Piccolo (waiter)

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When Piccolo , eingedeutscht also piccolo , is among other things a waiter - apprentice referred to in restaurant operations. Based on this interpretation, the term is outdated today and is no longer officially used, but was still in use long after the Second World War .

Emergence

The term taken over from the Italian language, which stands for “small” or “small”, was probably coined during the time of the KuK monarchy or in the time of the German Empire around or after 1900 and was both common and widespread . It is conceivable that the term found its way to Germany via Austria, but that can no longer be proven today.

The term was adopted because at that time underage boys were very often trained to be waiters after the eighth grade of elementary school , who naturally were usually of a smaller stature than many adults. However, the term also referred to the lower rank within the hierarchy of a catering establishment compared to the fully trained waiter.

activity

Piccolo's job was not easy. He had to learn what he must have heard (orders) and what he was not allowed to hear (confidentiality), what he had to see (e.g. the state of the guest table, something that had been dropped) and what he was not allowed to see (e.g. secret gestures and touch between guests). Actual or alleged mistakes were often passed on to him by both colleagues and guests, because he could hardly defend himself and he was most likely to make a faux pas due to a lack of experience and many years of expertise. Punishments, including physical aggression, were common. There are contemporary examples of this, such as in the stage revue Im Weiße Rößl by Erik Charell , premiered November 8, 1930.

The waiters / supervisors liked to conduct the piccolo in the sharp command tone of the time and had either the head waiter or the pay waiter as their direct superior . The latter was the only one allowed to receive payments from guests and give change or run the cash register. If there was a waiter in the respective establishment, the serving waiters and the piccolo had to rely on the departing guest to remember them positively and to personally give them an appropriate tip, either in their hand or in a side pocket of their vest, which was worn under a tailcoat has been.

The piccolo in the film

  • In the 1931 movie The Pride of the 3rd Company with Heinz Rühmann in the title role, Prince Willibald ( Adolf Wohlbrück ) arriving on the occasion of a regimental anniversary arrives in the city in an unconventional way and civilly dressed. Behind the large, expectant and curious crowd waiting for him to arrive, he meanders undetected behind the people, amused, along the house wall towards the hotel portal. There he recognizes several hotel employees by their clothing, whose eyes are directed towards the station where Her Majesty's special train is expected. The prince approaches the liveried hotel servants from behind. After the eldest of these gentlemen (porter or head waiter) turns him away very shortly so as not to miss the prince's arrival, the prince taps Piccolo, who is waiting next to him and who is recognizable by his smaller body size and age, on the shoulder (from 56:55 min .) to draw attention to yourself. Even the latter, however, quickly rejects him with a brusque wave of the hand, without actually turning to the prince and looking him in the face. Like the rest of the hotel staff, Piccolo is dressed in black trousers, a black tailcoat, black waistcoat and white shirt-front with a wing collar and black bow tie, his hairstyle lying flat on his head appears gelled with pomade . He holds the white cloth that goes with the Piccolo or waiter's equipment in his hand. In a later scene (from 1:00:32) it is this Piccolo who, again with his white cloth in hand, informs the city dignitaries and the garrison commanders who are waiting in vain at the station: “The prince is already with us us in the hotel ... “, whereupon the white clad maidens of honor with sashes, the uniformed men with spiked hats and the dignitaries dressed in tails and top hats go to the hotel in unreasonable haste, while the mayor has to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
  • Such a flail (1934) by Robert Adolf Stemmle . - In this first film adaptation of Heinrich Spoerl's "Feuerzangenbowle" comes Marion Eisenhut ( Ellen Frank ), the friend of the young writer Dr. Hans Pfeifer ( Heinz Rühmann ), towards the end of the film (from 1:10 hours) to a hotel where a dance evening is currently taking place, in which Pfeifer is taking part in place of his younger brother, the primary school teacher Erich Pfeifer (also Heinz Rühmann). A piccolo accompanies her from the reception to the dance hall and is supposed to give her information about the financial circumstances of the local guests. It therefore assumes that a piccolo must be oriented about it. Piccolo is dressed in black trousers, black tailcoat, black vest, white shirt and black bow tie.
  • The colleague is coming soon (1942) from Karl Anton . - Norbert Rohringer plays the 1st piccolo in this German comedy, Hans-Joachim Zell the 2nd piccolo.
  • The Feuerzangenbowle (1944) by Helmut Weiss . - In the plot of this cult film, Marion ( Hilde Sessak ), the friend of the young writer Dr. Johannes Pfeiffer ( Heinz Rühmann ) to explore his unexplained whereabouts. After clues, she follows him to the fictional town of Babenberg and asks the porter in front of the best hotel in town (from 53:25 min.) Whether a Dr. Pfeiffer lives in the hotel. The porter says no, but is then referred to a Mr. Pfeiffer by Piccolo who has joined him: “Do you remember? Who gave me the colossal tip ... “Piccolo is dressed in black trousers, black tailcoat, black vest, white shirt and black bow tie.
  • I served the English King (2006) by Jiří Menzel . - "Hear and see everything and hear and see nothing", that embodies the Piccolo ( Ivan Barnev ) of the hotel "Golden Prague" in this film.

The piccolo in literature

  • Fritz, the little Piccolo from Else Ury . In: Else Ury - Collected Works . - Short story about a piccolo who has to work hard in a train station hotel in order to earn his tip and who has received many a slap in the face from the head waiter, limited online version (Google Books).
  • Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále , German translation: I served the English king by Bohumil Hrabal . - At the age of fourteen, the protagonist of the filmed novel begins his apprenticeship as Piccolo in a small hotel in a small town. Via the “Tichota” hotel in a suburb of Prague, he arrives at the “Paris” hotel in the Czech capital, hears and sees everything, and gathers a lot of experience and knowledge.

The piccolo in the theater

  • The White Horse Inn by Erik Charell , premiered on Nov. 8, 1930, 416 sold-out performances to 1932 in the Grosses Schauspielhaus Berlin, Schiffbauerdamm. - Piccolo ( Manasse Herbst ) wears black trousers, black tailcoat, black vest, white shirt and black bow tie and has a large white cloth hanging down from his pocket. In the plot of the revue he has toendurenumerous gross corporal punishments and reprimands from the head waiter ( Max Hansen ).

The piccolo in advertising

The piccolo bottles containing 0.2 liters of sparkling wine were advertised by the Henkell winery from around 1935 onwards by a young and nimble-looking waiter in work clothing drawn by Fred Overbeck - the piccolo, also known as the piccolo, who brings his loaded serving tray to the guest at a sweeping pace. The associated slogan: “A big hit, the little one” was ambiguous and could be understood both in terms of the nimble Piccolo and the innovation of the Piccolo bottle.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Friedrich Kluge, Elmar Seebold: Etymological dictionary of the German language. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin and New York 2002, ISBN 3-11-017473-1 , p. 703, limited online version (Google Books).
  2. Piccolo and cashier . In: Der Standard, November 7, 2006, at: standard.at, accessed on March 31, 2016
  3. I served the English king . In: Die Zeit, August 2, 2012, on zeit.de, accessed on March 31, 2016
  4. "A piccolo fell like a small bomb." In: Fliegende Blätter , Vol. 131 (1909) p. 79.
  5. "Every piccolo of the restaurant in which Redl dined could have given it away." In: Georg Markus : Der Fall Redl . Amaltea, Vienna 1984. p. 167.
  6. The smallest waiter in the world , In: Der Tagesspiegel, February 17, 2007, on: tagesspiegel.de, accessed on March 31, 2016
  7. "And the youngest piccolo knew that if Josef brought the long Virginia after the meal was over, he had to hold it under the professor's nose first." In: Manès Sperber : Like a tear in the ocean . Europe, Berlin / Munich / Vienna / Zurich 1976. ISBN 978-3203505947 . P. 136.
  8. “… tremendous tenderness of the waiter and the piccolo to the child they took to the toilet twice. The Piccolo beamed, carried the little one, kissed it ... “In: Victor Klemperer : Collect life, don't ask why and why. - Diaries 1918-1932 structure, Berlin 1996. ISBN 978-3351023911 . P. 23.
  9. Das Kaffeehaus - Der Piccolo ( Memento of the original from April 9, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , at: wiener-kaffeehaus.at, accessed on March 31, 2016 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wiener-kaffeehaus.at
  10. “Apart from the fine hotels and restaurants, the upbringing of the waiters is almost always very poor. The young lads, the Piccolos, learn next to nothing, nobody cares about their training, the landlord and the rest of the staff only use the physical strength of the little guys as much as possible. ”In: Wolf Graf Baudissin and Eva Gräfin Baudissin : The golden one Book of Customs . Spemann, Berlin / Stuttgart 1901.
  11. Kurt Tucholsky : “From waiters who paid back what they had to endure the piccolo?” In: Die Weltbühne , No. 21, May 20, 1920.
  12. Colleague is coming soon, on: murnau-stiftung.de, accessed on May 15, 2016
  13. Bohumil Hrabal: I served the English king . Suhrkamp. Frankfurt am Main, 2003. ISBN 978-3-51845-502-9 .
  14. I served the English king . In: Die Zeit, August 2, 2012, on zeit.de, accessed on March 31, 2016
  15. Henkell & Co. Sektkellerei KG: Historische Werbung (see 1935) , from: henkell.com, accessed on March 31, 2016