The Waitress Saga

     In early April, 2002, Tim was on vacation in Arizona with some of his grade school buddies from Joliet. As often happens, the talk turned to life in  their hometown. On this occasion, the local restaurant scene was a topic of heavy discussion and a fair amount of joking.

Several weeks later, Tim penned his most infamous column, a little vingette about a Joliet waitress training academy. Herald News editors refused to run the piece for nearly a month. When they finally published it, Tim wasn't quite prepared for the reaction. From a writer's perspective, the column might be considered perfect: approximately 50 percent of the people who read it thought it was hilarious; the other half wanted to poke Tim's eyes out with sharp sticks.

Tim received a boatload of e-mail and letters, many of which were printed in the Herald News. Local restuarant owners and servers were a tad, uh, unhappy and didn't exactly see the humor in Tim's little jokes.

But knowing a good thing when it slaps him in the face, Tim ran with it, writing several follow-up pieces about the controversy. But it was local server Dawn Sudsberry who took things to a new level when she challenged Tim to put or or shut up by working as a waiter for an entire evening at Truth Restaurant, one of Joliet's fine dining establishments. Tim accepted her challenge and learned the hard way that serving isn't as easy as it seems.

That night, he raised nearly $400 in tips for United Way, helping to (somewhat) rehabilitate himself. Here, you'll find the complete set of Tim's Waitress columns. We hope that while reading them, you "have yourself a good one!"

The Joliet Waitress Training Academy--The original Waitress column, one of Tim's most memorable and talked about pieces, for better or worse.

The Waitress Feedback--Tim's e-mail box nearly burst in the days following the Waitress column's publication. Tim sent in a representative sample to the Herald News, which filled one day's editorial page with them.

Give Me a Shot, or a Little More Whine--Not content to roll over in the face of the storm of criticism, Tim has a little fun with the negative mail and newpaper articles published about his column.

The Moment of Truth--Local waitress, oops, server Dawn Sudsberry lays down a challenge to Tim: "Put up" by working as a waiter for a night, or "shut up!"

Serving Not So Easy--Tim and a local bar patron discuss Tim's night working as a server at Truth. But please, don't mention the little mishap with the tray full of bottles!

Why Joliet? Because It's Home--Tim closes the Waitress saga with a column about his affection, as well as his frustration, with his hometown.