narratives of the text provide the reader with an enriched understanding of the struggles of waitresses, as well as the hard work, love, and determination behind the career.

I would give Counter Culture a 4/5 star rating. I would recommend the text to anyone who is interested in learning about the working class or anyone who has worked in the service industry, as the text is relatable to those who have lived it and eye opening to those who have not.

[Alita Turner]

“From five o’clock to nine o’clock you’ve got a waiting line of an hour, and so you don’t have a cigarette, you don’t go to the bathroom, you don’t breathe—you just run, yelling at everyone in your way, ‘Behind ya! Behind ya!” (Brandon 39). Counter Culture: The American Coffeeshop Waitress written by Candacy A. Taylor published by Cornell University Press. This series of interviews displays the lives of the hardworking class of waitresses that have been in the business for well over 50 years. These women tell their stories of strength and independence. In these stories you get an insight into the world of diners and coffeeshop waitressing in a way that makes you see past the stereotype of the “common waitress”. The photography featured in this book played a major role in setting the tone for this book. The photos take you back in time with some of these stories like with the once famous Harvey Girls “the women who opened the West” (Taylor 82). They also portray the family dynamic that can be created in these environments.
I enjoyed quite a few of the interviews and history featured in this text. I realized that I did have some preconceived notions about what they call “lifers” in the waitressing business and these women proved me wrong. I would recommend this book to an induvial that enjoyed travelling and would like to maybe meet one of the women. I know I’m planning a trip to Washington D.C. to visit the Florida Avenue Grill. It’s not a book that I would read over again. I enjoyed their stories and taught me something new about the profession. I give this book a 3-star rating because I feel like some of the concepts were repeated throughout the text.

[Candy Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Behind ya! Behind ya! Coming through, arms loaded! If you don’t get out of the way, you’re gonna get knocked out!” This is some important advice from seasoned waitress, Virginia Brandon, age 68, of the Rainbow Coffee Shop in Henderson Nevada. In Counter Culture by Candacy A. Taylor, you will find this and other important snippets of wisdom from waitresses like Brandon, who consider themselves to be “lifers” in the service industry. Published in 2009 by Ithaca Cornell University Press, this candid collection of interviews, spanning from the east to the west coast, is an eye-opening look into the history of waitressing in America as well as some little-known tricks of the trade.

As each waitress tells her story, we learn the distinctions between the prim and proper Harvey Girls of the late 1800’s and the “hashers” who worked in roadside diners. We also learn that waitressing is a profession fraught with rivalries, especially between the new girls and the “lifers”. Many surprises await the reader within these pages. Some of the women tell tales of earning shockingly high wages after the tips are divided. Some women with college degrees have turned to waitressing because the money was better. These wise women make it clear, however, that not everyone is cut out for waitressing.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is in the service industry or may be considering it. It is also a very colorful and inspiring piece of Americana that is best served up with a cup of hot Joe!

[Savannah Nealon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress, is a wonderful read about the lifestyle of being a waitress. Candidacy Taylor does an extensive deep dive on the lives of waitresses and how they function beyond the counter. She calls the waitresses who work for life, “lifers”. She mostly focuses on these “lifers” and how they carry out the skill of waitressing. She says, “waitressing isn’t easy, and yet it is one of the most common jobs in America.” This book covers everything a waitress does from how they become waitresses, do they enjoy waitressing, new waitresses who enter the job, how they see the job evolving, and even retirement plans. Most of the women interviewed were elderly, who mostly do not have the patience for new waitresses and seeing the waitressing industry evolve in such a manner without them. “It takes a different kind of person to do this work”, says Carol Jimenez of San Francisco. After reading this book, I agree. These women believe in hard work and time management, along with the fact that they work until their bodies are unable to work anymore and some of them work way beyond that just for the love of their customers. After reading this book, I would say it is very inclusive with many different generations included and even different states. I would have to say this book is a solid 3 stars for the inclusivity and interviewing material stated.

Works Cited
Taylor, Candacy A. Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress. ILR Press, 2009.

[Aimee Hartman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Counter Culture by Candace A. Taylor is a book based on peoples personal interviews on waitressing. The interviews can be about anything from how one got started waitressing, early life, struggles, or even new generations starting to waitress.
This book was published on August 6th of 2009, so it is fairly up to date on how waitressing in diners and coffee shops work. A lot of the interviews were based off of older women who have been in the business for many many years and have put their time in. My favorite quote from the whole book was "I have never seen so many young kids so sick all the time. The old gals, we never call in sick."- Virginia. This is very true for more jobs than just waitressing. I felt that this quote was appropriate for todays age as while living in a small town, you see lots of places have a hiring sign in the window. Elders classify the younger generation as lazy but it is not everyone!
I would give this book a 6/10 because I am not a big fan of reading books that are personal interviews but it was still a good read. Counter Culture was an easy read but I can not relate to a lot of things since I have never been into waitressing. It was not the most interesting book I have got my hands on but this read was very unique as I have never read a book about this occupation or in the format that it was written in.

[Ally Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress is an insightful look into the lives of waitresses across America. The book written by Candace A. Taylor interviews women of all ages who have chosen waitressing as a career path. According to Taylor, “Career waitresses do more than just serve food. They are part psychiatrist, part grandmother, part friend, and they serve every walk of American life…”. This quote shows just how many hats an American waitress wears during an average shift. It’s far more than just bringing customers their food. For career waitresses, serving isn’t just a job, it's a lifestyle.
This book should be read by everyone. It truly is an enlightening and humbling read. In a world where such a stigma surrounds service jobs such as waitressing, it is always a good reminder for everyone to see things from an alternative perspective. Waitresses and servers are not less than, and should not be treated as such. Candace Taylor’s book shows just how much hard work is required to provide excellent service such as that of a career waitress. Many of these women are educated and intelligent women, despite the common stereotype of people “falling in” to the job and being stuck there. Waitressing, like any other career, is hard work that can provide good money for a family.

[DERWIN MIERES · Rating 3 out of 5]

Counter Culture is Candacy A. Taylor’s overview of America’s waitressing profession told through interviews with a group of waitresses. It’s “from-the-horse’s-mouth” style serves well to allow the reader a closer look at a system of service that is often unnoticed or taken for granted.

The heroes of this book are the waitresses themselves. Speaking in their own words and drawing from personal experiences, the women in this book gave a somewhat historical perspective of waitressing in America. Although they are from different cultures and backgrounds, the women in this book share the same spirit of defiance. Battling historic gender inequality and a social stigmatization of their chosen profession, the lifelong waitresses (Lifers) in this book are truly inspiring.

This book, however, does give a sense of looking at a dying breed of worker, in an industry rapidly changing. It feels firmly set in the past, where the mom-and-pop diner was the rule, not the exception. It also helps contrast the attitude and culture of todays worker in the service industry. The sense of choice is the overlying theme in this book; how the workers of yesterday fell victim, and the workers of today exercise control. I couldn’t help the feeling that the story really ends when the last of these Lifers leave the arena, and although it is natural progression, I am saddened nonetheless.

[Sharon Stottlemyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress”
By Candacy A. Taylor

“To my customers, I’m a psychiatrist, a nurse, a mama, a grandmama…I’m whatever they need me to be.” (p.53)

Candacy A. Taylor’s Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress is an oral history of a true working class people. Taylor not only shares the experiences and stories of waitresses across the country, but she invites you in to hear and see firsthand into a world that most people take for granted. She dispels the myth of having to have that upmost important job to be a happy person. All the waitresses that Taylor interviewed shared their life experiences good and bad. Why they love their jobs and the joy they have in serving.
One waitress, Ronnie Bello said in her interview, “I am not ashamed to be a waitress. I can walk with judges and lawyers; I can fit in with anyone because I know what I do and I’m no phony. This is me. I’m a good waitress, I love people and that’s my attitude and if you don’t like me for that, that’s your problem. I’m not a snob.” (p.86) So many people today look down on a waitress, thinking that this is a lowly job for someone with no education, the job of waitressing is demeaning. This book will provide those stories that will give you a different perspective regarding your views on this working-class people. This job isn’t for the faint at heart. This book is truly a tribute to the working-class.
I would recommend this book to those that want to learn what it means to really love your job.

[Jayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Counter Culture was a fun and really interesting read. Candacy A. Taylor did an amazing job capturing the true waitress life in the book, along with taking the reader back in time through the incredible photos in the book as well. I think people overlook waitressing as a job but this read really opens your eyes to the blood, sweat, tears, and dedication it takes to sustain this job. She shows that it’s not just an “in between'' job that most people use it as today, she shows how these ladies made a career goal and choice out of it. Personally, the most statement-making piece of this book has to do with the Harvey Girls and how this chain really revolutionized women in the working industry and not just having them stay home taking care of the household. This book could be very repetitive to some but it makes you look a little deeper into each one’s personal life experience. All in all, I think if you haven’t been a waitress or a part of this industry, this book would be really beneficial to anyone, men and women.

[Olivia P · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very informative book that shows the life of a waitress. It contains narratives of a variety of narratives from many different waitresses. It hits topics being a work family, dealing with customers and dedicating their work-life to the profession. It shows all of the hardships that a waitress faces in order to serve the population. It does make a person respect the profession more.

[Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of photos and stories of old lady waitresses with names like Marge. Makes you appreciate diners and career servers.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Enjoyed all their stories and they increased my admiration for hardworking waitresses

[Christy · Rating 3 out of 5]

From Taylor’s introduction to her book: “This book is not a scholarly study, a memoir, or a historical account of waitressing. And even though there are photographs throughout the book, it’s more than a coffee-table book of a pop culture icon. It combines interview excerpts, cultural criticism, photography, and oral history to recognize an overlooked group of working women who have brought meaning and culture to the American roadside dining experience.” (p. 4)

Review:

I have never been a waitress, choosing retail work for my summer jobs instead. I got to know a number of waitresses though, as I spent three summers living in a women’s hostel in a New England tourist town. Although retail yielded its own tales of customers-gone-bad and cranky management, waitresses generally seemed to have it worse. I admired waitresses mostly for what they had to put up with.

Candacy A. Taylor’s book, Counter Culture, focuses more on the incredible skill and sense of service of career waitresses. Almost of all the women she quotes or profiles in the book have been working for decades as diner waitresses, some for forty to sixty years. They have plenty of anecdotes to share and an obvious pride in their work.

One chapter of the book is called “The Waitressing Stigma,” where Taylor explores the historical and current stereotypes of waitresses. Some waitresses didn’t tell their family where they worked; one waitress’ mother thought that waitresses were “trashy people and alcoholics.” People assume waitresses use their sexuality to get tips. Customers also assume waitresses are stupid as demonstrated in this anecdote:

At the Seville Diner, a customer told Sammi DeAngelis, “You’re just doing this because you are not smart enough to do anything else.” Sammi said, “Excuse me? I have a degree, I could be teaching. I’ve done public relations and business management . . . . I tell you what, if you can do my job for an hour, this money is yours.” After an hour, the customer said, “I’ve been watching you and you know that last table was really a handful. Maybe I couldn’t do your job.” Sammi said, ‘Really? What part of it didn’t you get: the public relations, the psychology, the physical?’ I wasn’t nasty, but she respected my honesty. Now she’s one of my regular customers, she likes to sit with me so she can watch me work.”

p. 81

The photographs in the book are great, because there is so much character and life apparent in the faces of the career waitresses and their ‘regulars.’

I was disappointed in the career waitresses’ nearly uniform dismissal of the younger generation of waitresses. The older waitresses complain about the younger generation’s lack of heart for the work, lack of discipline and care. They tell anecdotes about they went into work with a broken toe, a foot cut by a weed-whacker, and other ailments, and how they rarely if ever take sick days. It’s a little too much of the “when I went to school, I walked 10 miles in the snow . . .” type rhetoric for me. I am at the very beginning of the Millennial Generation, depending on how its defined, and I know there are hard-workers and entitled, lazy persons of every generation. Taylor does note that truth, but it still didn’t stop me from feeling some annoyance at the career waitresses’ categorical dismissal of the younger set.

That annoyance aside, this was a thoughtful and interesting book and made me wish I was a ‘regular’ at a place with one of these career waitresses.

[Sean Glackin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The American Coffee Shop Waitress by Candacy A. Taylor
It’s all about the lifers. Counter Culture published by Cornell University Press in 2009 is an intimate look into the history, life, evolution, and possible extinction of the American career waitress. Their stories weave a tale of how necessity and limited opportunities turned into a lifelong passion of service. Candacy A. Taylor uses a blend of first-person narrative and insightful discussion to guide the reader through a complete understanding of the inner workings behind the American coffee waitress. The stories of these waitresses are also artfully presented with a series of photographs woven within the words that capture the real-life moments in their daily jobs.
“Taken for granted each day by customers” Taylor shows the reader throughout the book that career waitressing is not a job that everyone can handle. Taylor also tells the stories of how happy and satisfied these women are with their chosen profession. In no way do these waitresses feel like they have missed out on fulfilling life’s dreams or goals. These women are a special group of individuals that have developed their skills over a lifetime. The lessons taught in the stories of Counter Culture are of hard work, dedication, and passion. The payout for all this dedication was the ability to provide a good life for their families.

[Elaine Meszaros · Rating 5 out of 5]

Taylor became fascinated with waitresses and diner culture when waiting tables to pay for her graduate school education. Her thesis, this book, focused on the "lifer" waitress - women who have waited tables for decades. With a combination of research and interviews, Taylor soon dispels the notion that waitresses or poor, uneducated and down-trodden. While many of the youngest wait-staff look at their position as demeaning and a short stop-gap until they get their "real" career, the lifers love their jobs and would never leave it. Many wait tables in to their late 70s and 80s. Once at the top of the waitressing food chain, a lifer can make excellent money from regulars, take their pick of shifts and command adoration from customers and respect from the younger staff. The women interviewed here run from those who started waitressing out of desperation for money, or because it was much easier than cotton-picking, to woman with professional degrees who just can't hack sitting in an office. Many have nice homes, put their children through private schools and college, have healthy retirement accounts and travel. In addition, many are incredibly healthy and strong, thanks to their daily regimen of walking and lifting. The interviews and photos, both past and present, add a great deal of authenticity.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book about American coffee shop and diner waitresses is about why they have made this their career. It's filled with surprises, like their college degrees, being smart with money, and shock! happiness. It was interesting learning about the different aspects of waitressing -- Taylor seems to hit them all -- including how their bodies physically adapted to the job. Some of the photos and waitresses quoted are repetitive, and it would have been interesting had the waitresses culled some more interesting/unusual stories over their careers. More variety and action photos would have been nice too. This is a good coffee table book, but if it was smaller, it might sell to more readers due to its weird size. Unfortunately, the diner featured on the cover has since closed -- a commentary for the times, perhaps? A documentary is in the works, which will be a nice complement to the book.