[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 105 (Wednesday, August 3, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 3, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                        THEY ALSO SERVE . . . .

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, on a recent journey back to West Virginia, I 
stopped at one of my favorite restaurants, the Southern Kitchen, in 
Charleston. West Virginia boasts a number of excellent restaurants, 
individual enterprises here and there where the expectations of certain 
chefs, the personalities and spirits of certain waitresses, or the 
imaginations of specific managers give those establishments unique 
qualities of taste or service that distinguish them from their 
competitors.
  The Southern Kitchen Restaurant is such an establishment. There, 
under the watchful eye of Miss Donna Messenger--``Susie,'' to her 
friends--I have found again and again a notable quality in the taste of 
the offerings on the menu and a defining caliber of service not found 
in many more formal and standardized restaurants.
  Last year, largely through Miss Messenger's efforts, Governor Gaston 
Caperton designated one day in May as ``Waitress Day'' in West 
Virginia.
  Across our country, for up to 365 days a year, thousands upon 
thousands of women serve in thousands of restaurants, ``cafes,'' and 
other ``eateries,'' answer the sometimes impatient, sometimes rude 
requests of customers for food and drink. Out of their wages, these 
women help to support their families--or, in some cases, are the sole 
support of their families. For often modest recompense, these women--
these ``waitresses''--serve in an honorable occupation--the consummate 
``service industry.''
  Over the years, as I have been here in the Senate and as I have 
traveled across West Virginia and around the country on my Senatorial 
duties, I have encountered dozens upon dozens of waitresses--women who 
through courtesy and efficiency have served me nutritious meals and 
sent me on my way refreshed and ready for the next speech, the next 
meeting, or the next rally.
  I want to pay my own personal tribute to all of these waitresses in 
general, and to my friends at the Southern Kitchen in Charleston in 
particular, for the tasty meals that they have served and the 
courtesies that they have rendered in that service.

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