I'm infamous.

My customer service/phone call post reminded me of a really, really, really bad funny experience I had at a previous job.

I was working at a restaurant in Philly for a few years during and after college as a hostess. It was a fantastic steak house with jacket-required attire in part of the dining room. Fancy shmancy. I had to dress up every night.

With a few of the other front door folks.

Join me into the past:

I had recently started the job, was in college, and not anywhere near as politically or culturally knowledgeable as I am now (ha). Remember that.

So there were several regulars/VIPS that came in, and I eventually got to know and recognize all of them. When I was just starting out, however, I had no idea who anyone was or where they ranked on the VIP scale. Regardless, whenever one was coming in, it was my job to let one of the managers (we'll call him Brooks) know, so he could shmooze and chat a bit. He knew pretty much everyone, and all the customers loved him.

If a phone call came in for the manager, I would usually just take a message and leave it in Brooks' "box" in the front closet, or try and track him down in the restaurant somewhere (easier said than done). If it was super important, I was supposed to call Brooks ASAP to let him know.

So one day, I'm at the desk by myself while the maitre'd was off somewhere, and a phone call came in. It was a guy named Ed looking for Brooks. I told him that Brooks wasn't in yet, but should be in later. Ed wanted some of the steak bones to give to his dog (I think). Now, I know this sounds crazy, but we did this a lot for some of the regulars.. seeing as I just started, I thought the guy was off his rocker and and proceeded to say that I would let Brooks know by leaving him a message.

So I asked for Ed's last name and phone number.

He says it's Ed Rendell, and Brooks should have his phone number already.

So I leave a message in Brooks' box, saying that Ed Rendell called, and left it at that.

A few hours later, Brooks comes into the restaurant and is going through the messages myself and others left for him. Then he freaks out and and asks who left the message from Ed, to which I replied that I did, and was super confused as to why it was such a big deal.

He pulls me aside and simply says "Stephanie, Ed Rendell is the governor of Pennsylvania. How do you not know that? Why didn't you call me?!?!?!"

Holy geez.

No, I didn't get fired, but I got a lecture. We apparently get a bunch of well-known peeps coming to the restaurant. Oops.

The best part? The entire staff knew about it within hours. Even waiters who weren't even hired until a year after the incident happened would come up and make fun of me. Apparently it's an initiation story, aka "don't fcuk up".

I guess it's nice to know that I'll always be remembered??