Densho Digital Archive - Ruth Sasaki Interview (denshovh-sruth-01-0021)

<Begin Segment 21>

TI: So any memorable kind of event at the Eastside Cafe, like a story or something that really kind of captures your time at the Eastside Cafe?

RS: Oh, yeah, we've had incidents, you know. Like some of these kids, they would come in, sit down, I'd be busy, and then they would mess around. We had jukebox then, and I remember this one incident where they tipped the soy sauce over. And so I got a couple of rags, and I threw it at 'em, and I said, "I want you guys to clean this up. And then after you clean it up, I want you to leave." And then everybody was just wondering what's going to happen, you know, and then just one, he was Japanese kid, said, "Do we have to?" I said, "No, you can stay." But I said, "No more of this."

TI: [Laughs] So you were like their mother almost.

RS: Yeah. But, you know, incidents, you know, just like this one kid would go, he's not of age, comes out of the bar with a drink. And I said, "What are you doing with that drink?" He says, "I got it at the bar." And I said, "Well, you know what? You've got to give that to me." He said, "Why?" I said, "Because if you were smart, you would go to the bathroom and drink that, because I know how old you are, and you know that." Nowadays, when they come visit or something, we chuckle about things like that.

TI: Because now they're grown up and so they can remember all those times.

RS: Yes.

TI: So do very many people from the old Eastside, do they go to Annie's?

RS: Oh, yeah.

TI: So they can reminisce and eat the same good food that they remember.

RS: Yeah. And Fun kept it the same.

TI: So I'm guessing that a lot of people in Ontario know you then, because, just through the Eastside?

RS: Yeah. And then the people that I got to know working over there, they're just... so I enjoy going to work. And then I don't do much, Kim doesn't want me to... if I overdo it or something, she gets mad at me, says, "Sit down and rest," or something, you know. And things like that, and so I... and I said, "Kim..." and then I do, I'll do anything for them.

TI: Well, it's amazing that you still work. So you're eighty-five?

RS: Five.

TI: -five years old, and you work, I think, what, four or five nights there?

RS: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. And I can't cut any day because certain days, certain people comes in, and they expect me to be there. But I don't do anything, like weekends I'm busy you know, on reservations and things, but I learned that she'll say, "Sit down and go visit with so-and-so or something," and I do, because I have a cashier. And sometimes I'll take cash, but other than that...

TI: Well, it sounds like some people like to come in, and part of the experience of going to Annie's is just seeing you?

RS: Yeah. 'Cause they say, "You know, if you ever quit, we're not coming in," and they tell Kim that, too. And they're just... you know.

TI: Now, how would people describe you? People from Ontario and Caldwell, if they were to say, "There's Ruth at Annie's," what would they say about you?

RS: Well, they would always... some of them would jokingly say, "Well, she's the mean one." "She's the one that hits me," or something. And I just, I don't know what it is. And I joke with them and things like that. Or if I'm doing something and then they'll come in and then expect a place to sit, I says, "You know what? Get out there by the desk and stay there until I get there, until I find something." Or somebody's coming in, I said, "You know, by the way, why don't you pick up the menu and take it to that table or something?" Things like that. I just...

TI: But these are people you know pretty well, so you can just do that.

RS: Uh-huh. Oh, I wouldn't dare say that to people.

TI: Because some of these people you probably know forty, fifty years probably?

RS: Yeah. And then a lot of them say, "Oh, you're still alive, huh?" [Laughs]

TI: And so now I'm getting a sense of why some of the people from your high school days who were kind of mean to you, just over time they've seen you, they probably have come to this restaurant, and they've developed this friendship.

RS: Uh-huh, yeah.