A Waiter in Paris

Adventures in the Dark Heart of the City

By: Edward Chisholm

Narrated by: Tristam Summers

Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

An evocative portrait of the underbelly of contemporary Paris as seen through the eyes of a young waiter scraping out a living in the City of Light.

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 beneath the surface of one of the most iconic cities in the world—and right into its glorious underbelly.

He inhabits a world of inhuman hours, snatched sleep, and dive bars; scraping by on coffee, bread, and cigarettes, often under sadistic managers, with a wage so low you're fighting your colleagues for tips. Your colleagues—including thieves, narcissists, ex-soldiers, immigrants, wannabe actors, and drug dealers—are the closest thing to family that you've got.

It's physically demanding, frequently humiliating, and incredibly competitive. But it doesn't matter because you're in Paris, the center of the universe, and there's nowhere else you'd rather be in the world.

©2022 Edward Chisholm (P)2023 Tantor

Wonderful story

If true, beautifully described; if fiction, beautifully conceived!

Looking forward to more from this brilliant young writer.

Loved it!

A sobering account of what’s behind the glamorous façade of a Parisian restaurant. The story telling rivals that of George Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London. Beautifully written.

The best Paris memoir I’ve read in years

Loved this story of a different side of Paris. If you’ve ever traveled to Paris and thought, “You don’t have to tip well in France, waiters get a decent salary,” read this book.

Makes you think about the service industry

Really entertaining, although depressing, true account about what goes on behind the scenes. Well written and terrific
narrator.

Real nice story niche

Close dining serving, is in an emotion ocean.

An American, working a Parisian restraunt. Just a great human story from the street levels of hot, gritty, social, Paris.

Wonderful story of perseverance and people

Good story well presented I was drawn into the web of people and their lives.

Food

Interesting book especially if you've ever lived in France Parish Paris Paris Paris I live there for 4 years From America

Inside look at a misunderstood profession

Realistic life struggle in a foreign country with remarkable adaptation to the hardship of persevering.

Honest memoir of the most famous place to go in Paris…really

This was a candid autobiographical memoir, one that was both, honest, refreshing, surprising, believable and easy to listen to. I have spent 1/3 of my life visiting and living in Paris and I not only could visualize the entire book, in a way I’m fairly certain tourists do not, but longed for more, that is to say, despite what I now know. As for myself a life long restaurant patron and having knowledge not only from books but a tiny stint in a restaurant and so very many friends who have and still are in the business, I was surprised in each chapter at my ignorance with regards to at least Paris. . Edward Chisholm was remarkably companionate and respectful to those he worked with that it never felt uncomfortable or disrespectful, as some ‘tell-all’s’ can be. , It is an honoring memoir. I look forward to his next book.

Wonderful read

I am a huge fan of memoirs, and typically, successful memoirists are people who have lived extraordinary lives with extraordinary stories to tell. Those must be the easier memoirs to write, I think. This book, however, is a feat in that it does honor to the lived experiences of people who have always been considered less than the rest of society. I followed the daily ups and downs in these memories with enthusiasm, relishing the moments of triumph and feeling despair when the players had a cold look at their circumstances. As a bartender and hard working academic, I was particularly impressed with the author’s ability to communicate how ready society is to overlook the struggles of people they consider to be lower class than themselves - merely by virtue of sitting at a table rather than standing by it.

I bought a hard copy from politics and prose in Washington D.C., as well as the audiobook, and I am recommending this book to all of my friends in the service industry.