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YB: So I found myself a second job where I had recruited the girls for Mr. Canlis -- who started the Canlis Restaurant here after having had a successful one in Hawaii. And people told him, "Go to Yone. She's the oldest of the group, she'll know a lot of people." And I said, "Mr. Canlis, if what you're looking for, I may have some problem getting the girls to work as a waitress," because in those days it was still, waitresses in the Japanese -- I don't know about the Chinese -- but the Japanese family was sort of looked down on, the geisha girls or the waitresses, which were even -- geisha girls, the good ones were good, but the waitresses are too, I'm sure. However, at the time, I did recruit the girls, but on their part was the understanding that their husband would say, "Well, if Yone is going, why don't you work?" Or the parents would say, "Oh, if Mrs. Arai is working, fine, why don't you go?" So I said to Clarence, "What am I gonna' do? I've got my own shop and the girls, eight girls I've got lined up and a tenth one. And they don't want to go, or their parents or their husbands don't want them to go unless I'm working." And I said, "I've got one job already." And he says, "Why can't you work part-time during the day, train somebody, and then go in the evening and help the girls?"

Well, I had to learn from scratch, 'cause I couldn't hold two cup of coffee, even, or know my drinks. So we had to learn from scratch to call off the drinks, and how to serve, and how to toss salad. I guess we could do it, but I mean you couldn't hold three cups of coffee; I'd come home and burn myself every time, but I learned to hold three. And you can't stack cups, but you can hold three cups, two in one and one in the right hand. And really, really stayed overtime to have the bartender teach us how to call out the drinks, and the names of the drinks. And Mr. Canlis was so strict. One little error, "Who forgot the butter?" Or, "How about the water? Whose table is this? Dollar fine." And I think I got fined $2 anyway. Nobody argued with him. It was [Laughs] a problem in itself, but at the same time the customers would feel terrible for us, but that was Mr. Canlis. He couldn't change.

And we had some very, very good customers that were so nice to us, and we in turn kept a blue book that kept the names of each customer, their favorite drinks, their favorite desserts. The minute they walked in, what tables they preferred. And instantly served a cup of coffee, or half a cup of a coffee, or a high ball that was one chunk of ice. And they were very, very particular, and these are the little things that we put down that pleased them, 'cause they never had to repeat the second time when they came in, what they wanted. And so we really thoroughly had all the customers spoiled.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.