Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs There were other eye-rolling moments, such as when elderly members would reach for the smoked salmon and caviar canapes and unwittingly drag their tuxedo cuffs through the avocado mousse.As a poor uni student, I would savour the schadenfreude moments. Like the time one member threw a 21st birthday party for his son and during the speeches discovered his son had frequently used dad’s Roller to ferry his private schoolmates around Melbourne. Athenaeum Club Foundation Day Dinner 1988, with waiter Simon Rowe at the back on the right.There were also unnerving situations. A female wedding guest once turned to accept a glass of champagne from my tray — and screamed. She said I looked exactly like her son’s best friend who had been killed in a car accident the week before.Although there was a no-tipping policy, older club members would slip us a “gratuity” at the end of a private dinner. The working conditions were some of the best a waiting staff in Melbourne could hope for. These included staff meals, paid taxi home, end-of-year cash bonus, and a staff Christmas party.A typical evening shift would entail setting up a private dining room, readying drinks and canapes, opening wines, and ensuring the plate warmers were on.LoadingWhen the guests arrived, we would offer drinks, and when ready, seat them for dinner. All courses were “silver-served”, meat from platters, and soup from hot and heavy tureens which we handled nervously.A lunchtime barbecue grill was located beside the swimming pool and on Fridays and I would sometimes be sent to help. One day the “grill master” called in sick. Overwhelmed with orders, I over-juggled the rare, medium, and well-done steaks and received a lecture from one of the regular members. Seeing my downcast expression, his guest tapped my arm later and whispered that it was the best eye-fillet he had ever had.There were other wonderful guests. One of the nicest was Cathy Freeman. She smiled a lot and thanked the staff for everything. This was pre-Sydney 2000 and she had an aura that said was capable of great things. The other was Bryce Courtenay. I gave up my dinner break to listen to him tell a full dining room the story of how, against his agent’s advice, he had held out for a $1 million rights offer for The Power of One before it was even published.During my time at the club, women were admitted as guests of members only. There were female staff, of course, but I still remember the night of the Club’s Foundation Day Dinner in 1988 when the president asked all the female staff to leave the room for the group photograph. I have a copy of this and whenever I look at it, I remember my experience at the Athenaeum Club as one of life’s more surreal moments.Simon Rowe is a Japan-based writer and author of Mami Suzuki: Private Eye (Penguin Random House).The Opinion newsletter is a weekly wrap of views that will challenge, champion and inform your own. Sign up here.
