A Saucy Octogenarian Waitress

Fri Oct 17 NEW YORK –-A petite, white-haired and 88 years old Rose Donaghey is a bit of a legend in the East Bronx, so well-liked and well-known that she can attract business to a new restaurant — as she's doing these days at the Wicked Wolf( Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m). If you ask Rosie the waitress what's in the meat loaf, she's likely to tell you, "It's made of old socks." "Any time you joke with her, she jokes back,""She always tries to order for you. You ask for a burger well done and she says, `I'll have it cremated.'"
Other waitresses enter her orders into the computer. She brought a Budweiser instead of a Bud Light to one table, but turned it into a joke: "I'd blame the bartender," she whispered. Order clams and she'll say, in her delightful Northern Ireland brogue, "I'd rather be shot than eat clams."

Kathy Gallagher previously the restaurant's manager at Charlie's Inn, a German-Irish hangout hired Donaghey 14 years ago. Gallagher nows under the Wicked Wolf called and hired Donaghey Gallagher (again) two months ago. Rose McElroy, born in 1920 in County Tyrone, married James Donaghey in 1947. They came to America in 1949 from Northern Ireland.

Gallagher says Donaghey's success is built on "her personality and her charm — she's a little bit of a spitfire. ... She can take orders, come out and serve people, and then talk to them and keep them entertained. I know they're coming in to see her."

Gallagher beleives Donaghey extra income goes into the church basket as she takes in a Mass every day, in person or on TV. "I guess it's the blarney," Donaghey said Asked what it takes to be a great waitress. VIA

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