Today was another interesting day at work. It began slow, even for a Monday, so the early part of my shift was filled with side work - you'd be amazed at the places you'll find wing sauce on a highchair. Then, as it was nice out, me and one of my fellow Hooters Girls brought back the tradition of hula hooping out on the corner that had been designated to us in the fall.Our Hooters store is located on one of the busiest streets in town so there is always plenty of traffic for our hula hooping. Generally we get a very good response including waves, horns, yells, boys hanging out car windows, and even the occasional police siren. Today, we had a first; we were flipped off. That's right, a seemingly "nice" lady in a very nice vehicle decided to show us the bird (and this one didn't have tasty drums or flappers). Apparently she doesn't like hula hooping - or orange shorts, I'm not sure which.
This reminded me however of an incident last October when the same coworker and I were hula hooping on the same corner. As we were innocently swinging our hips and waving to cars as they passed by a woman walked across the street from Jiffy Lube. She was middle aged and I distinctly recall her purple sweatsuit. We smiled and said hello and she immediately berated us for disgracing women and not appreciating ourselves. I remember her saying, "I hope one day you both realize you're so much better than this. Your body is not meant to sell fries."
My coworker and I were deeply offended by this and began discussing the stigma often associated with Hooters. Essentially we reached the conclusion that most people who have such poor opinions of Hooters generally have never been there. Yes, we wear little shorts and tight tops but that in way affects the service. In fact I believe the service at Hooters is often far superior to that of many other establishments. Unfortunately, the negative, closed minded individuals like purple sweatsuit lady only see the obvious and fail to appreciate Hooters for what it really is. In the end however I don't care if she or any of the nay-sayers ever visit Hooters, I'll just save my stellar service for the people that appreciate it.
Today one of my customers asked for my manager and we both sat down at the table while he told us that for years he didn't go to Hooters because of the "bad stigma" and that he had been for the first time last week and the second time today. He told Mr. GM that we were the friendliest people he had ever encountered in a restaurant. The best service. And it's because we love our job. We don't go to work dreading the day like servers in most restaurants, and usually when we are having a bad day we leave it at the door because we realize that we're making other people's day. Contrary to popular opinion, not just nasty perverts come into Hooters. Families, women, marriend and engaged couples, kids, elderly folks, EVERYONE! We spend equal amounts of time with all these people and try to make their day a little bit better because in most establishments, you just get ignored. I still don't see the hatred for Hooters, but if you don't like it, don't go. And keep your mouth shut. No one I know cares that I work there, why should anyone else?
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