Mary Tyler Moore

Wednesday mornings were different from other mornings. The owners of the restaurant we worked at came in for meetings, so some of our opening chores were put off, like vacuuming. Jeff and I worked the mornings just about every day together, so it didn’t take long for us to get the restaurant ready to open for the hectic lunches that occurred daily. We were fortunate to work in a very nice, well-known and well-liked place that was busy almost all the time – lunch, dinner, weekends – and it was one of the “places to be seen.” We attracted celebrities regularly, mostly of the sports variety, which was a lot of fun for me, but also actors, politicians, and yes, even a Miss America (who by the way was later dethroned, hint…hint).

So, there we were, my cohort Jeff and I, all ready to go with still another 1/2 hour or so before opening the doors and welcoming the masses…what to do? We were bored, and let’s face it, we know that idle minds are the devil’s workshop.

We wandered around for a while, chit chatting about this or that, double checking the silverware, glassware, and did we have enough iced tea prepared? Sure we did. Well let’s wander on up to the reservation book, shall we? Let’s flip through it…nothing too exciting. We would change all that. “Let’s make up a reservation!”

We sat across from each other recalling this story over lunch 20+ years later. Of course it was a major story in both of our minds and we laughed and laughed as if we had pulled off the biggest bank heist of all times, especially since nobody ever found out it was just little ole us…

I had said, “Let’s put down Robert Redford!” Of course everyone would be excited about that, am I right ladies?

“Too obvious,” is how Jeff described my selection. “Let’s use Mary Tyler Moore!” Mary Tyler Moore? Don’t we want people to actually care about this reservation? His little face was very excited though, so that’s what we went with…after flipping ahead about 2 months into the future, we carefully wrote “M T Moore, 4 – ***VIP***” in the 7 p.m. slot. If we made it for 5 or more people, then we had to get a phone number, so four it was! Hee hee, we giggled, just so very proud of ourselves, and off we went to await the chance to fill water glasses, bring bread and clear plates from the tables. By the end of the day, we had completely forgotten about the reservation that, in my mind, nobody would really care about anyway…

Fast forward about 6-7 weeks…approximately 1 or 2 weeks prior to the date of our visit from Mary Tyler Moore, or should I say, the results of our boredom. Life went on as usual, but there were murmurings and stirrings…

Now at this stage of the story, Jeff and I have varying memories; let’s just say the journey may have been different, but the results were very much the same.

All the whispering made Jeff and I start to squirm just a bit, but we also figured it would all pass by…all these whisperings and murmurs were about Mary Tyler Moore!!! Oh…my…gosh.

I should point out that one of the owners of this particular restaurant is a well-known sports figure who happened to work at one of the largest radio stations in town at that time. One of the rumors I later heard was that our boss’s boss (the owner of the radio station) wanted to know why in the world was MARY TYLER MOORE coming to our city for no other reason than to eat at this particular restaurant??? Of course he had no answer… oops.

Thanking my lucky stars, I worked during the lunch shift on THE BIG DAY and hightailed it out of there before any suspicions arose and the truth was revealed. Jeff says he worked that night, but I remembered us both being off…I guess he would know, so we’ll go with his version.

Of course, Mary Tyler Moore, America’s sweetheart and the All-American girl herself, was a no-show. Uh oh.

I didn’t need Jeff working that night to tell me that the managers, who had all arranged to be there to greet Miss Moore, were HOT, as in under the collar, fuming, P-I-S-S-E-D, to say the least. So…it was not easy, as I do not possess a poker face, but it was necessary to save my job (and possibly my life) to pretend to be shocked that anyone would do such a thing! I mean…really!!!

The managers didn’t want to let this go – they were determined to get to the bottom of this mystery and somebody was going to pay…holy crap. So, when asked, I replied brilliantly with the best lie of my life, “It must have been Fred.” Poor Fred – it wasn’t fair, but he had already been fired about a week before, so no harm, right? I was not comfortable and couldn’t believe that we had gotten in so deep…it was important that Jeff and I stuck together with our stories though, which we did. Whew. So, get this, handwriting analysts were called in! The hostesses and wait staff had to submit samples, but lucky for us, we were lowly bus persons…no suspicion fell directly on us! The perpetrators were not discovered!!! Yahoo!

As happy and relieved as I was, I must admit the guilt over the years really got to me. I looked up to my managers at that time…I was just a young high school graduate who loved my job and respected authority, especially Lou, the manager who had taken a big chance and hired me as the first busgirl the restaurant had ever had. I worked hard not to let him down, so if HE were to find out, I would be devastated.

Now in our early 40s, Jeff and I discussed the idea of going back to visit our old bosses and friends that were still around at the restaurant. Someday perhaps we would actually go eat and have someone bring us bread, refill our water, and clear our plates! “How exciting!” we decided.

That evening finally arrived. Jeff wanted to clear the air with Lou, who would be there to greet us…the thought nearly sent me into cardiac arrest, or perhaps more accurately a major bout of hyperventilation…NO NO NO. He even joked about making the reservations under the name “MT Moore” which under any other circumstance I would’ve thought was hilarious, but not in this case.

When we finally arrived, Lou greeted us and it was so wonderful to see him and give him a big hug…he was such an important person in my life at a time when I really needed someone like him to give my personality a chance to blossom, which working there definitely did. Jason, one of our former fellow bus persons, is now a manager there and also was there to welcome us. We did some quick catching up, and then Lou had to leave. After a very nice dinner and a bottle of wine, Jeff was able to convince me that we should tell Jason it was us.
I was very reluctant, so I downed a beer to help me figure out what to do. I sauntered over to where Jeff was talking to the young female bartender – I mean it was JEFF after all…he has not changed one bit in all these years. So as I walked up, she asks me, “Do you think Jason will tell Lou?” What the ???? JEFFFFFF… why can’t you keep your trap shut? Oh it was all unraveling.

As of today, when I finally got the nerve to ask Jason, “Say, not a big deal Jase (cough, cough), but did you ever mention that whole Mary Tyler Moore fiasco to Lou?” Of course, I played it down to as low of a level as I could muster…

Jason says, “Not yet…”
Hmm. The saga continues.