The saga of "WendyWaitress" and the pitfalls of an open dialogue on the internet.

It started with a comment that appeared on the Laura Novak tries to get a straight answer out of ADN editor Pat Dougherty post.

Hello there Gryphen. New reader, new poster here. I actually was "referred" if you will by Sarah Palin herself. She and a woman I did not recognize have lunched several times this year in the restaurant where I work. Of course one hears all types of gossip when serving what is generally considered the "upper crust"...but in this day and age of cell phone photos being sold to tabloids for 10 thousand dollars, many well known people tend to be more discreet now.

Then there are folks like Sarah Palin, whom I refer to as "the peek-a-boo set". They think just because they aren't talking TO you, that you can't HEAR them. (Palin is also a part of what I call the Shitty Tipper Collective...in Arizona where everyone judges you by the amount of money you do or do NOT throw around, Sarah Palin has tipped as low as 2 percent)

Anyway twice now I've heard her talking about someone who obviously presses her buttons...she had said the same thing practically verbatim both times, maniacally ranting why do people even listen to him, I mean who in their right mind calls themselves immoral with pride, and you know it's no wonder he turned his own kid gay, he's all the time talkin' about what a lousy husband he was, I mean this guy is deranged, do you know he has stalked me at public appearances, and he doesn't even have a job he's just a blogger......and on and on and onnnnnn.

After the second time I googled "Palin Immoral Blog" and here I am. I find it very funny that she says you are "just" a blogger, when as far as I can tell SHE is "just" a facebooker and twitter-er.
I am really enjoying reading your archives. I knew she was stupid and obnoxious but I had no idea about all of this....insanity. How is it this woman still has people thinking she is fit to lead the country?


This was not the first time that I had heard of Palin badmouthing me in public.  In fact the last time I was told of this happening, it was also something overheard in a restaurant.

By the way Sarah is not the ONLY Palin to say things behind my back, I have also had the honor of being bad mouthed by Bristol on Facebook. As you can imagine rather than hurt my feelings these reports kind of make my day to some degree.

After this comment our anonymous waitress friend adopted the moniker "WendyWaitress."


WendyWaitress said...

Wow, what a great welcome!! Thanks all.

I have now spent exactly..ummm ALL of my day off reading Gryphen's archives, I loaded this blog into my news reader and kept falling more and more down the rabbit hole. How is this not MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR news? Osama bin Laden KILLED, Active state governor fakes pregnancy. Am I wrong here??

For the person who asked me to describe the person Sarah Palin was with, well she was very nice compared to Sarah, she actually looked me in the eye and did not BARK at ME because SHE ordered a salad nicôise and was pissed it ended up being something she didn't like or even know what it was and then demanded I ask our michelin starred chef to make CHICKEN FINGERS..like someone else I could name. Anyway she had blond hair, kind of pink/ruddy complexion and was wearing a super expensive but VERY ill fitting (???) suit and louboutin heels which I know for a fact cost as much as my monthly salary.

The most interesting thing about Sarah Palin's lunch date is that she seemed very focused on redirecting Sarah when she would go off on these angry tangents.

She also had bangs, and her handbag was a dooney from the 2009 season I think, bright yellow patent. (I was a fashion major and I notice these things I guess)

The only other thing I think would be of interest to you all, on the second time I saw them, the companion was gently chiding Sarah, saying "hon you can't get mad at a little boy for calling you grandma when you are his grandma! Teach him "LuLu" when he's older!"

Which I took to mean, Sarah didn't want Bristal's little one to call her Grandma so instead she was trying to get him to call her LuLu. But now of course I'm wondering just who exactly they were talking about.

Unfortunately I think that pretty much empties my gossip quiver. But maybe they'll come back. You can be sure I will be paying verrry close attention if they do.

Thanks again for the warm welcome. I already love everyone here!

PS, in attempt to distinguish myself from the many other anonymous' posting, I will be using the name WendyWaitress=)

Right after this some of the anonymous commenters started to challenge "Wendy" about petty things about concerning her post and suggesting that she was not believable.  I allowed  these comments through because I was interested in just what Wendy had stirred up, and because I KNEW that others would defend Wendy. Which they did.

However the number going on the attack soon overwhelmed those arguing on Wendy's behalf.

This inspired WendyWaitress to come back to clarify her statements and defend herself.

Oh crap you are right. Maybe I should not have mentioned the salad.

Maybe I'm being naive but I am not worried. She was so dismissive she practically looked THROUGH me. Seriously.

We have a normally "tungsten steel clad" (as my boss says) rule that nobody ever discusses a "celeb" guest, ever ever ever. But my shift manager said "feel free to tell all and sundrie what a BITCH she is, maybe it'll get back to her and she can punish us by keeping on her high horse and riding the hell on past us next time".

Usually our celeb customers are so gracious and discreet AND they tip enough to buy more than a stick of gum...

I've been waitressing (we call it "serving") for almost 4 years, ever since I finished my apparently worthless degree. And only once have I ever run into someone well known who was rude like her. And keep in mind we're right in the middle of the "spa" district ("spa"'=rehab or plastic surgery recovery a lot of times) and we get our share of well known guests. But nobody has ever made the staff collectively raise our eyebrows like "are we being punked?" as she did.

To the person who worried Wendy might be my real name, no....I just wanted to think of something that sounded good with "waitress", LOL

I have been reading about this baby thing literally all day. I really have to give credit to a lot of the posters here, reading the comments on these posts is seriously better than a thriller novel! People here are so smart and clever with the observations and insights.

One thing I personally noticed right off the bat, Sarah Palin talked about breast-feeding her baby a lot in the beginning. Seems like I have read 3 or 4 articles just today where she mentions something about a breast pump. But then the photos of her at work just 3 DAYS after the birth?? My sister had a baby in January and on the 2nd or 3rd day after, her breasts swelled up as big as her head and she was in so much pain she cried when it was time to feed my nephew. It took a couple weeks for the swelling to go down. My sister could not have gotten in a size 2 fitted suit (her pre pregnancy work clothes) that soon after birth, if you had offered her a million dollars. And her MD said when she swelled up like that, it was totally normal and happens to most women in the first post pardum week.

When I see those photos of Sarah Palin in a fitted suit, 72 hours after giving birth (supposedly) and then I think of my sister who had her first baby, was only 29, and teaches pilates classes (you wanna see tight abs???).....well let's just say the picture of Sarah Palin in her tailored suit with perfect makeup and no hair out of place and the picture of my sister with her bed-head, broken cappilaries, and happy but exhausted eyes.....well it sure does not look like they went through the same experience.

Now that I have spent my whole day delving in to this insane story, I have to go do actual stuff like dinner and laundry. But please know all of your comments in all these great posts have just been so fun and interesting to read=)

After this comment the negativity from anonymous commenters increased and the statement was made that there were NO Michelin Star chefs in Arizona. (As I am sure many of you did, I googled to check just to be sure, and found that there were indeed some Michelin star chefs in Arizona, (Including by the way in Scottsdale.  You know, the same place where Sister Sarah JUST purchased a million and a half dollar mansion!)

However the questions concerning Wendy's believability were too much and she decided that perhaps IM was not the hospitable place she had first imagined it to be.

Huh. I guess I said my warm welcome bit a little too early.

Maybe you guys have been burned by people who have (or have not) interacted with Sarah Palin? I dint know. But it feels pretty shitty to have someone "call bullshit" on you because you misspelled nicôise. Unlike Ms. Palin, at least I know how to SAY it. (she said "nik-swah"; it's nee-swah)

As for there not being any Michelin chefs in Arizona...are you joking??? Are YOU Sarah Palin or one of her cronies? We have some of the best eateries in the country here. We have numerous restaurants on the grounds of posh hotels as well as high class dining in the shopping and spa districts.

What really IS bullshit...is that instead of dogging me and making me wish I had NEVER commented..you could have spent two minutes on google and gotten it right. Or even just READ my post- I did not say chicken fingers were on the menu- I said that is what she ASKED for when she disliked what she had ordered off the menu.

My observations may not be earth shattering, I may not ever hear anything truly juicy or revealing but if you jump everyone who comes here with ANY detail or personal account, it's a safe bet the people who DO have the really good dirt will NEVER speak up.

I don't know if I am even going to read the comments again much less write my own. If you want to doubt me that's your business, but you should at least have a better reason than "she didn't spell nicôise right"...I notice the person who pointed that out didn't spell it either. It's a hard word to spell and I can never remember where the accents go. The thing is, I'm pretty sure that only makes me HUMAN....not a liar.

To the person who suggested I have Gryphen verify my "credentials"...are YOU joking, too?? You want me to send my personal information to an out of state blogger I came across 12 hours ago? You can't be serious. I don't have "credentials". I'm a waitress who thought some people might find my personal dealing with a public figure mildly interesting. Nothing I could say about what Sarah Palin ate or didn't eat or what she was wearing is going to have even a shred of impact on her politics, who likes her, who doesn't like her...the end.

Thanks to the people who WERE nice. It felt great to be welcomed for those few HOURS before people started pissing on my parade. Being that my feelings are hurt and I don't feel I was given a fair shake by people who discredited me based upon their made up knowledge regarding the caliber of chefs we have in Arizona...if Sarah Palin "graces" us with her presence again I will probably be keeping it to myself.

Bye, folks. I am not the type who can just let being basically called a liar slide off my back and not bother me. It DOES bother me, so my choice will be to avoid it by not reading the comments here.

Next time someone speaks up, I urge you not to write them off until you have a legitimate reason for doing so. Maybe someone came here once and tested the waters by revealing a little of what they know. And maybe someone "called bullshit" on them. And maybe they decided, well...this is just not worth the hassle. And MAYBE...they would have had a lot more to say, if they hadn't been jumped on and ridiculed right away=(

At this point I realized that I had let the conversation get out of hand, and had failed to properly protect a newcomer who was not aware that most likely the negativity coming her way was from the Palin-bots who are constantly lurking around this blog.  She sadly believed it was from people who she felt should be on her side,  when it appeared they were not she became discouraged.

So I responded in an effort to let her know that her information and candor was greatly appreciated.

To WendyWaitress, I would like to extend my gratitude for the information that you provided, as well as an apology for how some treated you for your bravery.

It is my usual policy to allow an open exchange of ideas and opinions in the comments section. Usually a troll who attacks a commenter is taken down by somebody else rather quickly. I did see that happen yesterday, but then I also noticed a dramatic increase in the attacks leveled against you.

You are new to this type of give and take, but when THAT happens it is usually an indication that your remarks were potentially damaging to Sarah Palin, and her minions have been dispatched to discredit you.

The LAST thing they want to believe is that their Queen is so thin skinned and easily rattled that she sits around bitching about me. That would give me a sense of power that they are desperate that I not have.

However I have long known about the impact I have on Palin, and you simply provided more proof.

Thank you for your information, and rather than feel insulted by the attacks, rejoice! You scared the Palin-bots, and that is a badge of honor around here.

I really do hope you come back. I will certainly always welcome you, and by the way, whose blog is it anyhow? LOL!

Sadly I do not think I was fast enough, and Wendy may very well have meant it that she is never coming back here again.  If true that would be a loss.

Please take a good hard look a the last thing WendyWaitress wrote in her final comment, that is a lesson for ALL of us.

I have to accept the lion's share of the blame here, in my desire to not interfere with the back and forth among the commenters I left Wendy virtually defenseless.  I had hoped that there would be more than enough people to come to her aid, and to be honest I was out and away from my computer much of the 18th and 19th, and did not monitor the comments as closely as I do on other occasions.

I dislike having to reject comments unless absolutely necessary (And believe it or not I DID reject a number of comments during those exchanges that were extremely insulting), however in the future I may have to use a heavier hand in order to protect people who provide new information about Sarah Palin that will identify them as a target of the Palin-bots.

As for WendyWaitress, I certainly hope you are still lurking around here somewhere, and that you will continue to contribute occasionally, or at the very least continue to read the information provided here for the edification and enjoyment of all.

Oh and by the way, since we all know that the Grizzled Mama is an extraordinarily vindictive bitch, please let us know if there is any backlash against you at your place of employment.  If there any calls to complain or threats to your job, I would be more than happy to publicize that here, and as many other places as possible.

Do you hear that Sarah?