Phyllis Sanders was born around 1923. She began to work at the Woman’s Industrial Exchange in 1939 when she was about 16 years old, after graduating from vocational school. She was best friends with fellow waitress Rosalie Simon, to whom Phyllis referred the waitressing job.
When she started at the Exchange, Phyllis operated the Down Under Club where she signed membership cards. Phyllis worked at the Exchange throughout the 1990s as a cashier; however, there was no register, so she counted the change from a wooden cash drawer. Phyllis is said to have been the longest-employed Exchange lady, working there until at least 2001, 62 years after her start. She only took time off of work when she had a baby. Otherwise, she was always working.
Don’t go in the exit door, you heard it. Not to mention you could knock someone over with a tray full of food, but at the end of the day Miss Phyllis would say, ‘you went in that out door a few times.’
When I started eating there, Phyllis Sanders was the waitress and had been for a long time and knew all these gentlemen and they all knew her.
Sources:
“Interview with Layne Bosserman.” Jensen Armstrong et al., March 23, 2023.
“Preserved in Aspic Genteel…” Baltimore Sun, November 9, 1995.
“Restaurants Reopen to Warm Greetings by Regulars.” Baltimore Sun, August 27, 1985.
“The Pace is Still Unhurried at the Exchange, Now 110.” Baltimore Sun, January 22, 1992.