Called back to life: Boss' wake-up call stops

[BERIGAN]

Called back to life: Boss' wake-up call stops waiter at death's door

By O'Ryan Johnson

Saturday, December 25, 2004

Bill DiPasquale lost his waiter's job, locked himself in his Revere apartment and drank himself into a deep sleep the first week of the month.

All hope seemed lost a week ago when family members, sitting in grim vigil, pulled the plug on life support. Then a friend delivered a gruff message from DiPasquale's boss, restaurant mogul Charles Sarkis.

``Get your ass back to work.''

Five minutes later, in a whisper that hit a Massachusetts General Hospital room like a thunderbolt, DiPasquale awoke saying, ``I've got to get to work.''

His would-be mourners were stunned. The coma had broken. They were his first words in weeks.

DiPasquale worked at Abe & Louie's, the tony Boylston Street steakhouse, ever since they seared their first rib eye six years ago. But alcohol, his perpetual enemy, made him unreliable, Sarkis said, and the restaurant manager made the difficult decision to cut DiPasquale late last month.

So the quirky man with the on-spot comic timing, whose hobby is making crossword puzzles, retreated from life outside his home, taking with him booze and Kitty, the cat he'd rescued from a feline shelter. He said he never expected to open the door again.

Relatives found him at home about Dec. 2 near death. Doctors told the family it may be too late.

On a lark, DiPasquale's longtime customer and friend Pamela Rogal called Sarkis, to pass on the sad news. Sarkis owns 36 restaurants and employs 4,000 workers. But he knew DiPasquale, and still hangs on to one of the waiter's crossword puzzles.

``You tell him to wake up, get out of bed, and get his ass back to work,'' Sarkis recalled saying.

But family members told her it was too late.

``They said he was passing away,'' she said. ``I said `You have to tell him what Charlie said.' ''

Ralph Nash, another one of the original waiters at Abe & Louie's, was sitting by his bedside. He leaned close to DiPasquale's ear and said, ``Charlie says to get out of bed and get your ass back to work,'' Rogal said.

She said what happened next is a Christmas miracle, brought about by Sarkis and DiPasquale's friends and fellow waiters.

As for Sarkis, he's passing on the credit.

``I don't make miracles,'' he said. ``Only one guy makes miracles.''

DiPasquale, who dabbled in theater, said God is giving him another chance.

``I think God said it's not my time yet,'' DiPasquale said from his hospital bedroom. ``I feel like I've been given two strikes by God. He's telling me, `Now, if you want to be struck out, have another drink.' It will not happen. . . . The show must go on.''

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional...articleid=60413

Edited December 25, 2004 by BERIGAN