TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

A Barn Full Of Bern's Stories

Photo by DEREK MAUL

It has been almost four decades since Bern's Steak House founder Bern Laxer hired Ron Mercer to wash dishes. By the time Mercer, of Brandon, retired, he had worked as a waiter for 37 years.

ADVERTISEMENT

By DEREK MAUL

Tribune correspondent

Published: February 11, 2009

It has been almost four decades since Bern's Steak House founder Bern Laxer hired Ron Mercer to wash dishes.

By the time Mercer retired in November, he had worked as a waiter for 37 years.

"Bern was one of the best persons I've ever worked for," he said.

"Bern and Gertrude Laxer gave me a real chance at life," Mercer said. "Bern said he hired me because I was green. He could train me to do it his way. He was a perfectionist, but if you showed him you would work hard, he'd do everything he could for you.

"I worked hard. I loved the job, and I love people," Mercer said. "At Bern's, you can't make many mistakes, or you wouldn't still be there."

Hired in 1969, Mercer soon made his way onto the floor, where he served customers as varied as President George H.W. Bush and former first brother Billy Carter.

"When I served George Bush '41 former President George Bush Sr., he was there with former Florida Gov. Bob Martinez," Mercer said. "That was one of the highlights. Then, Billy Carter was a very funny person - I think he'd quit drinking by that time."

Serving Chateaubriand with $500 bottles of wine was nowhere on the radar when Mercer's family left Georgia in 1940 to work the Hardee County fields in Central Florida.

"My father came for a better life," he said. "He worked for the Latt Maxcy Corp. out of Frostproof. We farmed on the side - peas, beans, squash and eggplant - then set up at night to shell."

Education simply wasn't an option.

"I never went to high school," he said. "I had to go to work when I was 14 years old. Hoeing, pruning, driving the tractor."

In 1959, Mercer joined the Army National Guard. The next year, he met his wife, Mildred. They were married in 1961.

"I worked with the range cattle experimental station at the University of Florida before moving to Tampa to get into construction work," he said. "Next, I sold food products to grocery stores. I took on with Bern's Steak House for extra income in 1969. We moved to Brandon in 1975."

Taking the job with Bernard Laxer changed everything for Mercer.

"I certainly met some characters," he said. "I remember when crime novel author Mickey Spillane came in. On his way out, he went over to our first-ever lady server, and he hugged her. I thought she was going to go ballistic.

"Debbie Reynolds came, and she said she'd never seen a place so clean.

"One time, I waited on Howard Cosell - he was a funny guy. Miami Dolphins quarterback Bob Griese was there, too, and Larry Csonka. Perry Como used to come in a lot, and of course, Mayor Dick Greco. I served Ethel Kennedy, Merle Haggard, England's Princess Anne, and all of the local television celebrities."

When the 1984 Super Bowl came to town, Mercer served 25 members of the Oakland Raiders. "They ate some big steaks," he said. "The way they could eat, they had to win - and they did."

He respected Bern's strict autograph policy, making one exception. "Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf was the only person I ever asked for an autograph," he said. "He was one of the nicest persons in the world."

Mercer tasted every steak on the Bern's menu. "But my favorite is the 17-ounce porterhouse," he said. "I like it rare. When I started, my wife wanted hers well-done. I finally got her to medium-well. Then baked potato, a Caesar salad, French onion soup and the tuna tartar - man I tell you what - it is just heavenly."

Mercer loved his work and only retired because of health. Complications from diabetes were exacerbated when he got hit by a car crossing Brandon Boulevard in 2004.

"Now, I'm told my kidneys are failing," he said. "But I'm a positive person, and I enjoy life. I thank God I'm alive, and when things happen, my faith only becomes stronger."

The immediate future, Mercer said, involves more medical tests, visits with his twin great-grandchildren and "staying around the house to pester my wife."

MEET RONALD MERCER

BORN: Moultrie, Ga., 1942.

RAISED: Hardee County, Fla.

MARRIED: Mildred McCoy, 1961

CHILDREN: Nathanial, 1965

MOVED TO BRANDON: 1975

BIGGEST CHECK: $6,300

RETIRED: November

Derek Maul can be reached at derekmaul@gmail.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT