THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 1, 1996 TAG: 9608280046
SECTION: REAL LIFE PAGE: K1 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: MY JOB
SOURCE: BY WENDY GROSSMAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 102 lines
WITH A BLUE napkin, Derrick Williams moves around the table polishing forks, spoons and knives.
In 20 minutes passengers will start boarding the Spirit of Norfolk for the ``Caribbean Night'' dinner cruise 10 miles down the Elizabeth River. And there's not going to be a spot on Derrick's dinnerware.
He grabs a tray and steps back behind the wait station.
Guests start coming in. Ten minutes go by. Derrick's tables are still empty.
``Great,'' says Williams who is a server/performer on the ship. ``My tables (are) going to be late, so I'm going to be slammed - I'll have to rush.''
Eight women come in and sit down in his section.
A tour group.
He makes $2.13 an hour, but if the tips are good he averages about $75 a night. Sometimes he gets more than $100.
``She gave me a group. Sometimes they don't tip,'' says Derrick, frowning at his manager. ``Tonight might not be my $100 night.''
Derrick walks over to the table. A grin spreads across his face.
Whether he's bringing (food and drink orders) or singing, the grin is part of his uniform.
He's used to it, he says.
Back in February, Williams, 18, auditioned for the job so he could work with his cousin. Then he went through a week of training with daily quizzes and a (now condensed) 44-page exam. He works on the Spirit of Norfolk once a week.
Derrick takes drink orders for the next table and then jogs down to the galley to get the champagne and shrimp cocktails for Bob and Cindy Millard. Tonight's their 25th wedding anniversary.
There's eight other wedding anniversaries, 15 birthdays and a pair of honeymooners aboard.
His tables begin to hit the buffet line. There's roast beef, roast pork loin, chicken with black bean sauce, corn relish and sausage, chicken with citrus fruit, chutney and cheese tortellini.
Derrick clears away plates smeared with cranberry salad dressing and bits of lettuce.
Then he and the rest of the staff grab mikes and straw hats. And start singing and dancing.
Derrick comes off the floor sweating. His throat's a little sore. But he's smiling.
His first table is ready for dessert. He grabs three cheesecakes and two strawberry mousses out of the fridge.
The orange sunset streaks the water. Bob and Cindy Millard look out the window watching two dolphins softly leap in the warm water.
Derrick leans back and the plate on his tray crashes to the ground.
He hasn't broken a plate since his second week.
He picks up the pieces and then scurries back to the wait station. In the storage cabinet he digs his duffel bag out from under five backpacks. He pulls out his black Capezio jazz shoes and trades in his wing tips.
It's show time. He grabs a black hat and begins dancing.
``Is that Derrick?'' asks Marie Hudson who's celebrating her 25th wedding anniversary with husband, Dale. She sets her champagne glass down and stands up to get a better look.``Oh, he's good.''
His crewmates don't call him ``Dancing Derrick'' for nothing.
Derrick, who graduated from Lake Taylor High School, auditioned for Kings Dominion when he was 15. He made it, but they said he was too young. Last year he was scheduled to audition for Busch Gardens, but that day a Virginia Stage Company performer got sick, and Derrick was the understudy.
This March he was offered a small scholarship to The University of Arts in Philadelphia. But he's not going just yet.
``School will always be there,'' he says. He hasn't been dancing all that long, he says. Derrick took his first technique classes two years ago. His other nights are filled choreographing and performing in the Founders Inn production of ``Five Guys Named Moe.''
Performers on the Spirit get three months to learn the show. Derrick had it down in three days.
It's not an easy job. Some guys split their pants doing kicks. Derrick pulled his back out doing a jump. They told him to go home, but he kept dancing.
You gotta sweat if you're gonna make it to Broadway.
Derrick grabs his tray and a fresh Budweiser for Bob Millard.
Back against the window, Dale Hudson's chin is propped up on his fist as he stares out at the charcoal water. His wife's boss had offered him tickets to the Tides game. What's the score, he wonders.
``These people shouldn't get paid,'' he says, gesturing to the floor where Derrick is dancing. ``They look like they're having too much fun.''
Derrick delivers one more round of drinks with the tab.
At five 'til 10, shaking noise makers, the guests line up at the door as the ship docks.
The wait staff scurries around clearing off dessert plates, empty champagne flutes and picking up streamers. They compare tips.
``I made bus fare,'' one girl grumbles. She got $2. ``Sometimes I don't think it's worth it to do the show and everything - I might as well work at Denny's.''
Derrick says he did ``OK.'' He made $75.
He tosses some brochures from his table into the trash, blows out the candle and bundles up the white tablecloth. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
RICHARD L. DUNSTON/The Virginian-Pilot
Derrick Williams is known as ``Dancing Derrick'' aboard the Spirit
of Norfolk. by CNB