History moments

Frank Woody -  One evening in October 1994, John F. Kennedy Jr. entered a small Italian restaurant in southern Manhattan and did something that the owner, Giovanni Russo, said he never forgot. Seeing that all the tables were occupied and that a young waitress, on her first night of work, was overwhelmed and on the verge of tears, John discreetly asked if he could help clear tables until the situation calmed down. Giovanni later told the New York Times that he had tried to politely refuse: “Mr. Kennedy, you are a guest, please have a seat and I’ll find you a table.”

But John smiled, rolled up his sleeves, and replied:

“I worked in a restaurant during law school and I remember how scary the first night can be. Let me help.” For the next forty-five minutes, he cleared tables, refilled water glasses, and made jokes to calm the waitress, Maria Sanchez. When the rush hour ended, he refused the free meal offered by Giovanni and instead left a hundred-dollar tip with a note: “For Maria — you’re doing great, and it gets easier, I promise.” Maria, who later became a restaurant manager, kept that note framed in every establishment where she worked for twenty-five years. In 2004, she told a journalist:

“That evening, Mr. Kennedy taught me that true class isn’t about where you sit, but about who you choose to stand beside when things get tough.”