We thank you very much for coming in to join us this evening, and we would love to wait on you for your every need. You want me to find a place in the restaurant that isn’t too noisy, but also not too dark, not too warm, with the smell of a summer field and the poshness of Paris, of course, you do…
We servers, we learn a lot while serving. A lot about people, the community, but most of all, ourselves. Here are the top three attributes that great servers all have in them:
Patience
Patience may be one of the biggest virtues that a server contains. So the old lady who came in with a very cross attitude to begin with cannot decide between the steak salad or the salad added steak? Well, what are we to do? Obviously, we couldn’t care less which one they get besides the fact that one is a dollar and fifty cents more, so we smile from ear to ear, of course, and wait for her answer in unquestioned obedience. “Yes ma'am, I will bring out your one water and the steak salad you ordered” …because your meal matters the most to me, especially compared to the other four parties I have, and the eight top that has bought four bottles of wine. We keep this same beautiful grin for when kids come to the table. “Thank you, folks for coming in, and thank you little guy” for completely trashing this table with ripped up paper, the food that I gave you that didn’t seem to find your mouth, a weird mixture of what seems like milk and coke, I really don’t want to know. For that, thank you.
Prioritization
When I know I have a paper due Monday morning, but I also know that I will be working all weekend, that paper is done the night before. There’s a party on Thursday night but I have homework due in my Friday morning class, you bet your ass I’ll be stumbling in to class on Friday morning with my homework already complete from the week before. Will not eat for the next few hours, you’re right I will have left overs ready to go from the kitchen. Oh you want me to go on a date? Ok, we can do this, but I have to request off a week in advance, so you best be ready.
Personability
Servers, typically, learn to be the life of the party. There is no way you can really be a successful server if you are stiff as a board. Through interactions with guests every day, in a hostile and fast paced environment, we learn to engage with people on a personal level in a far quicker instance than most people. In some cases, we deal with more people in a day then some people at their work deal with in a week. Holy shit, that’s weird to think about.
So, when you look at your server next, you will realize that they are trying to talk to you. Maybe, just maybe, instead of sitting in awkward silence as your date goes horribly, get to know your server back. That server is a person just like you, and honestly, probably is doing some other things in life besides just serving, so soak all that up. Try that one out for starters... Ha, see what I did there?
