Elbow Room bids a fond farewell to ‘Miss Carol,’ waitress retiring after 55 years

On Friday morning, the private room at Bagel Lovers on Osborn Avenue was filled with people awaiting the arrival of one special lady: 81-year-old Carol Keller of Westhampton Beach, recently retired from her job as a waitress at Cliff’s Elbow Room in Jamesport…after serving customers for an incredible 55 years. 

When the guest of honor came through the door, her family, friends and co-workers greeted her with cheers and applause. There were lots of hugs, many of them tearful. Several guests called out “Miss Carol” which is her workplace nickname. She’s “Grammy Carol” to her family.

She made the rounds in the room, beaming from all the heartfelt congratulatory wishes. If it weren’t for developing macular degeneration, causing blurred vision, Carol said she’d probably still be working.

“I loved my job and the customers,” she said. “It always felt like home.” 

Carol credits her job with keeping her fit. She still rakes her own leaves, she said.

She has a larger than life personality, as many party guests affirmed. on Friday, Carol reminisced about giving the restaurant’s cooks a hard time. “I used to fight with the cooks. I’d yell ‘where’s my food?’” she recalled,  pounding her hand on the table.

“She’s feisty, spunky and subordinate!” said Jacquie Buttafuoco, Carol’s manager for the last 27 years. “She has zero filter and she’s an extreme worker.” 

Carol was dedicated to her customers, Buttafuoco said. When Carol suffered an aneurysm, she was back on the job in just two weeks. “I hope she knows how much we appreciate her,” Buttafuoco said.  “She gave us her best years.”

For as long as Angel Chituk can remember, Carol has been “like my bonus grandma.”  Chituk, who is the restaurant owner’s daughter and a waitress, said it was Carol who taught her how to clear and bus tables. And before Angel turned 18, Carol wouldn’t let her serve guests alcoholic drinks. But the day after she turned 18, Carol told her “Get to work! You can bring drinks!” 

Cliff Saunders, owner of both North Fork “Elbow” restaurants — the Elbow Room in Jamesport and the Elbow Too in Laurel —and Cliff’s Rendezvous in Riverhead, said his dad hired Carol in 1970 and, he thinks, put her to work that same day. 

“It’s like she was always here,” Saunders said. “She had a unique way with customers. She was sassy and people would eat it up.” Keller would joke with customers “You’re not going to eat all your fries? then you don’t get dessert!” 

Her customers loved her. While waitressing, she would also hold customers’ babies while the parents ate. “I would bond with them and years later some of the parents came back to ask, ‘Do you remember me?’ and I did!”

Saunders added that Carol was the type of waitress he could count on to always fill in for other employees.  

As guests at the celebration ate wraps and sandwiches while some of the young guests grabbed big chocolate chip cookies, Carol stood up to announce she had something to say. 

“I want to thank Cliff and Chris [Cliff’s wife]. I’m so happy, thrilled and, you can tell, a little tearful that you let me work for you. How blessed I am for this job, my son, my grandkids and my great grandchildren. Thank you!”  

Then Carol did something a lot of customers saw and heard over the years:  her mantra and her dance. 

“Think young, stay young and act young!” Carol chanted. Then she did a little dance, her hips swinging. That brought the house down.

Several family members and friends then presented Carol with retirement gifts. As she unwrapped one box, Christina Saunders, Cliff’s wife,  joked, “We got you roller skates!” 

The box contained a carved glass plaque inscribed with a wishes for “beauty and brightness” in her next chapter.

Carol’s co-worker for 30 years, Terri Krumbiegel of Riverhead, said Carol was a very diligent worker. “I still do the crazy side work like she did in the restaurant, setting up the dressings, sour cream, napkins, etc. She taught me everything,” Krumbiegel said. She was almost like a drill sergeant.” 

Always the waitress — even at her own party— Carol cut and served her retirement cake to her guests.

Riverhead Town Supervisor Timothy Hubbard, whose daughter Paige is married to Keller’s grandson, said everyone knows Carol. “It’s incredible that she worked so long at one restaurant. She’s an icon and such a sweet lady.”  

Several friends were there too for the party; friends who now drive Carol to her doctor’s appointments and shopping, since her vision prevents her from driving herself now.

“This was a wonderful celebration. Now she’s going to spend more time with us and her family,” said Jane Behrens of Hampton Bays.

What’s next for this woman who has served so many people on the North Fork? “I don’t have any hobbies, so I have no idea yet what I will do.” 

Carol has another celebration coming up: She turns 82 on Monday.