Oral History Interview with Laura Miller, October 30, 2014 Page: 3 of 25
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didn't get in, and in retrospect I am happy because I went to the University of Wisconsin-
Madison, and I had a wonderful time. I had a great college experience and loved it. But
anyway, my message to all young girls is to not to listen the teacher who tells you just to
chill out in school.
Chase: I really hope we don't have any more like that, in the school telling people that.
Laura: I hope so, yeah. Everyone loved him, because he was so cool. And of course, my
parents never were engaged so they didn't catch this -- that this was a turning point for
me. But I was also busy in high school; because when I was 14 I walked into a Greek
luncheonette in downtown Stamford, and the owner said, "Would you like to be a
waitress?" and I said, "I would love to be a waitress." He said, "Well, are you 16?" and I
said, "No," and he said, "Well, just don't tell anyone." So from 14 until I graduated high
school, I worked in a greasy spoon in downtown Stamford and loved it. I loved it. I
worked every day after school. On Saturday mornings the owner would pick me up at
home at 5:30, and he and I would open the store, and then I would work all day. It was
really fun, and I was really on it. For years I stayed in touch with people that I served.
Chase: So was greeting the people, and meeting the people that you liked?
Laura: Mostly it was the pressure of taking orders at noon in downtown Stamford,
people lined up for tables, and just the chaos of being a waitress.
Chase: So you thrive in high intensity?
Laura: Thrive, yeah. And I had dishes up my arms. You know, I was the man, doing the
serving.
Chase: And you were happy, smiling the whole time.
Laura: So happy, and I always made enough money to get the bus home at night after
work. It was funny. And my dad always said, "What are you doing? Why are you
working as a waitress in downtown Stamford and taking the bus every night?" and I was
like, "Because it's cool. It's awesome. I'm really good at this." On Sunday mornings I
would take the owner's car, his old station wagon. I would take it home and wash it in the
driveway. I was a lunatic. (laughs)
Chase: I mean, that just doesn't happen anymore. You don't just walk into somewhere,
especially as a 14-year-old, and are offered a job.
Laura: Oh yeah. It was amazing. I was so flattered. And I wore a candy stripe uniform,
white knee-high socks and saddle shoes. It was really great, a little apron.
Chase: You were a caricature, then?
Laura: I was a caricature. I was voted most unpredictable in my senior class. (laughs)
Chase: I'm starting to see why.
Laura: I use to stand outside the diner, and I would wave my dishtowel in my little candy
stripe uniform, and my marching band from my high school would go down and would
go, "Oh God, there she is! Miss Unpredictable, there she is!" (laughs) I never went to one
football game in high school, because I was always at work. It was so funny.
Chase: But they still knew who you were.
Laura: Oh yeah. It was very funny.
Chase: So what got you into journalism? I mean you were involved in all of this stuff in
journalism in high school, but was it just kind of a fluke? Did you decide go and do it?
Laura: When I was very little in Concord, I use to lie under the covers and write novels
in little notebooks. I wish I still had them. I wrote a wonderful novel off of the Harriet
Tubman character, and I loved reading. I loved penmanship. Like when I do The New
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Carter, Chase & Miller, Laura. Oral History Interview with Laura Miller, October 30, 2014, text, October 30, 2014; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth586995/m1/3/: accessed June 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Frank W. and Sue Mayborn School of Journalism.