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find there. ”And tell them to send more help! Two carvers, two more
cooks... Alert the pastry chef! One hundred and seventy more desserts
required in minutes... Peed the dentists!” Young Andre Lemieux quick
thinking, confident, good-natured, was organizing everything.
Already, some waiters were quietly taken away from the smaller
banquet of Gold Crown Cola, where those who remained must do extra
work. Diners would not notice; only, perhaps, that their next course
would be served by someone with a bit different face. Other waiters
already sent to the Grand Ballroom, would handle three tables-twenty-
seven place - instead of two. There would be some complaints, though
not many. Convention waiters were mostly freelancers, called in by any
hotel as requirement rose. Extra work earned extra money. Four dollars,
pay for three hours' work was based on two tables; each extra table
brought two dollars more. Tips, added to a bill, would double the entire
amount. The fast-feet men would go home with sixteen dollars.
A trolley with three fresh-cooked turkeys, Peter saw, was already
moving from a service elevator. The preparation-room cooks fell upon it.
The assistant cook who had brought them returned for more.
Fifteen portions from a turkey. Rapid dissection with surgeon's
skill. To each dinner the same proportion: white meat, dark meat,
dressing. Twenty portions to a serving tray. The tray goes to a service
counter where trolleys of vegetables come from another side.
Andre Lemieux replaced the absent two messengers from the
serving team. The team began moving faster.
"Plate... meat… first vegetable ... second… gravy… slide the plate
... cover on! A meal each second ... faster still!” In front of the serving
counter a line of waiters became long.
Across the kitchen, the pastry chef was opening refrigerators:
inspecting, selecting, slamming the doors. More main kitchen
pastry cooks were running to help from basement freezers.
A waiter reported to a captain, the captain to the head waiter, the
head waiter to Andre Lemieux.
”Chef, there's a gentleman who says he doesn't like turkey. May
he have rare roast beef?”
Peter knew, that only the senior chef could permit any deviation
from a standard menu.
A smiling Andre Lemieux said, ”He may have it, but serve him
last at his table.”
That, too, was an old kitchen custom. To please the public, most
hotels would change order if asked, even if the substitute meal was
costlier. But in any case - as now - the person must wait until those

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