Part of the culture of our company includes community involvement. We participate in fundraisers and charitable events throughout the year. I won’t list what we do in detail but they range from our annual Thanksgiving Dinner for 500 people at the Boys and Girls Club, to fundraisers for the Maricopa County animal shelter, which bizarrely culminates with 100 people having lunch with their dog on Iguana Mack’s patio. One of our Managers, Laura Arias volunteers for every event and brainstormed a new one that was unveiled Thursday night. It was a fundraiser for the Breast Cancer Foundation and in simplest terms it consisted of volunteers from our staff dressing up as “celebrities” and ultimately donating all of their tips to the charity. RigaTony’s would kick in 10% of any sales we would do that night. To be honest I now admit that I had trouble wrapping my head around this one right up until the time the doors opened. It seemed a little half-baked, a little silly and I was doubtful that our guests would figure it out or have fun with it.

It can be disturbing when I realize how wrong I can be. My first realization was when I got there at about 6:oo pm, couldn’t find a parking space and had to park on the street. The place was packed. We’re talking about a mid-July, random Thursday night in the middle of a financial melt-down, and we’re on a wait. My next clue was the TV crew that arrived from channel 10 to cover the “event”. I picked up a tray and started busing tables and thus was able to overhear comments by the staff and customers. Sarah Palin (aka Stephanie – our GM) was explaining to a table that it took a while to get them their butter because she had to go to Russia to get it. Could they have another glass of wine? “You Betcha!” People were laughing, engaging, pointing and grossly over-tipping. The entire building was filled with a Mayberry vibe and suddenly I felt like Barny Fife.