The Pink Panther
Marieke van der Vaart
Issue date: 11/12/09 Section: Down the Hill
"I'd come up here," Hill said, "because I knew everyone here. There are good people here."
Hill said the current owner, Vernie Champion, deeply cares for employees and regular customers.
"If they get sick she goes to visit them, takes them food," Hill said. "Maybe they wouldn't make a car payment-she helps them."
Hill said this kind of care isn't reserved just for the owner either.
"It's all like a family here and they're all good people. There's a very lot of kindness."
For Dearth, working at the Pink Panther doesn't just feel like a family affair-it is one. Working as a dish washer in highschool here, the grandmother of four followed in the footsteps of her older sister who was a waitress at the time.
Fine gray hair pulled back into a ponytail, eyes bright and an incredible memory for repeat customers, Dearth said the transition from washing dishes to waiting tables wasn't something she wanted to experience.
A truck driver who came in regularly would try to get Dearth to talk, she said, by throwing quarters in the dish water she'd be working in. Dearth said as a teenager she was embarrassed by the attention and would put the quarters in a glass banana split bowl above her work station.
"He'd say, 'Don't let nobody take them,'" Dearth said of the driver. "'Does she even talk? You make sure she takes those quarters home!' Back then, that was a lot of money!" Dearth said.
It got to the point that the banana dish filled up with quarters.
"You'd have to tuck them in," said Dearth, illustrating the dipping motions with her hands.
A waitress called off one day and Dearth's older sister announced she would be taking her place. Of course, one of her first customers was her friend the truck driver.
"I had to wait on him and he sat there and laughed and laughed at me," Dearth said, grinning. "He gave me dollar bills then."
Dearth's son and daughter worked at the Pink Panther too and now her grandson helps out on the weekends.
Hill said the current owner, Vernie Champion, deeply cares for employees and regular customers.
"If they get sick she goes to visit them, takes them food," Hill said. "Maybe they wouldn't make a car payment-she helps them."
Hill said this kind of care isn't reserved just for the owner either.
"It's all like a family here and they're all good people. There's a very lot of kindness."
For Dearth, working at the Pink Panther doesn't just feel like a family affair-it is one. Working as a dish washer in highschool here, the grandmother of four followed in the footsteps of her older sister who was a waitress at the time.
Fine gray hair pulled back into a ponytail, eyes bright and an incredible memory for repeat customers, Dearth said the transition from washing dishes to waiting tables wasn't something she wanted to experience.
A truck driver who came in regularly would try to get Dearth to talk, she said, by throwing quarters in the dish water she'd be working in. Dearth said as a teenager she was embarrassed by the attention and would put the quarters in a glass banana split bowl above her work station.
"He'd say, 'Don't let nobody take them,'" Dearth said of the driver. "'Does she even talk? You make sure she takes those quarters home!' Back then, that was a lot of money!" Dearth said.
It got to the point that the banana dish filled up with quarters.
"You'd have to tuck them in," said Dearth, illustrating the dipping motions with her hands.
A waitress called off one day and Dearth's older sister announced she would be taking her place. Of course, one of her first customers was her friend the truck driver.
"I had to wait on him and he sat there and laughed and laughed at me," Dearth said, grinning. "He gave me dollar bills then."
Dearth's son and daughter worked at the Pink Panther too and now her grandson helps out on the weekends.
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