Stephen Colbert was just on C-Span. He appeared before the House Judiciary Committee on Immigration Reform. Colbert used comedy to address the not so funny issue of Mexican migrant laborers who pick fruit and vegetables in states like California. I was very proud of Stephen for going to bat for the migrant workers, but I was not at all surprised. Here's why:
As I've mentioned a couple of times before, I worked with Stephen Colbert at a well known Italian restaurant in Chicago, by the name of Scoozi. Stephen worked the lunch shifts, and then headed over to Second City for evening comedy improvisation shows. I worked the night shifts at Scoozi to finance my college education.
The night shifts were far more lucrative than working the business lunches; however, at Christmas 1989, I needed some extra money for the holidays, so I began to pick up daytime back waiting/busboy shifts in the business lunch rush which became even more frantic during the holidays. This was extremely hard work.
In the evening we had the luxury of three member teams of front waiter, back waiter, and busboy. We hustled for eight to nine hours straight without breaks, and made very good money in a hectic, but never frantic pace.
The daytime shift by comparison was horrendous. The busboy/backwaiter position was combined. I found myself carrying seventy five pound trays full of dirty dishes,over my shoulder back to the kitchen, and then scurrying out of the kitchen to retrieve several checks filled out by the front waiter that needed processing on a computer terminal for the kitchen staff to activate orders. The contrast from brutal grunt work to reading, scanning abbreviations for food items written in waiter's scrawl was dizzying.
The lunch pace was a shotgun two hours straight, and then everything slacked off. At this time, the main waiters would gab about auditions that they were up for in films like "Uncle Buck." If John Hughes came in for lunch, then the wait staff would go insane as they made their way to his table trying to get recognized, and get their foot in the door.
What was interesting about my day shifts spent working along Stephen Colbert is that the guy seemed to avoid the trappings of the waiter gabbing about his ship about to come in routine. Instead, Colbert helped the backwaiter/busboys with all sorts of tasks that weren't his responsibility. He loaded giant sized aluminum oval shaped trays placed on bus stands with dirty dishes. He was essentially busing tables which he didn't have to do.
He was particularly fond of three busboys from Ecuador. I remember two of these stocky brothers who were originally horse trainers in Ecuador before heading to Chicago for a more stable income. Their names were Hermann and Eduardo. Colbert could always depend on them because they were quick and efficient. They were also gracious with business customers which often times was difficult with high power lawyers with short fused tempers demanding things immediately.
I speak Spanish, and I noticed Stephen did as well. He was also learning Italian from Dora, an Italian immigrant who worked lunches with him. I was curious to see this tall raven haired Irish guy busing tables in his spiffy gold colored waiter's jacket, so I asked Hermann and Eduardo about him.
They referred to him as "buena gente" or "he's good people" as Italians in places like Chicago and New York like to say. It turns out that Stephen was always generous with the tip money.
I forget the percents, but the busboys in the daytime were entitled to a third or maybe as high as forty percent of the tip totals. Stephen Colbert always tipped handsomely on top of this, and this is why he was seen as the best waiter to work with. He commanded loyalty.
As I saw him on his program from time to time, I often wondered if he remembered his wait staff team. I hoped that despite all his success, he could still reflect on brothers Hermann and Eduardo, the two caballeros (gentry on horses) from Ecuador. When I saw him on C-Span, I got a little misty eyed. Mr. Colbert most certainly did not forget the folks he used to work with. He went to bat for them. I was floored by this. If any of you wonder from time to time if his Bill O'Reilly routine is his real character, well, it aint. He's got something that Bill O'Reilly and Ronald Reagen seem to have lost along the way. Stephen Colbert's got a big ol'heart.