A Waiter in Paris
Adventures in the Dark Heart of the City
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4.2 • 5 Ratings
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- $3.99
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- $3.99
Publisher Description
Inspired by George Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London, A Waiter in Paris is a brilliant portrait of the underbelly of contemporary Paris through the eyes of a young waiter scraping out a living in the City of Light.
*SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE!*
A waiter’s job is to deceive you. They want you to believe in a luxurious calm because on the other side of that door … is hell.
Edward Chisholm’s spellbinding memoir of his time as a Parisian waiter takes you below the surface of one of the most iconic cities in the world and right into its glorious underbelly. There, Chisholm inhabits a world of inhuman hours, snatched sleep, and dive bars. He scrapes by on coffee, bread, and cigarettes, often working under sadistic managers, for a wage so low he’s forced to fight his colleagues for tips. And these colleagues — thieves, narcissists, ex-Legionnaires, paperless immigrants, wannabe actors, and drug dealers — are the closest thing he has to family.
Waiting tables is physically demanding work, frequently humiliating, and incredibly competitive. But it doesn’t matter because you’re in Paris, the centre of the universe, and there’s nowhere else you’d rather be in the world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A Dickensian tale of a young man's trial by fire in a French bistro gives rise to biting commentary on Parisian culture in Chisholm's intoxicating debut. Underemployed in the wake of the financial crisis, Chisholm moved from London to Paris in 2011 and faked his way into a job as a runner at an upscale restaurant where, he writes, immigrants were relegated to lowly kitchen work while European waiters served "the rich and white on top." As he observes, "Slice a Parisian bistro in half and you a startlingly accurate cross-section of contemporary French society." Though disparagingly nicknamed L'Anglais, Chisholm was grudgingly educated by his peers and, after six months of backbreaking 14-hour days, he was promoted to waiter. But as he reveals, the restaurant's illusion of elegance—peddled to wealthy customers by "Caucasian waiter" like him—quickly went up in smoke as respected coworkers were fired, leaving Chisholm to while away his days dreaming of an "all-out revolution... unif the waiters of the world against their corrupt employers." Throughout, Chisholm renders the City of Light in vivid scenes of squalor and splendor, its romance and wretchedness mirroring that of the "great piece of theater" he starred in before eventually leaving the restaurant himself. Bittersweet and enchanting, this serves as a potent look at the gritty underbelly of a glittering world.
Customer Reviews
A Waiter In Paris
Being a waiter for 38 years I can relate. However, I never lived in such squalid conditions or endured such workplace behaviour amongst co-workers. If that is Paris a trip sightseeing would be more favourable. I did like his tenacity and what a great experience!