News Archives - Gina Roma

by Liza Van Horne
December 18, 2007

Guests at the prestigious Genoa City Athletic Club, with its critically acclaimed restaurant and hotel, might find themselves noticing something a little unique about the way its dining room servers conduct themselves. Customers are likely to see a server sitting comfortably and chatting with friends or family; coffee may be a little slow to be refilled and plates might lag in delivery to the table.

This is not an accident, nor it it a sign that Gina Roma is asleep at the wheel.

"It's a whole new philosophy called "Server-Centered Service," explained the Lasagna Baroness of Genoa City. "We feel that our servers are the most emotionally healthy and fulfilled when they are allowed to follow their instincts and provide service according to their own internal sense of urgency. This isn't about neglecting the customers - it's about empowering our servers to make their own decisions."

With increasing numbers of home-school parents subscribing to the concept of "Child-Led Learning" and "Unschooling", this comes not as a shock but as an inevitability. The "Unschoolers" firmly believe that a child need not adhere to a rigid curriculum or parentally guided topics; rather, the "Unschooled" children will naturally express an eagerness to focus upon subjects which interest them the most.

Roma claims she knows someone who knows someone who parents this way, and that person's child is a well-adjusted genius. "I read about it on the Internet," said Miss Roma, "and Wikipedia wouldn't lie to me."

Colleen Carlton appreciates this radical way of managing the dining room. "It's absolutely wonderful," enthused Miss Carlton as she picked her nose with determination and then neglected to wash her hands before approaching the kitchen to pick up two plates of elegantly prepared food for Table Seven - as her internal sense of prioritizing had led her to do.

"I can, like, hang out with my best friend Lily, and sit down to talk about the Jabot contest... I can give my uncle a hug at the bar and hang with him... if my elderly boyfriend comes in, I can let my tables' food sit in the window and make out with him if that's what my instinct is. It's entirely up to me."

The cooks enjoy the freedom to follow their hearts as well. "If the ticket says one medium-rare steak and one wild mushroom strata," said the sous chef, Hector Guillanez, as he busily prepared the club's famous fois-gras stuffed truffle nuggets, "I ask myself what I really feel like cooking, and that's where my empowerment lies. If I feel like cooking a steak, fine, I'll cook a steak. But it's not because Table Fourteen is the boss of me. Gina, she gives me permission to just be me, and to cook from the heart in as honest a way as I can. That's good for my self esteem. Makes me feel like a man."

Gina Roma hopes that this style of service will become commonplace and that people will feel that her dining room is just like home.

"Nobody in Genoa City knows how to boil water, let alone cook," said Miss Roma, "and our profit margin on takeout is insane. So I'm hoping that people will feel like they're among family. Lazy, disappointing, self-absorbed family, which is pretty much the norm in Genoa City, except of course the average two-top spends upwards of a hundred and twenty dollars to eat here, so."

So far, there has been no formal effort to seek out customer response to this exciting new attitude toward service.

"Comment cards? Are you serious?" chuckled Colleen Carlton. "It's either this place or the Jitter Joint, and frankly, their muffins are kind of stale and their sandwiches taste like ass."