Claim To Fame

When I was a secondary school pupil I always worked in hotels, firstly the Tower Hotel and later in the Árd Rí ( Ardree). The work was as a casual waiter serving on functions, dinner dances and weddings. In the early 1970s dinner dances were a big business with all the various factories or sections of factories holding one each year.

The biggest ones, like Clover Meats in the Ardree, would have up to 700 attending. As a waiter you would be assigned a station of from 10 to 14 guests to serve and with time of the essence it was not the easiest job. A lot depended on the efficiency of the kitchen staff and the ability of the function manager to run a good show.

One memory I have of working in the Ardree was if you had 12 people on your station, you would be allocated 12 teaspoons and if you did not have 12 at the end of the night the cost of the missing spoons would be deducted from your wages. So the minute the guest had stirred their tea the teaspoon would be taken up.

As well as serving the tables the job also involved setting up for the night.

In the Ardree the function manager was a Dublin man Leonard Rochford who was a topper and very easy to work with. He ran everything very smoothly but without any obvious fuss. When the meal part of the function was over most of the casuals were finished. The vast majority of the casual function staff were women, some of them with long years of service and very experienced. I would then stay back to serve drinks to the tables and while the pay was poor enough this was a great way to make tips.

I can’t remember who gave me the tip of always having a wet cloth at hand to wipe the tray, and while you might think this is very hygienic the real purpose was for the coin change to stick to the tray to help the guest to provide a tip. The result being you could earn as much on the night from tips as you did from pay, especially as lads did not want to be seen to be mean in front of their workmates.

This was back in the days of the round system and a guy would buy a drink for all in his group, often eight or 10 people, so you would arrive with a tray full of drink and it made an impression. He was not going to be seen to be mean by fidgeting around for the loose change.

I also worked in the dining room as a waiter and this was a different experience, with people expecting a much higher quality of food and service. Both the functions and the dining room in the Ardree always provided good quality. The hotel was owned and managed by the Breen family and they provided good employment, especially for people living in Ferrybank. The work was quite seasonal and would be busy with guests in the summer but relied heavily on the functions to keep it ticking over in the winter.

In the autumn of 1973 the staff were called to a meeting with the news that a film crew were going to be coming to stay in the hotel for the autumn/ winter and this was really important business for the hotel. They explained that the nature of the film work would involve long hours and dining might take place much later than was normal so if we had to wait around until filming was finished that would be expected.

The film was Barry Lyndon from the book The Luck of Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackery and was directed by the already famous American filmmaker Stanley Kubrick. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Kubrick had directed many films, including Spartacus starring Kirk Douglas, Lolita and Dr Strangelove starring Peter Sellers. His 1971 film, A Clockwork Orange, was extremely controversial and was withdrawn from release by Kubrick because of supposed copycat violence. Post Barry Lyndon Stanley Kubrick went on to make such notable films as The Shining starring Jack Nicholson, Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut.

So in 1973 Stanley Kubrick and a host of stars descended upon Waterford and camped in the Ardree Hotel to great excitement. Chief amongst the stars was Ryan O’Neill who was a mega star after his role in Love Story and he was a real heartthrob, especially with the female waiting staff. His co-star was Marisa Berenson, not so popular with the female staff because of her well-endowed bosom.

Waterford in 1973 was economically depressed with very high unemployment and not only did the filming of Barry Lyndon bring work to the Ardree Hotel but also to the hundreds of extras who were employed on the set.

So for a couple of months, I worked in the restaurant of the Ardree Hotel with mostly film crew and film stars as the guests. To some extent it was a big experience but, truthfully, we had to wait around for filming to finish, often late at night, and then contend with very tired clients. 

One night I was serving Stanley Kubrick who was with one other person at the table. They were both engrossed in a deep conversation and taking little interest in what they had ordered. I served the starters and then the mains, in the case of Mr Kubrick a lovely fillet steak. 

When I brought it to the table he said: “Did I order that?” “Yes, you did Sir,” I replied. “I am sorry, I could not eat that now, it is too late at night.” “No problem Sir, I shall return it to the kitchen, would you like something lighter.” “Thank you, I am fine.” 

So I returned the steak to the kitchen and my Claim to Fame is… I ate Stanley Kubrick’s steak!