In the early evening hours last night, I posted a message to my Facebook page, asking those friends who had ever worked for my parents to post a memory of their times so doing. I knew that there were close to 20 of my friends who had been employed at one time or another at Scott's Cafe and I even knew there were a few that I might have forgotten. By this morning, many of them had left a post of the things they remembered about working there and it truly did my heart much good to be able to read them. Some of the things were well-remembered by me while others have gotten "lost" in the passage of time. Those "return messages" were a real gift to me and I thank the friends who wrote back for blessing me with their words.
Here's a question for you my friends. What kind of things did you guys do to make money in the summer time? Maybe you were like me and found yourself waiting tables or washing dishes. I bet a few of you mowed "the heck" out of lawns all summer long or were some of the best baby sitters around. If you were lucky, then you didn't have to work outside in the summer time heat. For the unlucky ones, well I guess you guys got the best tan of all. :) What ever kind of job you might have done, I'm guessing that it gave you the work ethic that you carry with you today. If you were like me, it prepared you for the years that would lie ahead in the future. You know, THOSE years that would be even rougher times than that of a 16-year old dragging their "tired behind" out of bed at 5:30 in the morning? That "rite of passage"of holding down a summer job, was one of those things that we did back when I was a teenager growing up and what teenagers still do this day.
I was lucky~I didn't have to go out to look for a job or go through the application process. When your parents or family members own a business, then at least for us, it was a pretty good bet that we kids would be doing some kind of labor for them and doing it at an early age. My birth certificate should have had written on it...."Will be working for parents, long hours and sometimes every day, for all of her growing up years." LOL Although I thought it would kill me at times, I actually survived and thrived because of the experience.
My parents were able to employ a good handful of young women each and every summer, who were either in high school or going to college. They were great employers but they had some pretty stringent stipulations if you were going to work for them. Long before the day when "anything went" as far as workplace attire today, waitresses wore either uniforms, dresses, or skirts. And I'm telling you, employees needn't have even bothered showing up in a skirt that was too short or asking if you could wear pants or jeans to work. LOL, I can still hear my mom on that one! Girls with long hair ( I was one of them) had to always have it pulled back into a pony tail. I can remember always either braiding my waist length hair or pulling it back behind my head with a bandana. And oh yeah, lest I forget....chewing gum or eating food and drinking pop behind the counter could guarantee a pretty strict lecture from my mom. Smart people, those who wanted to keep their jobs, figured that out pretty early on. It was a lot easier that way, believe me. On my parents' behalf, they would have done ANYTHING for their employees~they valued them that much.
It was interesting to read the memories that my Facebook friends had of working at Scott's Cafe. My dear friend Joyce, remembered how her parents also owned a cafe in Haven but she came to work for my parents, even though we were competitors. She fondly remembered my little niece Kimberly who, because of severe physical disabilities, had to be cared for by my mom and dad. Joyce and many other workers there spoiled that little girl to pieces as she spent her days in a crib in her own special room at the cafe.
Kathy, who worked every summer between her years of attending KU, recalled the crazy time that she, my sister Sherry, and I took turns cooking our own "special" meals just for fun as we worked the 2-10 shift together. Oh yeah, I definitely remember the time that the charcoal grill filled the restaurant with smoke Kathy. Was that a fire department call or not? :) Patsy remembered wrapping silverware and learning how to cook an egg any one of a thousand different ways. And Patsy, you are are right...My dad would have taken care of THAT guy for you...And you know what? Bob Kelly would have done the same thing for Peggy Scott. Men like our fathers would have meant business! :)
Tracy remembered peeling french fries and doing just a variety of things that were required of a person working there. Oh yes, Tracy I DO remember how that place filled up after church. It was always one of our busiest times of the week~a place where Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, Church of Christ and Catholics could all sit side-by-side and enjoy some good conversations. By the way, Lori, I remember those BIG tippers too! Only by today's standards, the tips were quite different. I was always glad to find a quarter or two under anyone's plate. Sometimes you had to "run your legs off" to get it, but in the end it was worth it. Coming home with $5 worth of tips could take you a long ways as a teenager back in the 1970's. I felt rich~little did I know or even care.
Ah Jolene, thanks for mentioning that my dad called you "Speedy". I knew that and had forgotten all about it. What a nice memory and it seemed like for just a moment in time today, he was standing right here beside me as I read it. And by the way, you WERE speedy girl! Wow, you think YOU had trouble filling up ketchup and mustard dispensers from those great big gallon containers? You should have seen the mess I usually made. By the way, you are right. I can remember some wonderful conversations with you as we worked together. Knowing you, as well as all of the others, helped to shape my future and mold me into the person that I was to become in this life. I thank you for that my friend.
Carolyn, I LOVE your idea about a reunion of the "Scott's Cafe girls"~For real, if the Harvey Girls could do it, then why NOT us? The stories we could tell about those good times....and some day my friend, would you please make a coconut cream pie so I can remember the taste of my mom's? She'd sure be happy to know that you are carrying on the tradition today, now over 30 years later.
Catherine, my dear friend in Iowa and fellow "Reno County farmgirl"....the remembrance of Mom giving you an apron because you didn't have one was special to me. Sounds just like her to do something like that. I think your family was much like mine Catherine~hard working parents who wanted to instill that same virtue in their children.
And for my sisters Sherry and Cindy~well you guys remember much the same as me. The customers that came in day after day, the crazily busy times when it seemed like you could never keep up~and the dishes piling up to be washed and the tickets on the spindle growing higher and higher. For as tired as I was at the end of every shift, for each time that it seemed as though I was working all the time and my friends were dragging Main in Hutch and having fun, fun, fun, I give thanks for having grown up that way. In retrospect, every single thing that happened to me during the 11 year span of time during which my parents owned the cafe, was the "prep course" for the life that was to follow for me. John and Lois Scott knew that the best way to keep their own 7 kids out of trouble was to keep them working, and THAT meant working hard and a LOT!"
To those "kids" who worked for them in that small Reno County Kansas town, they knew the same would be true for you too. They really considered you all "one of their own." In my hometown of Haven, Kansas all kids were raised by the entire town. I can't think of any better way to grow up. How about you? Have a good Sunday evening my friends, one and all. No matter what, never forget from whence you came. It's that important!
The "original" Scott's Cafe sign that for several years sat atop the restaurant. It was unearthed from the interior walls of someone's garage in Haven and found its way back to the hands of our family in November of 2011. Definitely has a place in the "over my dead body" pile.
Ahem, and lest I forget....Dennis Ulrey, about that outhouse being burned in the parking lot that you don't know (yeah right) anything about....well, I am positive that all of you boys were home finishing up Mr. Peitsch's algebra assignments and were heading straight to bed after laying out your school clothes for the next morning when that happened. Where DO these rumors start? :)
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