Taylor: Thank you for coming today to celebrate Maria and her contribution. This
project is really about shining a different light on this subculture of older waitresses, because most people feel sorry for waitresses who are working past retirement age. But through my research, I’m finding that these women love what do and they should be celebrated because they are a wonderful contribution to their communities and they really play a big role in peoples lives that a lot of us just don’t recognize. So I’d like to talk about how Maria has made an impact in your life. When did you meet her?Rhonda Levitch: We met her when the suites opened, in May of 2003. We were down
the hall a little bit and then we moved in next door.David Levitch, Sr: But initially we met here when these suites opened up.
Doris Levitch: And then when we moved down here she wasn’t supposed to be in our
suite but we requested her.Taylor: So why did you request her? What was different about Maria?
Doris Levitch: Well she’s good people and she laughs at my jokes. She makes good
Bloody Mary’s.Rhonda Levitch: She’s actually like family.
Doris Levitch: Yes, yes she is.
David Levitch, Sr: She is family. She’s not your typical waitress that comes up
and…she comes up and gets right to the point of what you want. You know how some waitresses kind of stand around and you have to go to them a little bit? She comes right there and once she gets to know you, she knows exactly what you want and that’s the part of customer satisfaction. And that’s what she does really well and then she kind of just leaves. You know how…in this business [some waitresses] keep coming back and asking, “How is everything? Is everything okay? Is everything alright?” She doesn’t do that. She knows exactly what you want. And she moves on and does something else. Because she takes care of other suites too, it isn’t just us. So she does it in a very professional manner. But she’s family, so it’s kind of hard from that standpoint to say that someone else couldn’t be a part of this but we’ve had her from day one, so.Taylor: So was she that confident in the beginning?
Rhonda Levitch: Oh yeah.
Taylor: I think that makes a difference, because if you have a waitress who is
not so sure, even if they’re attentive, their presence is kind of more a worry than a comfort, you know? Because you think, oh if they’re so nervous, maybe I should be nervous.Doris Levitch: Yeah, she’s not overbearing at all.
David Levitch, Sr: That’s right, she likes what she does. And that’s a big part
of it, too. And she works for a nice organization which has a lot to do with it as well. If she enjoys the people she’s working with, you’re going to enjoy your job a lot more too, which she does.Doris Levitch: And I think we make her day when we show up.
Rhonda Levitch: Right, because we are like family. We always hug and kiss her.
Taylor: Has she ever been to your house?
Rhonda Levitch: Yes, she’s been to our house a couple of times. She came to my
birthday party. She lives pretty far from us. And we kind of live out…I call it the country, so.Taylor: What were the circumstances the first time you invited her?
Rhonda Levitch: I think it was my 40th birthday party.
David Levtich, Jr: Before that.
Rhonda Levitch: Has she been there twice? She has, because one time she came
there for lunch.Taylor: And so you just invited her?
Rhonda Levitch: Yeah, yeah.
Taylor: That’s special, because a lot of waitreses, even if they have regular
customers, when you break that barrier and kind of become extended family, I think that’s unique and I think that’s part of the role that your family plays in her life, in terms of why she continues to work. It’s a two way street, because she gets as much out of it as she’s giving. You don’t have any other waitresses who come to your house do you?Rhonda Levitch: No, no.
David Levitch, Sr: One thing is…you can tell…she comes in with a smile on her
face, not a lot of waitresses do that and that’s part of enjoying your job and enjoying the customers and the people, because obviously the people that have these [suites] have spent a lot of money too. She doesn’t take it on that a lot of customers might have some money and she might not have as much as them, but she enjoys her everyday job and that’s a big part, because you get some waitresses that come in and say, “What do you want?” And you can just tell that the attitude is there.Rhonda Levitch: They bring the heaviness of their life with them and she doesn’t
have that. Even when, I think her husband died about a year ago, he’d been very sick and it’s a long story but you would not have known that if you didn’t know her perDavid Levtich, Jr.:ally.David Levitch, Sr: And she doesn’t treat adults any different than children.
Because being with them and being in here, because they’re up here with us every time, is the fact that she’ll do everything for them as much as she would do for us. It’s important for us that they treat the children just like they would treat an adult too.Taylor: I have a waitress named Esther and she says that a lot of waitresses
don’t want to deal with the kids that come in because they think, oh they’re going to make a mess and Esther says, “Those kids are your customers of tomorrow” And she waits on 3 generations of the same family.Doris Levitch: Well my youngest David Levtich, Jr.:, younger than David, my
middle kid, he has two little girls, they’re getting big now, but when they come up she treats them just like they was here all the time. And the girls are always doing something you know and she’ll go get a big thing of cherries, because they like cherries…Rhonda Levitch: Or find them crayons….
Doris Levitch: Yeah, crayons, books and all that stuff.
Rhonda Levitch: She doesn’t do it out of….that’s just her. It’s out of her heart.
David Levitch, Sr: It’s not like she’s saying that’s a part of my job, it’s like
she said, it’s a part of her, she’s a very giving perDavid Levtich, Jr.:. You can tell.Rhonda Levitch: And when I’m not seeing her for several months, I think about
her a lot. I’ve called her to talk to her on the phone, because you know the track of course isn’t open all year round. When you see somebody 4 – 5 days a week, because they like to come 4 – 5 days a week.David Levitch, Sr: She’s not afraid if there’s something wrong with the food.
Rhonda Levitch: She’ll go to bat for you.
David Levitch, Sr: She’ll take that food back to the kitchen and tell them, “You
get it right!”Doris Levitch: If not, you go back to the kitchen and let them know.
David Levitch, Sr: Not, me but Tom does.
Rhonda Levitch: David [her David Levtich, Jr:] what do you like about Maria?
David Levitch Jr: She’s nice, she helps me a lot.
Taylor: What does she help you with?
David Levitch Jr: Getting me drinks and helping me pick horses.
Rhonda Levitch She talks, she sits down and talks to every one of us.
Doris Levitch: She’s always pulling for our horse that we bet on, especially me.
When out of all the days I was out here I had one winning day.David Levitch, Sr: What about you Jack? What about Maria, what do you like that
she does?Doris Levitch: She goes and gets you a big hot dog, doesn’t she?
Jack: Yeah and she gives me desserts.
David Levitch, Sr: Where does she go to get those?
Jack: Upstairs.
Rhonda Levitch: Sometimes she brings cookies. She makes cookies and brings them
to us from home sometimes. If she doesn’t do that, actually she’ll go to another suite, when you’re just 6 or 8 in a suite, you have to order 8 huge things, so she’ll go to one of these suites that has a big dessert and brings them in a napkin, she’s always taking care of the kids, getting them dessert, cookies and carrot cake. And you know some waitresses would not do that, but she’s great about that.Taylor: Do you tip her more than other waitresses?
David Levitch, Sr: I would say that with other waitresses you tip on the
service, so you tip accordingly.Rhonda Levitch: We don’t really tip according to the bill here.
David Levitch, Sr: We don’t tip anyone else because we don’t have anyone else
but if you go to another restaurant or something like that. But we do give her more if it’s busy, like during Derby or something like that, because it’s so crazy. That’s the one time those suites are full with 24 people. And it’s a lot. We’ve got 3 owners and we don’t ask for a bartender in here because it’s already crowded enough.Rhonda Levitch: And actually in here, they’re not paid like waitresses, so you
don’t really have to tip but of course we do.David Levitch, Sr: We take care of her.
Doris Levitch: We meet in the fall and spring but they always have the gratuity,
but then I always add on to it and I always give her something at the end.Rhonda Levitch: Didn’t you send her something in the mail one time?
Doris Levitch: Well that was for Derby day. I brought that out to her because I
didn’t have enough money. I sent her a check yeah, I didn’t have the money because I lost it all on horses that day, so I wrote her a check.David Levitch Sr., & Rhonda Levitch: You can scratch that part [laughing].
Taylor: So do you know when her birthday is?
Rhonda Levitch: Yes, let me think.
Jack: Isn’t it May something?
Rhonda Levitch: No that’s mine.
Jack: I know that.
Doris Levitch: I don’t think I ever knew her birthday.
Rhonda Levitch It’s not during the meet. I think it’s February. How old is Maria?
Taylor: She’s 76.
Rhonda Levitch: That’s so amazing.
Doris Levitch: She’s younger than I am, I know that.
Taylor: She’s amazing.
Rhonda Levitch: She is. My kids couldn’t believe that [her age] because she’s so
active and she walks so fast down this hall. And her posture and everything…Taylor: Have you ever seen her have a bad day?
Rhonda Levitch: I really haven’t. I‘ve talked with her at length about different
parts of her life.Doris Levitch: I’ve seen her have a real good day one time. When she didn’t work
and her granddaughter graduated, but then she came out here later on and she had a drink with us.Rhonda Levitch: Oh did she!
Doris Levitch: Yes.
Rhonda Levitch: I remember that she had to be gone that day. We’ve seen her
granddaughter, she comes out on Derby Day with her dad. You know she talks about her grandkids and her children. But no, I don’t remember her having a bad day. David said she always comes in with a smile…Doris Levitch: Well when you bring guests in…my girlfriend, she met her one time
when she got ready to leave she gave her a kiss when she comes out again she always hugs and kisses her.Rhonda Levitch: Mmm hmm, she remembers all your friends when I come back, she
say’s “Oh, I met you before.”Taylor: Oh you know it’s really interesting because I’m currently writing a book
and I’m wondering if maybe this subculture is a dying breed of women and I don’t know what the answer to that is yet, but I know a lot of younger waitresses, even waitresses in their 50’s, a generation before Maria, have a different relationship to being a waitress and what that means, being a lifer and the connotations that go along with that. I just wonder and I’m sure that there are waitresses that really do care that are younger and do their best, but I just wonder in terms of her relationship to hard work if the next generation will be the same. Do you have any other waitresses in your life that are comparable, that are younger?Rhonda Levitch: Well it’s funny, because here there are a lot of career
waitresses. I met David about 16 years ago and we came to the track and the ladies in the tour club they’ll travel from track to track.Doris Levitch: What was the girl’s name, kind of heavy set…Gizelle or something
like that?Rhonda Levitch: Oh, yeah. It wasn’t Gizelle but it was something like that.
Doris Levitch: She used to travel and she was nice but of course we didn’t have
her all the time, not like Maria.Rhonda Levitch: I’m trying to think of other restaurants. We know a lot of
career waiters like Tom and…David Levitch, Sr: I think for a lot of younger waiters and waitresses in this
day in age, it’s probably not what they want to do. It’s just a quick way of getting money and there’s a lot of turnover as you know in the restaurant business. The people like Maria and the older ones that have stuck around, I mean let’s face it, there’s not a lot that they can do, but they enjoy doing what they’re doing and that’s a big, big thing in this day and age. I just don’t think younger kids don’t know what they want to do right now within their generation when they get out of school. With that [serving], they’re going to get a quick buck and turn around and go into something else. And I just think the older generation has been through a lot and they obviously had to deal with a lot of situations that brings them up to this particular state in their life that they can carry over and they don’t mind doing it.Taylor: Yeah, they’re not afraid of hard work.
David Levitch, Sr: Exactly. I mean a lot of people at her age say, “I just want
to give up and I’m done.” And I’m sure she talks to the ones out here that have been here for a short period of time. And I’m sure she coaches a lot of them too.Taylor: What do you think will happen when she’s no longer here? Will you still
keep in touch with her?Rhonda Levitch: Oh absolutely.
Doris Levitch: Well she’ll be here longer than me.
Rhonda Levitch: I definitely think it’s more than just a fleeting waitress,
she’ll definitely be on our list. I’m good about keeping contact with her.Taylor: I think it’s huge that these waitresses who impact your life, they have
such a big spirit.Rhonda Levitch: I like it when we go to the New York delis’ and you see the same
waitresses year after year. Even this last weekend when we went to Chicago there was the original Pancake House there and I see the same waitresses.Taylor: I think it’s just going to be different when I’m 60, I’m 35 now and I
think as the generations grow older….there will always be career waitresses they probably won’t stay at the same restaurant for 50, 60 years. Maria’s been here over 30 years? Is that right?Rhonda Levitch: Yes, she has.
Taylor: How long after you first met Maria did you start telling her perDavid
Levtich, Jr.:al stories about your lives?Rhonda Levitch: The first day, right away.
Taylor: Did you learn about her history?
Rhonda Levitch: Did you see her pictures about when she was growing up?
Taylor: Not yet. Do you have any stories about Maria that stand out in your mind?
Doris Levitch: Not really, we talk about cooking quite a bit. In fact that’s
what we were talking about a while ago. She was talking about cooking with all her relatives and about the blue dog bread. She asked me if I’d ever eaten it and I said, “Oh, yeah.”Taylor: What about you? [talking to Mr. Levitch]
David Levitch, Sr: Well see I’m different, because I’m looking at the program,
she [Mrs. Levitch] doesn’t really care about the horses and they’re all talking the whole time while we’re going to the machines or the teller. I love her [Maria] but I tell her to talk to Rhonda. But if the right Vodka isn’t up there she knows and she’ll go to bat on anything.Rhonda Levitch: We always win and that’s the thing about customer service. She
makes sure that the customer always wins. But so many people are not like that anymore.David Levitch, Sr: If you have a waitress that knows what your customer wants,
and knows that you’re going to be a regular customer, she fits that bill. You go into a restaurant and you’re a regular customer at a restaurant, what are you going to ask for? You’re going to ask for that waiter or that waitress that takes care of you, right? And that’s exactly what we did here. That’s the bottom line and when we first got into these suites we had her and one or two other ones that helped us, but over time, we finally said, “We just want Marie.”Taylor: So is that contingent when you come down here you always get Marie?
David Levitch, Sr: Always, always.
Taylor: What if she’s not working?
Rhonda Levitch: She’s always here.
David Levitch, Sr: She’s always here.
Doris Levitch: Well there was that one day she wasn’t here when her
granddaughter graduated.Rhonda Levitch: That was the first time ever.
Doris Levitch: I know that last day that I was here, I wanted a white wine and
the only wine that was in the cabinet was a red wine, she says, “I’ll take care of it.” She took the red wine back and traded it for white wine.Rhonda Levitch: And that’s unusual. You have a contract for liquor and stuff
[for the suite] and she just does it.Taylor: Yeah, but I know she has so much respect for management and they know
the reaDavid Levtich, Jr.: why she does things and she’s the highest in seniority in her union here so she’s very well respected, so I’m sure if she makes a decision about something, people are going to back her up because they know it’s for the betterment of Churchill Downs. And they trust her, so you’re in good hands.Rhonda Levitch: [To her David Levtich, Jr.: Jack] Do you have any stories about
Maria? She always kisses you doesn’t she?[he nods yes]
Taylor: Do any other waitress kiss you?
[he nods no]
David Levitch, Sr: She kisses you and says, “Oh my gosh, you’re getting taller
than me!” Every time, that’s the one line she says.Rhonda Levitch: Jack’s was almost taller than her today. She’s great with all
the generations.Doris Levitch: Even with my granddaughters, she’s really sweet with them.
Taylor: Well this is great. Let’s take some photos before Maria has to leave.
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