Wenger begins 53rd year of career in March

By Robert Williams

Editor

Lifelong server Loris Wenger is a piece of work. She’s a character; a dying breed and still others remind her, ‘They don’t make ‘em like you anymore.’  ¶  Wenger is honest; she is blunt about it and remains quite fond of axioms that have gone out of favor, but still hold their original intent like, “You should not speak unless you are spoken to.”  ¶  Regular diners at Spanky’s Stone Hearth not only know who Wenger is, they request her service each time they are there for dinner. 

¶  “March 21st, I will start my 53rd year,” she said. “I’m going to keep going as long as my body will let me.”  ¶  For most, that will hopefully be a long way away, but for some, it will not be such a bad thing, something Wenger freely admits.  ¶  “There are certain people who won’t sit down unless they have me as a server,” she said. “Other people have changed their night of going out because I’m here on Fridays.”  ¶  Bear in mind, that last line comes with a hearty laugh.

Those in the service industry tend to jump around and Wenger’s tale is no different. She has held many different jobs in different industries and her tales of waiting tables date all the way back to the fondly-remembered Erie Jr. in Detroit Lakes. In 2007, she contacted Josh Hanson at Spanky’s and she has worked there ever since.

“I’m thankful that I did,” Wenger said.

Wenger can come off as brash and she does not mind being told so. She has a quick wit and will stylize her remarks with the occasional curse word. Her diction is all part of her no-nonsense attitude and having served customers for 50+ years.

“I don’t know any other way to be; that’s just how I am and that’s why the customers like me,” she said.

In turn, Wenger finds her own contentment in serving others.

“I’m a people pleaser 99 percent of the time,” she said. “It isn’t fun for everyone but it is for me.”

While witticisms fly out her mouth in both a timely and amusing manner, Wenger also knows where the line is and not to always cross it.

“Some things you just can’t say,” she said.

Wenger grew up on a dairy farm with one brother near Height O’ Land Lake and graduated from Frazee-Vergas High School in 1972.

“Cows don’t teach you much about the public, but I tell you what I went to school real fast,” she said.

Her parents married later in life. Her father was 54 when she was born and 72 when she graduated.

“I always learned how to deal well with older people,” she said. “They had to work. I had to work but they were right out there with ya.”

Wenger’s work ethic is as tough as her exterior. That is the only way to survive in the service industry this long. Her career history is lengthy and she was never scared to up and quit a job that had stopped serving her or simply was not a fit for her lifestyle.

Her first job was at St. Mary’s Hospital, which lasted only six months.

“I could not handle taking tea into accident victims that were hanging from wires and going down to the morgue at the end of the night,” she said. “It got to the point where I couldn’t sleep, so I quit.”

Next up was the sewing factory at Arctic Cat in the Detroit Lakes Industrial Park, which led to a layoff in February of 1973.

“In March, I started at the Erie Jr.,” she said.

Wenger worked eight-hour shifts in the coffee shop.

“That was the place and we had no competition,” said Wenger. “There was no fast food and we were open 24 hours a day. The first one that came was Country Kitchen.”

The Erie Jr. was a beacon for locals and travelers that only closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

“And we had the cops watch it so that nobody would rob it,” Wenger said. “In the summertime, that big dining room was full until 3 a.m.!” 

It became time for a new car so Wenger added a second job at the Audubon Liquor Store.

“I didn’t know anything about booze, but you learn,” she said.

Eventually, she quit both jobs and went to work full-time in the Erie Lounge.

“Anybody who knew anybody was there,” she said. “If you didn’t have a table by 7 o’clock you’re out of luck.”

The Lounge featured the same band “Impact” for 10 years.

“People loved it,” said Wenger.

No liquor was served on Sundays, while Monday night diners were entertained by piano player Kenny Kusserow.

Wenger lasted 4.5 years before moving down Highway 10 to work at the Holiday Inn, a job she held for 17.5 years, many days working double shifts.

This was during the heyday of Detroit Lakes summers throughout the 1980s.

“In the summertime and the Fourth of July, the place was packed to the rafters,” she said. “They’d set me up a portable bar and I’d start pouring at 10 o’clock and didn’t stop until quarter-to-one,” said Wenger.

The day of reckoning came when a new host was having difficulties with room service and Wenger tried to be of assistance.

“I tried to help him out and management came and told me I didn’t have the authority to help him out and I said, ‘Okay, see ya!’ I punched in at 5 o’clock and punched out at 10-after and never went back,” she said. “I never looked back at that job.”

Wenger had already picked up a part-time job across the lake at Fireside. The only problem was owners Tom and Jennifer Graham closed for the winters. The Grahams owned Fireside from 1986-1998.

Wenger kept her summer position there and in the off season went to work at Smoky’s in Hawley.

Eventually, the Grahams sold the Fireside and that sale went under quickly.

“I just sat on the phone and cried; I was just heartsick,” said Wenger.

Wenger and the staff, aided by regular customer Ronnie Offutt, kept Fireside open.

“Us girls and the cooks ran that place for six months with Ronnie Offutt’s money; he could not stand to see it sit idle,” she said.

Wenger continued working at Fireside through Dave Norman’s ownership and into the most recent owners Lake Life Hospitality Group.

At the same time she worked for an insurance agent in Fargo for a decade with the driving force being free insurance. Her job became automated and she was let go. Meanwhile, Wenger’s unique personality was not a perfect fit for Fireside’s new ownership’s business model, despite her four decades of experience. Wenger’s shifts were cut to one per week and she had a daughter getting married in the fall of 2007.

“I was thinking, ‘Alright Loris, you need money for that wedding; you need to get the hell out of here,’” Wenger said. “So, I called up Josh (Hanson). We knew each other. I told him I needed a job and he said, ‘Well, I don’t need to interview you, just show up Thursday.’ I never even filled out an application.”

Unbeknownst to Wenger, the chef from Fireside had done the exact same thing.

“Neither of us knew the other was coming and I’ve been here ever since,” she said.

Wenger’s unique style has made her a staple at Spanky’s 

“I move my tables right along and I don’t care who you are,” she said. “I’ve always been that way. I think I was taught that in the very beginning. Most people enjoy that.”

There are even times she has to cajole a group that cannot sit in her specific section of four tables nearest the kitchen.

“The best thing I can do is just go over there and visit with them,” she said. “That calms everything down.”

Wenger is thankful for her job at Spanky’s, the customers and ownership.

“I give Josh credit for sticking with it and doing as well as he did,” she said. “He’s put a lot into it, but he’s had to put out a lot too.”

Wenger is also catered to in a way that makes the job easier.

“As time goes by, you get a little slower in life than you used to be so I don’t want to be doing all this running all over; I want to be close to the kitchen,” she said.

Spanky’s also allows Wenger to cut down her shift times from eight to six to four hours.

“Spanky’s is very good to me,” she said. “As soon as the pressure is off and it slows down they let me go. I’m very thankful for that at this stage in my life.”

Wenger’s relationship with people is what makes her a great server and also what will crack anyone up who listens to her stories of the less than ideal interaction. Both sides of which can be a learning experience.

“The things the public has taught me no Ivy League school could ever teach you,” she said.

Wenger’s bent toward efficiency is also appreciated by customers, fellow employees and ownership.

“I do not let my guests dawdle; you don’t sit here for 20 minutes before I get your order,” she said. “It doesn’t work that way with me. I know how owners think. They need an arse in every seat to make money and that’s the way it is.”

Like anyone, Wenger is appreciative of being appreciated, especially given her quirky and honest style.

“I’ve waited on people that I’ve never seen before and at the end they tell me how great I was. Now that’s really something special,” she said.

Wenger’s co-workers say the reason so many customers like her is because she always has a response.

“I just say it like it is,” said Wenger. “I’m old and harmless. I just like to have fun.”

Wenger laughs because it is the people that keep her coming back to work…and the cash.

“For the interaction with the people and number one, I need the money,” she said. “It keeps me comfortable. Number two, I’m afraid I’d become a hermit, especially in the winter time.”

Winter is a big adjustment as many of her regular customers fly south for the season.

“In this area it’s kind of sad when the snowbirds leave because there goes half your clientele, but it sure is fun in the spring when they all come back,” she said.

At home, Wenger spends much of her free time growing perennials. It provides a charming dichotomy between her occasionally gruff exterior and the idea of quiet afternoons tending to her flowers. It’s been a side hobby after living in the same place for 33 years. Wenger’s blooms can often be seen on the grand piano at Spanky’s.

Wenger’s soft side comes out when she talks about her immediate family.

Wenger has one daughter and two grandchildren—a granddaughter and her favorite, a charming 15-year-old, six-foot-two, grandson Evan who enjoys spending quality time together at Wenger’s Acorn Lake home.

“We spend a lot of time together,” she said. “He’s had his own boat since he was 10 and he puts out a fish house for himself. He spends a lot of time with me. He’ll call and say, ‘Driving Miss Daisy!’ which means grandma, I need a ride. Well now he can drive Miss Daisy because he has his permit.”

Evan also helps his grandmother around her flower garden moving heavy pots and tilling up the dirt.

“He and I work well together,” she said. “People love him. He respects people and he just has a good attitude. Both sets of grandparents have helped get him there and his parents. My daughter and I are like this. Not all mothers and daughters can say that but we are.”

Wenger’s happy family life is transferred to not seeing such interactions at her job and she is not shy in describing either.

“I have two pet peeves,” she said. “People that come out and have a couple cocktails and are going to have dinner and start to fight. You can do that at home. I don’t need your dirty linen.”

The second peeve is something fellow customers and employees can agree upon, although Wenger has her own way of handling stray youngsters.

“We aren’t babysitters,” she said. “Letting these kids run around. Hire a babysitter and leave them at home or keep them at the table with you. I’ve been known to grab a kid and tell them to stop running, and they give me a dirty look. I have grabbed a lot of kids. I have tripped a lot of kids. One dirty look from me and they’re over. If the parents want to come and talk to me, come on. I’m ready. The gun is loaded.”

From wild kids to temperamental chefs, Wenger is honest about the job having a high stress level for servers. Wenger has humorous tales of having to duck under a flying pork chop that was thrown at her and even knives from the pricklier chefs.

The job’s payoff, literally, even 53 years after receiving her first tip, is still worth it.

“I’ll never forget the first time I had $10 of tips in my pocket,” she said. “Being a server, you can go to work and you can make some money. You always have gas money, milk money and babysitter money. Three secrets, always, and I’ll never change. I would say that’s the number one driving force in this industry—the cash.”