Maggie Rempe is one of the sweetest girls you’ll ever meet. As the cocktail waitress at Mister Sunday she appears small, but her hustle is big. Please order a drink from her this Sunday, and give her a generous tip.
MSN: Where are you from, Maggie?
Maggie: Indianola, Iowa.
MSN: How long have you lived here?
Maggie: I’ve been here about five years this summer.
MSN: What brought you to New York?
Maggie: I had this really great, terrible boyfriend that brought me to New York, and then I wanted to stay. Kicked his ass to the curb!
MSN: OK! And how did you start working with Eamon and Justin?
Maggie: I met them through Mark who owns Botanica [he also runs the bar at Mister Sunday]. Mark and I are friends, and I used to work for him at a coffee shop. He offered me a summer gig to make a little extra cash, and it’s been magic ever since.
MSN: You started working last summer, or the summer before?
Maggie: Last summer.
MSN: So other than this, what else are you up to?
Maggie: I work in a specialty coffee shop in Manhattan. I read a lot of fiction, and I write some.
MSN: What are you reading right now?
Maggie: I’m reading “Self Help” by Laurie Moore. It’s a collection of short stories.
MSN: What kind of writing do you like to do?
Maggie: Uh, short stories.
MSN: Can you give us a brief synopsis of a story that you might be working on?
Maggie: Um…one that I’m working on now is about a pair of teenagers from the Midwest whose car breaks down on the side of the road. They get into an argument, and the car belongs to one of the teenager’s parents. It’s about their argument.
MSN: Cool, excellent. What got you into writing? Reading?
Maggie: Yeah. I’ve always been bookish. And now that I’m 21, I’ve been drinkish!
MSN: Ah, sweet! You’re 21?
Maggie: Well, I’m 24, but after you turn 21 –
MSN: – You can really flesh out the whole writer-drinker thing!
Maggie: Yeah, booze and books really go together. You know, like Hemingway.
MSN: How was growing up in the Midwest?
Maggie: It’s really boring. There’s not a lot to do. So you end up watching a lot of television, listening to a lot of music, watching a lot of movies, reading a lot of books…’cause there really isn’t a lot of happening. It’s very vast. Lots of country.
MSN: So these parties were your first introduction to dance music and stuff like that?
Maggie: Yeah, well I guess when I first moved here, I would go out with my girlfriends to all the parties that I read about. Like those Ruff Club parties at The Annex. My friend Tracy worked at Webster Hall for a long time, and she was like the Queen Of Nightlife. She works at Happy Ending now.
MSN: Cool. Any parting words?
Maggie: Stay hydrated. It’s very hot out.
