"What Would You Do" Films at East Meadow Eatery

Picture this scenario – a pregnant waitress is getting reprimanded by her boss for not being able to do her job correctly because, as he says, “the baby is getting in the way.” The question is…what would you do?

This was one of the two situations created recently at the in East Meadow for the ABC show, appropriately titled, “What Would You Do?” hosted by John Quiñones. The crew shot on location on Mar. 17 and Mar. 18 at the diner, which is a favorite for many local residents.

The show attempts to chronicle unsuspecting people’s reactions to varying moral and ethical circumstances. Everything is captured on hidden camera and audio recordings, with Quiñones appearing at the end of each segment asking the people why they reacted the way they did.

Mike Panagatos, the owner of the Empress Diner, explained that ABC had originally approached him to film the show in December, but he said they were too busy at that time to participate.

“They read about us being named ‘Best Diner’ in the Long Island Press and they kept us in mind in another show,” he continued. “In March they had another show and we agreed to do it.”

The crew set up a mobile command unit in the back parking lot of the diner and used one of the back private rooms to enact the situations. Everyone involved in the scene, except the unsuspecting customers, were actors. Over the course of the two-day shoot, the film crew was able to interview about 100 customers, Panagatos said.

The first situation filmed depicted a pregnant waitress dealing with a manager who was being extremely hard on her.

“We were just sitting talking to each other,” said Bellmore resident Theresa Carroll, who had come to eat breakfast with her sister, Joann Papach, of Wantagh. “[Joann] kept saying to me ‘do you hear what that manager was to that waitress.’ He was saying that the baby was getting in the way of her work.”

Both avid fans of the show, Carroll said neither of them suspected that anything was going on. While this scenario was occurring, they were joking that the situation seemed like something from “What Would You Do?” She continued by saying that her sister eventually told the manager “that is not the way to treat your employee.”

“I said that if you want to say something to employees you take them in the back,” said Carroll. “The manager then said that we were causing a scene.”

“It is awful to be treated like that–we are both moms–people should be a little more compassionate,” she added.

Levittown resident Florence Baum and her daughter, Carol, were also targets of the show – coming into the diner to get someone food and unknowingly becoming part of a well-scripted scene.

Baum said that they seated her in the back, which was unusual, but “they didn’t think anything of it.” She noted that the manager was first yelling at the waitress for not doing her job because of her pregnancy, and later fired her for “sitting down on the job.”

“I said, you seem to be doing your job,” Baum stated. “I said that is no reason to fire you–everyone gets tired every once in a while.”

That is when the cameras and Quiñones came in to surprise the mother and daughter. Both were astonished and said they watch the show regularly.

“Just because she is pregnant, I didn’t see any reason to fire the girl,” Baum said. “Everybody has their off days when they are just not that peppy.”

According to Panagatos, the second scenario was about people being unruly and doctoring their food. “They wanted to see if the customers who saw them doing it would say anything,” he said.

“I happen to watch the show and I am a fan and that is one of the reasons why I agreed,” Panagatos continued. “It was interesting to find out how people react.”

Carroll said that many of the scenes from the show are situations that can happen in real life.

“I think it makes a lot of good points,” she said.

“I really enjoy it and they really get the people to express their opinions on what is right and what is wrong,” Baum stated.

Panagatos also explained that he thought the show was good publicity for the diner because it “created a buzz.” People were coming in once they heard that the show was filming, he said.

“Hopefully when people come into the area they recognize the diner from the show,” he added.