Chili's restaurant in Minden, Nev.
My post on the death at age 78 of Norman Brinker, the restaurateur who made the salad bar an American institution and was the driving force behind many famous restaurant chains, including Chili's, brought this terrific anecdote from Barb Odanaka, aka skateboardmom:
I was a struggling waitress at Chili's in Newport Beach, California back in the late 1980s when one busy Friday night, an elderly customer in a three-piece suit took pity on my obvious inability to keep up with my work.
To my horror, he started helping me clear the plates, mugs and silverware piling up on my tables. Fearing what the manager might think, I said, "Please sir, you don't need to do that!" but he just smiled sweetly and without a word, kept clearing my tables. At this point, figuring my job was probably coming to a quick and painful end, I shrugged it off and finished my shift.
It wasn't until later that I discovered my quiet, kindly "helper" was none other than Norman Brinker, company CEO.
In that one kind and selfless act (one that apparently was repeated countless times over the years) Mr. Brinker demonstrated to me his legendary desire to put people first—both customers AND his employees.
He remains to this day an inspiration to me and an important reminder that there are, in fact, corporate "suits" out there with unselfish attitudes and lots of heart. I, for one, will never forget him.
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