Anything for a buck

It probably caught the attention of every local person watching 60 Minutes on Sunday night -- as well as anyone who has ever driven by the South of the Border billboards along Interstate 95.

Quiet, dignified and powerful, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that he once worked at the kitschy tourist mecca that straddles the border of North and South Carolina.

He waited tables, and he wore a poncho, just like the Pedro mascot.

It was a summer job while Bernanke was a student at Harvard. His hometown is Dillon, S.C., and he needed money to pay his way through school.

Bernanke once had job at South of the Border (Fayetteville Observer, 19 March 2009)