ROCKLAND — When Marcus Carter was hired as a server at the newly opened Chowder House in the Trade Winds Motel in May, he respectfully asked the owners about the dress code. Remembering their answer a few months later—which was vague enough to invite interpretation—he wryly raises an eyebrow and says, "You just said that to an actor."

Carter, 32, of Waldoboro, is a lot of things, but actor may be the dominant theme in his personality.

He is familiar to many people around town as the guy who dresses like a pirate. But it's not a Halloween version of a pirate. Carter's take on the role is more subtle, more conceptual.

Tom Groening is editor of The Working Waterfront, published by the Island Institute.

Sure, he's got a thick mane of hair, usually pulled back in a long ponytail. Sometimes he covers his head with a "do-rag," one of those bandana things tied in the back.

He enhances his dark features with some mascara above and below his eyes.

"Play to your strengths," Carter said in explaining the look, a philosophy he cites a couple of times in conversation.

The pirate outfit has served him well at the restaurant, Carter said. He estimates that some 200 customers have taken his picture, often telling him, "Hey, this is going on Facebook."

"It won't be the first time," he thinks, each time he hears it.

He bears a resemblance to the Johnny Depp character in the Pirates of the Caribbean films, which many customers point out.

Though he has acted in community theater productions with the Camden Civic Theater, at the Waldo Theater in Waldoboro and in various student films at Maine Media Workshops in Rockport, Carter aspires to work at something that impacts people at a more personal level.

In early fall, he said, he completed a Bachelor of Science degree through the University of Maine at Augusta's Rockland campus in mental health and human services. He hopes to work at helping at-risk teens, incarcerated young adults or those struggling with drug and alcohol addictions. His interest is not purely academic.

"I kind of grew up in a crazy lifestyle," he said, with drugs and alcohol present. The family, headed by a single mother, moved from California, to New Jersey, Massachusetts and Gorham, N.H., where he attended high school.

He did not emerge from that childhood unscathed.

"I've had my own battles," he said.

But the future is what he is excited about. On this day, he's eating a late lunch at the Chowder House, having just returned from a job interview. No eye makeup, but rather a dress shirt and tie, the latter tied by his boss, the restaurant's owner, Kevin LaBree.

Both Kevin and Kathleen LaBree have been supportive of his aspirations, Carter said.

"They're really in my corner."

Another supporter to whom he is grateful is the college campus director.

"Deb Meehan is the most incredible woman," he said, who helped him manage the many hours of required but unpaid agency work while also working a full time job.

"It is a formidable commitment," he said of the degree program.

Speaking about his work at the restaurant and about his future employment, Carter said above all, he wants to be seen as professional.

"I'm charismatic, I'm fun to be with, but I'm a professional. I'm one of the top servers in this restaurant," he said, and after a perfectly timed pause, added: "And I dress as a pirate."

Building on the laugh the line gets, he said, "Not only that, but I get your food order right and I'm a good server. I want people to come in here and remember their experience."

Carter knows he's inviting stares when he sports the pirate look around town, but that's by design, at least in part.

"I like to be daring. I like to get people to think a little bit," he said, to question their biases about how others should look, about gender, about sexism and ageism.

So if you see a pirate strolling the streets of this Penobscot Bay town, not to worry. As Shakespeare wrote, "All the world's a stage," and some people are just more aware of it than others.