Never underestimate the power of a good waitress.
I know, technically they’re called servers now because they serve you food and drink. The terms “waitress” and “waiter” come from when working in a restaurant meant you waited on customers. They refill your coffee when you’re getting low, make sure you have enough napkins and even take your order back to the kitchen if it tastes funky.
Waitresses also make great side characters in books. Oftentimes, they’re the ones who know everyone in a small town—usually because they’re working at one of the few eateries in town and folks like to eat close to home most of the time.
I just finished up a book called Saddles and Snowstorms, written by Atreus Rosewood, which takes place in a small town in Texas. I know what you’re going to say—everything’s bigger in Texas—but there are small towns there, too. The book follows rancher Brooks, who has lived in Sagebrush all his life but tends to be a loner, and the new veterinarian in town, Rowan, who is a lot more outgoing with his sexuality.
As you can guess, a snowstorm plays a key role in kindling the romance between the two unlikely companions. However, you can’t have a great novel without side characters, and the waitress Dolly loves to put herself into other people’s business with some sass and some sage advice. She’s the only one who can get Brooks to speak more than a couple of sentences, and she immediately adores Rowan when he rolls into town.
Dolly really comes into play later in the book when, according to the tenets of good romance, the two lovers hit a bumpy patch in their relationship. Rowan has a chance to go back to the city he came from and make a lot of money with a veterinary firm, but he’s already made good friends and a name for himself in Sagebrush. Brooks, however, assumes the worst and cuts ties to ease his broken heart.
That’s when Dolly comes in. She could have just suggested Rowan fight to keep her man, but she hatches a scheme that will not only prove the veterinarian is here to stay, but utilize the rancher’s unused property for a productive purpose.
You’ll have to read the book yourself to find out what happens next, but reading that book last night and this morning made me think back to when I wrote my first novel, The Colors of Love and Autumn, and what was one of the first side characters I introduced into the book? Ding, ding, ding. A waitress.
Trixie LeBeaux was the one serving up dinners and breakfasts like nobody’s business at the fictional restaurant of the Blue Spruce Café in the real life community of Eagle River, Wisconsin. In the first chapter, one of my main characters, Shilo David, has just moved to the community and decides to find out what kind of food they have in the Northwoods of Wisconsin.
Enter Trixie. She politely lets Shilo know that there’s a wait for a table, but if he wants to sit down in the lobby and rest a spell, she’ll have one ready shortly. That’s when Shilo meets Jeffrey Layton, a police officer in the community, and things take off from there.
The waitress serves as the perfect person to talk with when things go sideways, as the best ones know the locals, aren’t afraid to tell you when you’re full of crap and provide a shoulder when the world seems like a dark and terrible place—as long as you tip her well when you’ve finished your meal.
I also have a diner turned supper club owner who doubles as a waitress in the Zachary Gagewood Mysteries called Sigrid. With her German accent and her quirkiness, she has served as a fun diversion from the mystery or a way to move the plot along for almost all of the 12 books in the series. While other types of characters can be very entertaining, I think sassy waitresses help turn any good book into fantastic works of literature.
Maybe I’m a little biased, but deal with it.
Next time you go out to eat, try to get to know your wait… er, servers. If you’re an author, it could be the inspiration for your next book. If you’re not, you’ll at least make a great, new friend.
