After I retired in 1940, I have been urged by friends and family, to put down on paper, my many experiences in the vocation which I had adopted, the … - Thorvald Martin Tandberg

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After I retired in 1940, I have been urged by friends and family, to put down on paper, my many experiences in the vocation which I had adopted, the hotel and restaurant field. I know that a Memoir [is] generally written [about] services to mankind, I can lay no claim to hotel and restaurant field. I know that a memoir is written about men or woman, that [have] achieved greatness through services to mankind, such as writers, scientists or industrialists. I can make no claim to such recognition, however, as my services [have] been required in higher places, which only a few get a chance to accomplish, many in our line of business often remain at the same jobs their whole life without having the opportunity to advance themselves to higher offices. Many have tried, but only a few are chosen. I have been fortunate of being one of the few, as I at an early age of 29 became manager of one of the finest resort hotels in Norway, after spending nine years learning, first the kitchen, then the dining room, then the front office and so on. It was a wise man that made this statement: "Do not slight the man on your way up, for you will meet him on your way down". How true, for after having been on the top and as you grow older one begins to slide back. Edgar Guest has written, that it takes a heap of living to make a home, and its from the heap, that I have plucked the scraps.