The Story of Todd
Todd The Waiter was born to serve. He was discovered as only a baby in a warming tray at the Paradise Flamingo Banquet and Bowling Hall after a minor league sports awards night. The staff were cleaning up and instead of finding leftover Swedish meatballs they found baby Todd wrapped in a linen napkin and clutching a menu. No one from the staff was interested in taking him home so they left the burner on low and hoped someone would claim him in the morning. No one did.
House League Bowling Awards & Todd’s Birthday
The story that was passed around for years to come amongst the hospitality industry was that his parents – a waitress and a busboy - were working a double shift that fateful night and his mother placed him in the warming tray between the Chicken a la King and the Beef Stroganoff so he would be safe until her shift was over.
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Misfortunate struck the happy little family when Mom and Dad were simultaneously fired for giving birth to a child during the dinner rush - that night there was both a wedding and the house league bowling awards night. In their hurry to leave the Paradise they left behind their precious bundle of joy.
No one claimed the little boy and shortly after Paradise was torn down and they put up a parking lot.
Todd grew up in an assortment of banquet halls, diners and all you can eat buffets being raised by dishwashers, sous chefs, butcher shop delivery boys and lunch counter fry cooks as he made his way through childhood. With no formal education and a burning desire to find his parents, Todd realized that the only way he would survive was to become the world’s greatest waiter.
And while enthusiasm is a wonderful thing Todd lacks some of the skills to be the world’s greatest but he continues on hoping to bring joy to the people he serves and in return receiving the love he sorely missed as a child. And he dreams that one day in the not too distant future he will meet two people wearing name tags from the Paradise Flamingo Banquet and Bowling Hall and he will proudly say to them, “Good evening, I’m Todd. I’m the waiter.”