By Mary McLean, Staff Writer

Published in print Nov.5, 2014

You’ve seen them. They seem mild mannered, walking around campus and going to class like any other student. Until, that is, they change into their red t-shirts, lace up their sensible shoes, and put on their perkiest smiles. UNCG’s own personal brand of superhero: the East Coast Wings waitress.

Waitresses across the nation have notoriously difficult jobs. Keeping track of orders, refilling drinks, fetching whatever the customer asks, and getting paid in unreliable tips are all a part of the job, even if they don’t exactly sound desirable. But the waitresses of East Coast Wings (Sophie, Kim, and Jessica) don’t echo these sentiments, or even add to them with stories of dealing with obnoxiously drunk customers or annoying students who tip almost nothing.

Instead, they laugh and talk about the perks of the job.

“The best part is that you are like a part of twelve different parties at the same time,” says Sophie Larin, a junior who has worked at East Coast for over a year. “You have eight college guys at one table and having a party with them, and then you are having a family party at another table where there are two little girls coloring, and then there is a couple at this table and you get to tell them how cute they are and compliment her shirt. You just get to be a part of all these little worlds at the same time.”

Her coworker Kim Lindsey agreed, saying “It can be really fast paced, and you get to interact with a lot of people.” These interactions can vary in many ways however, from the really good to pretty damn terrible.

“In September the craziness was Teacher Tuesday,” said Sophie. This was a promotional event that the restaurant put on for Guilford county teachers, who could bring their IDs and eat free. “Everyone was there, it was all hands on deck, and it was absolutely crazy.” This wasn’t all bad however. All the waitresses said that they preferred the zaniness of a packed restaurant to a quiet, steady stream of customers.

“I like the extremes the best, because when it’s really, really slow we just have a nice quiet time and if it’s really busy there is always something to do and it’s interesting,” said Sophie. “If you just have one or two tables you can’t really use that time, but you also aren’t making very much money.”

When asked for food recommendations from an inside source, they were somewhat less helpful. “I don’t really choose to eat there in my spare time,” said Jessica Butler, another UNCG student who has been a waitress since 2013, laughing. “Sometimes when an order gets messed up or sent back or something we will snack on it, but besides that I don’t eat the food too much.”

The exception? An elaborate concoction called the cookie skillet. “Its five chocolate chip cookies, fresh baked, on a skillet, and then you take it out and put two scoops of ice cream on top and drizzle it in chocolate syrup,” explained Sophie. “It’s ridiculous, when we first got that in we used to share them all the time. It was so good but so bad.”

Less fun than the on-the-job snacks are the customers that have a few too many drinks and decide to hit on their waitress.

“It happens pretty often,” said Kim, “but it just sort of comes with the job.”

“The funny thing is, the people that hit on you are not the people that leave their numbers,” said Sophie. “Some people are just totally ordinary, they don’t say a word, and then there will be a number on the receipt.” Don’t be too confident if this is your move to pick up chicks, because none of the waitresses said it has ever really worked on them.

So, the next time you are looking to drink a cold beer (or soda) at the end of a long day, and head over to the local wing stop, keep an eye out for employees that are just as fiery as the wings. And don’t forget to tip your waitress.