The restaurant business is a unique and interesting workplace that someone can only understand if they’ve worked in it. Having worked as a hostess in several restaurants now, I can almost automatically tell when customers have food and beverage work experience or not. Although I’ve worked in a range of different kinds of restaurants, from casual to very upscale, there are certain things that hostesses experience no matter where they work.

1. Customers think their table assignment is completely arbitrary, and can simply pick out whichever table will suit them best. Few people know that restaurants are always split off into sections for each server. This means that if one server has more tables than another, they are making significantly more money. There have been countless times in which I’ve carefully chosen a table for a group and they proceed to decide the table is not good enough and they simply move without asking. This drives the restaurant staff nuts. Please don’t do it.
2. You get blamed for everything. If it’s the middle of the dinner rush and a server thinks they aren’t being seated fairly, they will sometimes stand next to you and bother you until they have more tables. Even worse, they will sometimes complain to the manager. I can say from experience that I will seat the servers who are nice to me more often. If you are rude to me, don’t expect me to help you in return.
3. Customers try to order things from you. They won’t be sitting for 30 seconds before they ask for a glass of water or a cocktail. Even when I politely explain the server will be over soon, people sometimes get offended when I don’t bring them what they want. Which brings me to my next point.
4. If a customer gets upset, they will almost always come up to the hostess and complain, even though there’s usually absolutely nothing we can do about it. I guarantee you it isn’t our fault that your food was taking too long, or that it was too expensive. Even more frequently, they’ll come up to you as they’re leaving and, with a look of disdain inform you, “I will never be eating here again.” I never really know what to say to this one. I’m going to tell you to have a nice day either way.
5. Many customers don’t understand the concept of reservations. Sometimes, the restaurant will be completely empty at 6:00 but completely booked with 6:30 reservations. A group will come in and we will have to tell them we are booked. They proceed to look around, laugh as if I don’t know the restaurant is empty and ask again if they can sit. No, you can’t. The restaurant is reserved. You can ask to speak to the manager, but they’ll tell you the same thing.
6. People will tip you to sit at a nice table. This one is the best. I once had a man come into my restaurant who had had more than his fair share to drink and slip me a 20 when I sat him at the table he asked for. He easily made my night.
7. You become close with the people you work with. It’s commonly heard that a restaurant staff is like a family. If the restaurant is busy, there’s nothing you can do but work together to succeed. Staff members that can’t do this don’t usually last long. Some of my best friends that I’ve made have come from working in the restaurant business and, besides its occasional chaos, I’ve learned so much from my time in food and bev.