Stephanie Kissner’s heart sank just a little when the woman waved her down.

It was near the end of another busy Sunday at Ridgway’s True Grit Cafe in the midst of a draining summer for Ouray County’s service industry. The search for employees has often proved futile, wait times can be long and tempers among some customers are short. Bartender Dani Bond told the customer and her husband earlier in the evening that everyone in the kitchen was working a double shift that day.

So when the woman ...