MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY

WAITER

“I wanted to work as a waiter in this all-black blues bar in Austin, Texas, because I loved the music. So the owner goes, ‘Okay, come in tomorrow at 9am.’ When I did he said, ‘Go back to the bathrooms with Carl and mop up.’ Carl was his brother. After about 20 minutes of mopping I hear this voice behind me: ‘Man, put that mop down. You really want to work here, don’t you?’ He was initiating me, to see if I really wanted the job. And I got it. I was the first white and the first male to wait tables in that place.”