Furthermore, the nature of service work itself discouraged idealization of the male. Unlike many working women who were either segregated from or subordinate to men at work, waitresses interacted constantly with male customers, supervisors, and co-workers, often “initiating action” with bartenders, cooks, and customers rather than responding to their demands. They were confronted daily with the foibles of men and could observe first-hand the battleground of the sexes by watching the stratagems of other waitresses in dealing with male customers, co-workers, and bosses. Waitress Mame Dugan's reaction in O. Henry's short story “Cupid à la Carte” was rather extreme: she refused to marry because “after watching men eat, eat, eat…they're absolutely nothing but something that goes in front of a knife and fork and plate at the table.” But many waitresses had “met man face to face” and discovered “that the reports in the Seaside Library about his being a fairy prince lacked confirmation.” The work of serving food and the peer culture developed at the workplace undermined rather than reinforced romantic fantasies.86