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I'm trying to score a job in a nearby city so I can take up residence there. I've seen a few openings for waiters at some of the local resteraunts and I've been giving it some thought. I've never done waiting before, but surely it has to be somewhat more enjoyable, or at least more profitable, than minimum wage sales.

You guys have any history working at restaurants you'd like to share?

Waiters are usually cool people.


That's all I have, sorry. I was always a Dishwasher, we don't get out of the back much.

Tips will make/break you. If it's all you can find, try it out, while looking for something better.
given the economy, any job you can land is a keeper.

Couple things to think about: The hours a waiter works sucks. Nights, weekends, weekend nights, basically whenever you want to be out partying--that's when other people also want to be out partying so that's when you need to work to make the most. Depending on your wardrobe, you may be required to buy new clothes. Nicer establishments will have a dress code that is probably all black or all white, and most places will require some sort of non-skid footwear.

You want to get in at either very high traffic or very high ticket total restaurants. Your hourly wage will be next to nothing, this means you need to make the real money off of your tips. Look for the restaurants in the ritziest parts of town, or the restaurants whose parking lots always seem full. I'd avoid the all-day-buffet places like Golden Corral or Ponderosa; maybe somebody knows you can make good money there, but that seems like the worst possible mix of low-traffic, budget-level venue possible for serving staff.

Unless you are a hot chick, or have prior experience being a server, you probably won't get work immediately at the best restaurants or in the best positions. You might have to start out busing tables or washing dishes. The good news is tips typically go into a 'pool' that's split with those more menial positions, and that you can work your way up pretty quickly from those spots.

For an entry-level position, you can make some serious cash as a server. Not stripper cash, but better than minimum wage sales. The downsides are the hours, and that your wages are never guaranteed. Some nights you'll pull in $300, others you'll get $30.

When I left college I was a waiter / bar man, and on management training courses and loving every second.

I made the msitake of listening to my parents though, who wanted me to have a 'proper' job after college, and was pushed in to sales. I worked for 4 companies in sales roles in 6 years. I got no end of crap from 2, was fired for having a disability from another and sacked for not hitting target with accounts that hated the company during a recession.

I've always seen my time in the restaurant as being the best job I ever had. I had a great manager, and that's a big deciding factor, and very real progression opportunities. I had the respect of my peers & enjoyed the company of our regulars, who seemed to enjoy mine too.

Now, on the flip side, that was restaurant work where very few people got drunk as it was a drive out of town. I've worked in numerous pubs too, and hated it as there's nothing worse than drunken party goers, all who have been "stood at this bloody bar for 30 feckin' minutes" when you saw them walk in the door 2 minutes ago.

My advise; scope the joint out first as a customer, see how they treat their customers which will give you a good indication of how they treat their staff. There are numerous other benefits to doing your research too, including getting yourself known there first, familiarity may increase your chances of getting a job there (just don't be an ass when you visit!! )

kitch102 wrote:
My advise; scope the joint out first as a customer, see how they treat their customers which will give you a good indication of how they treat their staff. There are numerous other benefits to doing your research too, including getting yourself known there first, familiarity may increase your chances of getting a job there (just don't be an ass when you visit!! )

This is good advice, but service in the States is expected to be better on average than the service I got in the UK. You could feel pretty good as a customer, but the staff might still get treated somewhat-less-good.

I've worked both in a 'Gastro-Pub' and various bars and resto's.
What a few others have said is indeed true, in a lot of places your minimum wage will suck hard. Your tips will be your life, work damn hard and suck up a little bit and you should earn good money.
Yes, the hours suck and yes occasionally you will be treated with utter contempt by an utter asshat who complains about everything, sends 6 meals back and demands his wonderful bottle of Chateau Neuf Du Pap (£90 per bottle) be chilled....but I digress.
The majority of the time you will have a great time, the people you work with are vitally important however. A good manager is an absoloute necessity. A good manager will stick up for you and protect you if anything bad happens. A good manager will always take your word over a customers if something kicks off and a good manager can also tell if the customer is in the right and it's you that have been a douche!

Good luck with finding a job, and if you end up waitering, enjoy it. Get too know your regulars and you will have a great time.

Personally I'd much rather be a bartender, or even a bouncer. I've always enjoyed that kind of environment but I've never found a chance to get my foot in the door so to speak.

I recently graduated college and nothing pressing going on, and I'm not much of a party goer so that won't be an issue. As long as I get a day off during the weekend to get a little paintball time in I'll be content.

I've done research and spoken with friends about how you make a paycheck during the work. I've heard the horror stories of bad customers as well, but I imagine it's just like every other job. A customer complaining about his food is no different then someone trying act like they tripped on non existent liquid while your hauling freight.

Necroshea wrote:I've always enjoyed that kind of environment but I've never found a chance to get my foot in the door so to speak.

As long as I get a day off during the weekend to get a little paintball time in I'll be content.

If you want to do it, then do it! It can be long, hard, crappy work though.

Speaking from a year and a half of food service experience:

1. I almost guarantee you'll completely cease enjoying "that kind of environment" when you're in that environment for 10 hours a day and have to deal with the people who make that kind of environment perpetually suck.

2. Don't bank on getting a lot of weekend time off. Weekends are usually the busy times at bars/restaurants. (though it depends on the place/city)


It's the type of work that is SO day-by-day. On the good days, it was great. On the bad days, it was beyond awful.

I have 7 years restaurant experience. It was great when young, because, yeah, you may have a bad night, but you will make great friends. It was always a blast after the restaurant closed for all to go out to a bar or house to hang out and drink.

You can always pick up and drop shifts if you want to do something fun. Or earn more money.

There are consequences, though. Your restaurant patronage experience will change. Once you know a good operation, bad will stand out glaringly. You know exactly who is messing around, and how it affects your experience. Also, everyone I know who has worked in restaurant becomes an excellent tipper. I tip exorbitantly. If I'm with people, I supplement their tip with my own. I tip when I order restaurant carryout, because someone had to put the order together. And I tip in cash whenever at all possible.

You are in the states, right? Something they don't tell you... Your tips are taxed. Our servers had to declare tips when closing out. Tax owed came out of the paycheck. All depends on your situation, of course. I can't tell you how many times people had paychecks in single digits. Or zero.

For a hilarious take on food service, watch Waiting. I lmao because while exaggerated for comedy, so much was so true...

Edit- just know food service is not like any other job. You are dealing with people's food and their money. Messing with either turns normally rational people into monsters. Mess with both and people lose all reason. The server is the face and target of any transgression, real or imagined. And your living is on the line. It can be incredibly aggravating. Good side, though, a night where everything is totally smooth, you make bank, everyone pulls eachother out of the weeds, can be magic!

kitch102 wrote: I had a great manager, and that's a big deciding factor, and very real progression opportunities. I had the respect of my peers & enjoyed the company of our regulars, who seemed to enjoy mine too.

This


Having a good boss and good customers can make the job a lot of fun and much more rewarding.

G. Whitenbeard wrote:

Necroshea wrote:I've always enjoyed that kind of environment but I've never found a chance to get my foot in the door so to speak.

As long as I get a day off during the weekend to get a little paintball time in I'll be content.

If you want to do it, then do it! It can be long, hard, crappy work though.

Speaking from a year and a half of food service experience:

1. I almost guarantee you'll completely cease enjoying "that kind of environment" when you're in that environment for 10 hours a day and have to deal with the people who make that kind of environment perpetually suck.

2. Don't bank on getting a lot of weekend time off. Weekends are usually the busy times at bars/restaurants. (though it depends on the place/city)


It's the type of work that is SO day-by-day. On the good days, it was great. On the bad days, it was beyond awful.

Yeah, while now I like going out, when working 6 or 7 days per week the thought of stepping into a restaurant was revolting at times.

For me, Weekends were the most desirable days because one Saturday was equivalent to 3 or so weekday nights. WeekDAYs were the worse for making any money at all. So, if you were scheduled for one of those big money shifts, it was always easy to trade. Folks could also try to get one of those cash shifts by offering to work 2 for 1, do their sidework, etc. We had some master negotiators on shifts and stations! Servers worked it all out and reported to management, who had to approve it. I never saw one declined, but our staff were very canny. It was a tight crew, so everyone knew if you reniged no one would ever trade with you.

That sounds fun! Free meals too, if you're lucky

I think if there's one thing I could tell a waiter, it would be to ignore the arseholes you come into contact with. I make it a point to be incredibly polite and thankful to waiters and waitresses, because I know they appreciate it. I know a lot of other people aren't as nice, haha.

sarpedons-right-hand wrote:Chateau Neuf Du Pap

It turns out that the literal translation of this is The Popes New House, and not Castle Black gak as I originally thought.

Just thought I'd share that


Automatically Appended Next Post:
That could be a good way of garnering tips Necroshea, come up with humourous and incorrect translations for each wine, and regail the table with some bull gak story about the origin of their choice of plonk

I've worked in restaurants for 15 years, starting out as a dishwasher and working my way up to cook, then expediter. One thing that will make the job a lot easier is if you treat the cooks like fellow employees and not lesser beings. I've worked with lots of waiters and waitresses who were rude to the cooks, and oh boy, did we do terrible things to them. Those who concentrated on the job and respected others got that respect back.

Yeah, I've got a great personality when dealing with people, so I don't think I'll have issues with co workers. If anything it might be worth trying out for a bit to simply experience what it's like, so when someone else makes a thread I can chime in with my experiences of mispronouncing wine names and making up stories about how they were invented, as well as the horrible things me and the cooks did to the food of arse hats.

I currently wait part time, I enjoy it.

Gymnogyps wrote:You are in the states, right? Something they don't tell you... Your tips are taxed. Our servers had to declare tips when closing out. Tax owed came out of the paycheck. All depends on your situation, of course. I can't tell you how many times people had paychecks in single digits. Or zero.

To elaborate on this, there are a couple of things you'll want to find out, depending on what state you work in. In some states, people in jobs that receive tips are not required to be paid minimum wage (tipped positions can bottom out at half minimum wage, I think), so depending on state and employer, you could be making crap as far as your actual paycheck is concerned.

As to what Gymnogyps stated, you are indeed taxed on your tips. It's been a long time since I waited tables, but I recall being taxed on 8% of my sales, unless I declared more than that. Essentially, it was assumed that I made at least 8% of my sales in tips, and as such could not declare less than that. It's been almost 16 years since I was a server, so my memory may be fuzzy on that.

Depending on how the establishment that you work at operates, there may be bussers and hosts in addition to the waitstaff. Be sure you tip out the bussers (they clean your tables), hosts (they seat customers in your section of the restaurant), and kitchen staff (they cook the food for your tables). Treat them well and they will treat you well.

Breakfast shifts are brutal, warzone like shifts. Buffets are relaxed, easy shifts.

Also, you won't be sitting down much, so invest in very comfortable, no-slip shoes.

Waiting tables and delivering mail should be mandatory for every citizen of the United States.

I think it would greatly improve the instance of members of those two professions being treated like human beings.

Question to you guys regarding tipping. Let's say your in town and you've got 5 bucks in your pocket. Local restaurant has a special going on, unlimited soup and salad for 5 bucks even. If you go there you very well know you will not have any money left over for a tip.

Would you go?

I never tip less than $5 (unless service is truly horrendous), regardless of the amount that I eat. So no. I wouldn't go.

If the soup is good maybe. Then I would report them to the state for not charging tax on their food.

Monster Rain wrote:I never tip less than $5 (unless service is truly horrendous), regardless of the amount that I eat. So no. I wouldn't go.

We always tip double the Tax.

That's a good rule of thumb too.

I just make it an even 5 because it's worth it to me to not have to do the math.

Monster Rain wrote:I never tip less than $5 (unless service is truly horrendous), regardless of the amount that I eat. So no. I wouldn't go.

So if you order water and a standard lunch meal (8 or so dollars), you tip 5? Man waiters must love you!

They do, actually. Try it out. Tip 5$ on an 8 dollar check and note the reaction you get the next time you walk in there.

Monster Rain wrote:They do, actually. Try it out. Tip 5$ on an 8 dollar check and note the reaction you get the next time you walk in there.

I've been with big tippers before, and honestly I've never seen any difference. I mean sure if you go there a lot and always tip high they'll treat you better because of said high tip, but that sounds like a pretty expensive way of getting service you should be getting in the first place lol.

Yeah, I mean, that's one way to look at it I guess. I don't tip extravagantly as a rule, but I do have a minimum amount.

I must say that you yourself, in that last post, could use a good 6 months waiting tables.

Monster Rain wrote:Waiting tables and delivering mail should be mandatory for every citizen of the United States.

I think it would greatly improve the instance of members of those two professions being treated like human beings.

That might be one of the most profound things I have ever read. Never did the mail gig but waiting really makes you understand people. You are forced to deal with constant (social)situations. You will ALWAYS know who a new waiter when you eat.(not confident or ignore the basic rules of being a waiter) You will understand the importance of tipping WELL. Nothing pissed me off more then getting a 2 dollar tip on a 90 dollar meal. Seriously? But that rarely happened to me, made good money at the time. The sheer disregard for GOOD service is what makes waiter not care about the customers. Catch 22. If everyone understood, being a waiter would be so much more fun. I had fun with it.

Monster Rain wrote:Yeah, I mean, that's one way to look at it I guess. I don't tip extravagantly as a rule, but I do have a minimum amount.

I must say that you yourself, in that last post, could use a good 6 months waiting tables.

I hope I didn't come off as a snob, twas not the intent. I'll try this another way.

The only time I have an issue at a restaurant is when it takes 20 minutes for a refill. I'll happily gobble up undercooked or overcooked steak, I'll wait 45 minutes for said steak, I'll even take whatever meal they make me by mistake as long as it doesn't cost more and it's something that I absolutely won't touch like raw oysters, but depriving me of drank is just unacceptable. If the restaurant is crazy busy then I'll make exceptions, but just about every time refills have been an issue, it was in a restaurant that was lightly to moderately filled.

Considering that waiters can lose money for low tips, I now feel bad for expressing my rage by means of absurdly low tips. Thanks guys.

Lol, but yeah, if there's some worthwhile experience besides a paycheck to be gained doing it (as the beforementioned empathy), I think that alone makes it worth looking into.