Last time I wrote an article about my job it got a lot of flack. People were assuming that all servers suck and must hate their jobs, but that's not entirely true. The fact of the matter is my restaurant team is chocked full of a lot of really good people who may not love the stresses of their jobs, but handle them gracefully. We've all had to make sacrifices over the weeks, months, years, and decades we've been working at the restaurant, which have fundamentally challenged us to be a more considerate, understanding, and quite interesting group of people (while still maintaining judgment and confusion at the rest of humanity; read that article here). So here goes: a list of signs that a person works in a restaurant along with the person who came up with it and the number of years they've been in the business.
1. When you go out to eat, you stack all the empty plates and silverware to make it easier for the server.
2. You always tip at least 20% when you go out to eat. Even if the service is terrible, you give them the benefit of the doubt.
– Paige H., almost three years waiting on tables
3. You hold multiple glasses, cans, or bottles in one hand at a party.
4. Your basic knowledge of alcohol: the difference between an ale and a lager, or a Pino Grigio and a Chardonnay, and that the spirit in a margarita is tequila and not vodka.
5. Being dope at cleaning up after parties or dinners.
6. If your restaurant uses food trays, you have a strength difference between your tray hand and non tray hand.
7. You can lethally whip a towel or a rag.
8. You can throw coasters with pinpoint precision.
9. Although you're covered in burns, you can usually hold very hot items with little to no reaction.
10. You are never available to hang out on the weekends, and you're a night owl because of your schedule.
– Nick M., 5 years
11. You go out on Mondays and Tuesdays because that's your weekend.
– Jasmine A.
12. Wednesdays are your Mondays.
13. You say "86" and "heard" in day-to-day conversation.
14. Banks think you're a stripper or a drug dealer.
– Ryan M.
14. You always have cash on you.
– Maria B.
15. All you have are singles.
– Lauren Y., almost three years
16. When you're out with your friends who don't work in restaurants so they make you figure out how much they all owe on the bill.
– Ashleigh B., 10 years
17. When you're walking toward someone you yell "behind," and when someone is walking in public with their head down you yell "heads up."
– Regina N., 36 years
18. When you're at the buffet (or campus dining hall) and carry multiple plates at once stacked up your arm.
19. Ignorance is bliss and that's the only reason you're okay with eating out at other restaurants.
20. You know just enough Spanish to communicate that you need "papas [fritas]" stat.
21. Free food is the best food, even if its been dead in the window for hours.
– Kayla F., 1 year
22. When you go out to eat, the little things bother you. Why are my appetizers still on my table when my entrees arrive? Why isn't my cup full? Where's my immediate greet?
– Courtney C., less than a year
23. I hate having any dishes in my sink. Not even a fork.
– Desiree D.
24. You don't want to go out to eat anymore because you don't want to pay full price when you can get half price at your job or make it better at home for much cheaper. $20 for a steak? You can get four steaks for that price, and they'll be cooked exactly the way you want it.
25. When you're falling asleep at night you remember that you forgot "that guy's" coke hours ago.
– Lea F.
26. You have nightmares about being in the weeds.
– Nicole N., 5 years
27. When your out to eat and your steak is well done and you asked medium rare but you don't want to be "That Person" and send it back, because we all hate "That Person."
– Cat C., 13 years
28. You always want to get up and help the poor weeded server waiting on you.
29. When you are out to have dinner and drinks, you only order beer because no one will ever make drinks as good as you do.
– Barbara S., 40 years
30. Not ordering certain items or certain modifications because you know what the person is going to have to go through to enter that.
– Matt P., 2 months
31. You feel bad for your server when you can tell they got sat with a ratchet table... And not only do you just feel bad for them, you overtip to try and compensate for what they're about to get.
32. You get embarrassed when you go out to eat with non-industry people by their requests, comments and questions.
–Ginny R., 5 years
