Manning the order station, wrangling drunk students, and calling out names on the ticket line—all while making sure the tater tots don’t burn—is not a job for the weak. So, it’s a good thing that Pub worker Margaret Evans is strong. Literally.
Margaret’s bodybuilding days began when she was 26. She won many national titles in the female bodybuilding competition circuit, including “Miss Music City Nashville” and “Southern States”. She was also a full-trained black belt in Karate. These credentials are definitely helpful to Margaret’s current job at the Tiger Bay Pub. A portrait of Margaret, in all her bodybuilding glory, hangs behind the counter’s ketchup dispensers–it serves as a looming reminder to any student who thinks about instigating debauchery at the Pub.
With her bodybuilding days behind her, Margaret has been working with Sewanee Dining Services for the past eight years. It’s hard to imagine all of the things Margaret has witnessed during her tenure at the Pub, but one event in particular stands out. “Last year, there was a boy going around flashing everyone because it was his birthday,” she said. “I told him to get out, but before he did, everyone in the room sang him ‘Happy Birthday’.”
Putting up with drunken antics is just one of the “perks” of the job. Having lost her 17-year old daughter about two decades ago, Margaret enjoys working at the Pub because of the constant interaction with kids about the same age as her late daughter. “Working here was hard at first. It gets easier, though. You learn to deal with life as it comes.”
Margaret is certainly an expert at dealing with life “as it comes.” In January, she will celebrate her ten-year anniversary of being cancer-free. Margaret is the definition of a fighter, surviving colon, uterine, and cervical cancer. Perhaps that explains her don’t-mess-with-me attitude that has come to characterize the Pub’s most famous employee.
Though her demeanor can be intimidating at first, Margaret said there are only two main rules students need to follow in order to be on her good side: “Don’t use the ‘F’ word, and don’t ride the tiger.” While simply following the rules may be a given, Margaret believes that students should abide by the rules for their own safety. One of the most annoying things students do on the weekends, according to Margaret, is “when they throw their sauce all over the place, in the trash cans, on the walls, at each other.” Creating messes for Margaret to clean up is definitely not a way to get on her good side.
Despite being seen as a hardline rule-enforcer, Margaret insists she only makes students follow the rules for their own wellbeing. “[This job] makes you a little hard, you know, because people, they don’t really understand. Ten years from now they might regret doing some of the things they’re doing now.” That’s why Margaret spends so much time looking out for students when they come into the Pub. She has the insight to see how students’ decisions affect them long-term and cares enough about those students to make sure they’re okay.
Still, at the end of the day, Margaret likes sitting down and enjoying a good meal just like the rest of us. Her favorite Pub order? The South of the Border Burger. “The guacamole tastes so good on that meat!” And, of course, “the hot wings, definitely.”