Society's Most Discerning Gazette • Purveyor of Truths Both Warm & Well-Worn by Two Decades of Devotion

The Woman Who Never Left — & Never Once Forgot Your Name

On Amanda Strawhacker, Known Fondly Throughout Town as "Fishtale," & the Establishment She Has Quietly Held Together Since She Was Barely a Teenager

Dear gentle reader,

Your correspondent has, over the course of this gazette's tenure, introduced you to mayors and painters and bakers of considerable distinction. But she confesses that none of them have arrived quite so thoroughly beloved before your correspondent even set quill to paper as this week's subject — a woman known throughout New Prague simply, and rather affectionately, as Fishtale.

Her name is Amanda Strawhacker, and if you have ever stepped foot inside Fishtale Bar & Grill more than once, your correspondent suspects you already know precisely why she deserves this dispatch. She does not merely work there. She is, by every account this gazette has gathered, the very glue holding the place together.

She began as a teenage busser, hostess, and dishwasher. The service industry, dear reader, is not known for keeping people in one place for long. Amanda showed up to work — and simply never left.

The origin story, as best your correspondent can piece together, is delightfully unglamorous in the way the very best ones are. A young girl took a job bussing tables, washing dishes, hosting the door. And rather than moving on to the next thing, as this industry so often demands of its workers, she stayed. Over half her life now, dear reader, has been spent inside those same walls — rising, in time, to General Manager, and earning, along the way, the rather perfect unofficial title of Ms. Fix-It.

What she has built there is not merely a career. It is a culture. Your correspondent is told, in no uncertain terms, that the low staff turnover at Fishtale over all these years traces directly back to Amanda's leadership — the kind that keeps people wanting to stay, the same way she herself never wanted to leave.

Ask anyone who has dined at Fishtale more than once, and they will tell you the same thing without prompting: she never forgets a name, and she never forgets a face. Her laughter is contagious. Her sense of humor is sharp. And yet her professionalism, your correspondent is assured, never once slips beneath it.

She is, beyond the restaurant, a mother of four daughters — carting them to sporting events and plays with the same quiet devotion she brings to a dining room full of regulars. In her rare moments of rest, she can be found power walking her dog through town in the mornings, or — and your correspondent finds this detail rather delicious — curled up at home with a True Crime podcast or a Dateline rerun.

She is, your correspondent is reliably informed, something of a master riddle solver — a detective in a former life, one suspects, given her genuine devotion to true crime. Your correspondent finds this considerably more interesting than most restaurant managers' hobbies.

And here, dear reader, is the detail your correspondent finds most charming of all: she reportedly holds the record for the most Dožínky Days medallions found right here in New Prague — a title not easily surrendered — while also making a considerable habit of hunting down medallions at similar celebrations throughout the area and across the state. One does not accumulate such a record through luck alone. Your correspondent suspects a sharp mind and considerable patience are involved.

Ask around town, and you will find a peculiar unanimity of opinion on the subject of Amanda Strawhacker — your correspondent has, after considerable inquiry, been unable to locate a single soul with an unkind word to offer. She is described, again and again, as caring, positive, and endlessly supportive of her family, her friends, and her community. She may present as giggly and modest, but those who know her best describe someone fierce and unwavering underneath — the sort of loyalty that does not announce itself, but simply shows up, every single time.

Your correspondent is told, with a wink she can practically hear through the page, that the hardest workers also know how to let loose properly — and that Amanda, after a long shift, is no exception among her Fishtale comrades. She works tirelessly. She also, quite responsibly, knows how to enjoy an evening of laughter and drinks with the people she calls family. Your correspondent considers this an entirely necessary balance.

One nomination for this dispatch put it more plainly than your correspondent ever could — that of everyone met in nearly twenty years in this town, Amanda's soul and nature are what all of New Prague should strive to embody. Caring. Positive. Endless in her support of the people around her. And, despite knowing full well the esteem in which she is held, she remains — by every account — the most humble and hardworking person this town can claim.

New Prague, and Fishtale itself, would simply not be what they are to so many of us without Amanda making her rounds through the dining room, table by table, laugh by laugh. Your correspondent submits that this is no small legacy to have built.

So the next time you find yourself at Fishtale, spooning up a bowl of Vomáčka or sipping one of her own specialty cocktails, take a moment to notice the woman moving through the room with a smile that has clearly never once been forced. New Prague is rather fortunate to call her its own.

Fishtale Bar & Grill — New Prague.

Amanda Strawhacker, General Manager — known to all of us, simply, as Fishtale.

Two decades of service, one town's undivided affection.

Your correspondent remains, as always, watching — and this week, rather craving a bowl of soup and good company.

— A Lady Who Knows Where the Warmest Welcome in Town Is Found