Server, Palace Arms at the Brown Palace Hotel
What he wears: Single-breasted, one-button black tuxedo with the Brown Palace logo embroidered in gold; black bow tie and cummerbund; black cuff links with gold trim and black shoes from Shoes for Crews.
What he carries: Pad (for tables of six or more), a Brown Palace pen, table crumber, name tag, wine key, flashlight and a lighter for birthday candles.
Q: What do you wear on the floor?
A: We wear a full tuxedo.
Q: What do you do for shoes?
A: Black polished shoes. We get them through the hotel (from) Shoes for Crews. They’re made for the restaurant industry — soles that won’t take you sliding across the kitchen floor.
Q: What about your cuff links?
A: The hotel provides cuff links, but most of us in the room will buy our own set that fit our own style. Mine are black with gold trim.
Q: What do the ones supplied by the hotel look like?
A: They are just black.
Q: There was an industry strike in New York in 1893 because waiters wanted to grow beards. Does the Palace Arms make any facial-hair recommendations?
A: You have to be clean-shaven or you can come back from vacation with a goatee, but you can’t grow anything while you are working.
Q: Where do you store your stuff? Where do the pads go?
A: On the exterior side pocket of the jacket.
Q: What about the pens?
A: Pens go on the inside jacket pocket.
Q: Do you carry a table crumber?
A: The table crumber is in the upper breast pocket, the pocket that bears our name tag. That’s all we can carry in that pocket.
Q: So much effort goes into a uniform look. What other rules are there?
A: The hotel cleans them for us, so each day they are clean and freshly pressed. That’s a nice perk. They even provide the cummerbund, tux shirt and bow tie.
Q: The server uniform hasn’t changed since the Palace Arms opened in 1950. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
A: With the room itself, it fits.
