What Goes on Inside a Servers Mind?
Image working as a server and you are given five tables where you are responsible for all functions for that section. Several times throughout the shift they will be seated with multiple tables at one time. First you must take all the orders for that table in a reasonable amount of time. Then you must order the appetizer and alcoholic beverages for all tables. Afterwards you must go to the bar and wait for the bartender to make your drinks. Still keeping an eye out for any other tables you might get. After the appetizers and drinks have been severed you must order the entrees. If you are a minute late in this timing your customers will be waiting a long time to eat and this action may reduce your tip.
They must keep an eye out for the entrees to be ready in the kitchen. They must correctly time to visit the kitchen to see if it is ready. While all this is going on for the three tables that you have you may receive another table. The process starts all over again. However, you still have entrees and drinks to bring out to current customers. Now if it was always smooth like this there will be no challenge. After delivering some food the order is wrong. You have to make time to correct the issue. Even after the food was delivered correctly you must check back with a few bites to see if there is anything else that the customers might need.
Restaurant servers will develop great memory and tactics in customer service. They have to handle many situations and criticisms throughout their shifts. Even when a situation occurs they can not forget about their other customers. They have to walk and be on your feet for hours at a time. I can compare the job with juggling. Start out with three balls while someone throws another one and another one at you. Only the most intelligent and hard working individuals will become a great server. I would say throughout my entire career being a server was probably the toughest position I ever had.
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16 Comments
Post a CommentWaitressing sucks! I did it in my early 20's for a very brief time.. will never happen again.. I am not a patient person.. lol!
I've done it, and worse. Everyone who eats out should have to spend at least one night as server, to gain better appreciation of how hard it really is.
This is a fascinating glimpse of a server! A restaurant with professional quality servers is usually well thought of, pricier and popular in my former neck of the woods (Long Island). A great place in NYC to catch professional servers at work is Patsy's Restauarant near Broadway. They are so good, they get you out of the restaurant in plenty of time to see your show, if you tell them where you are going and give them a reasonable amount of time, and you never feel rushed. :)
I was a waitress for seventeen years, and it was so much harder than any other job I've ever had including being a cashier! Working as a server in a busy place is equivillent to being a marathon runner. I started when the waitress wage was only $1.00 an hour and your tips were your survival. Most people don't know that servers usually don't make minimum wage in a lot of places, and in some places the server has to share a tip with the bartender and/or the busboy. And to mention a few more things, refilling Iced Tea, Coffee, and water glases, are a constant, usually one table doesn't need it when another table does, then you have those people who can't make up their mind what to order, once you have started taking the orders at a table you can't put them on hold to get another table's orders out. The server takes the heat for a cook's mistakes, and most servers have to work extra time that they are not making tips, setting up before and
cleaning and refilling after a shift. ~ PEACE ~
You are exactly right. I made my best money waiting tables, but couldn't ever do it for long periods of time due to the degradation factor.
I'm sure that working as a waiter or waitress is a very tough job. I was also thinking of how they also have to deal with rude, impatient customers at times. That must make their job even harder to handle.
Sophie
Thank you for writing pieces like this. There are may jobs that people will assume are easy or somehow require less aptitude than others. This is often not the case. People should respect those of all professions, they could be your boss someday.
I can only imagine !!...Great Article !!
Excellent article!! I've thought for a long time that the servers have a hard job and I really don't think I could do it.
I definitely have a great deal of respect for servers. Sometimes I wonder how they are able to get through the day without bashing someone in the head with a plate.