Patty Russell enjoys ‘dishing’ up good service

Published 10:57 am Friday, September 23, 2016

Star Photo/Abby Morris-Frye  Elizabethton Star readers chose Patty Russell, at right, as the best waiter/waitress. Russell works at City Market.

Star Photo/Abby Morris-Frye
Elizabethton Star readers chose Patty Russell, at right, as the best waiter/waitress. Russell works at City Market.

Restaurants are generally judged not only by the food they serve, but by the service that customers receive. Waiters and waitresses are usually the first point of contact for customers.
Patty Russell is well aware of that and she makes an extra effort to dish up prompt service and a smile along with the good food served at City Market.
Patty was this year’s Readers’ Choice for Best Waiter/Waitress. A long-time waitress at City Market, Patty has worked there at least four different times, her current employment, the longest. However, she does more than just wait tables. She cooks, bakes, cleans tables as well as provides good customer service.
She has been a waitress most of her adult life. Her first job was when she was 17 years old at Sammons Hotdogs, when it was just a hole in the wall on Elk Avenue. “I worked for Doran Sammons for seven or eight years. He taught me how to cook and most of what I know about the restaurant business,” she shared. Since then, Patty has worked at several other restaurants and at one time owned the Southern Cafe and Iron Skillet.
“I enjoy cooking, but I try to be a good waitress, which requires good customer service and being attentive to the customer’s needs. I try to treat each customer the same way I would want to be treated. If they’re down, I try to encourage them,” she said.
She admits that most of her customers at City Market are regulars. “I know them by their first name. They’re like family. You share in the good times with them as well as the bad times,” she said.
Patty tries to pitch in wherever needed at City Market. “I make some desserts, ice tea, meatloaf, soup beans and cornbread. We have a good group of people working here. We all pitch in and help each other. Stephanie (Lynch) is a great waitress as well,” she explained.
She has had her share of losses, having lost a brother and her husband in the same year, and last year, a daughter. “I don’t know what I would have done without my City Market family and customers,” she said.
Patty walks three times a day — a total of seven miles — for therapy. “It helps me keep my mind off things and gets me through the day,” she said.
As long as she can, Patty hopes to keep dishing up good service and good food to her customers at City Market. “That’s what brings people back,” she said.

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