All waiters and waitresses, no matter the restaurant or location, know these signs and can identify with them.
1. You have 3 or 4 shirts that are exactly the same.
We need to wear all black in most restaurants, and once we find that one T-shirt that is comfortable, we just stock up.
2. You feel weird carrying your wallet around.
Since we get paid cash for our tips at the end of the night, we can sometimes walk out of our establishments with over $100 in our pockets -- sometimes even more than $200. Gotta look normal so no one thinks we have money worth taking!
3. You hate when foreigners come in.
People with accents usually means bad tips. Other countries pay their servers by the hour, and customers leave only a 5% or 10% tip. They often do the same here, which makes unhappy waiters and waitresses.
4. Weekends are not Saturday and Sunday.
The weekend is the busiest time of the week for a restaurant, so they need the largest amount of servers possible, which makes those two days work days for us.
5. You’ve mastered the art of apologizing.
Whether the bartender has tons of drink orders they are trying to finish or the kitchen is backed up, sometimes things go wrong in the restaurant business that are not a server’s fault. Sometimes there are things that happen that are a server’s fault (you forgot to tell the kitchen the customer didn’t want lobster in the mac and cheese or you ordered the wrong drink). No matter the circumstances, you have become very good at apologizing to customers.
6. You’re good at approaching strangers.
Most of the time, when servers approach tables, they are interrupting conversations and are trying to get the attention of multiple people. This correlates to introducing yourself to new people in life, because you are over the initial awkwardness of approaching them.
7. You either hate or love the hostess.
Hostesses can be the bane of servers' existence or the angel of the night. Sometimes they triple seat you at the end of the night because your numbers are low and they need to give the tables to someone. And other times they masterfully divide all the tables equally and help servers when they need a moment.
8. Kids are (usually) nightmares.
Some kids are sweet and cute in restaurants and behave perfectly. More often than not, though, they get bored sitting in their chair or are so hungry they start acting out. They’ll draw with the crayons the restaurants provide on tables and make a mess, especially when they get their food and leave residues all over the place.
9. Holidays are hell and heaven.
The restaurants are swarming around the holidays with large parties of families coming together. While it’s a nightmare because there is a huge number of people who are now your responsibility, it also leads to a ton of money. You might not be able to spend all of the holiday with your family because you are working, but that wad of cash really makes it worth it.
10. Your social skills are phenomenal.
You’ve had to deal with nice customers, rude ones, deaf ones, self-entitled ones, foreigners and children of all ages. After working in a restaurant, servers are great at talking to anyone through any situation, giving us extremely good communication skills for life.
11. Being cut is the best thing ever.
That term causes concern in people who have not worked in a restaurant, but being cut means that the manager has cut you loose, that you can go home once your tables are gone. Hearing those words at the end of a crazy night is the best thing ever.
