In one week, I will be on my way to Florida for my Disney College Program! I will spend the next five months working for the Mouse, and probably eating my weight in Dole Whips. Unfortunately, getting there is….expensive; so this summer, I worked in a restaurant to pay my way there.
While I loved my coworkers, and met many wonderful people because of this job, it was it’s own kind of misery. If you have never been a server yourself, you might be thinking something along the lines of “How hard is it to write down orders and give out food?” And you’re right! It isn’t hard at all.
If only that was all servers do.
Guess who has to fill the ice bins?
Not the manager. Not the chef. That’ll be your server. I had to roll the silverware, stock the dishes, clean the counters, fill the sugar and jelly containers, reset the dining tables...need I go on?
Honestly, there’s a lot more tasks that I had to do (multiple times throughout the day, mind you) but this article would be too long for me to list them all. Like any other job, you aren’t paid to do a few tasks and then sit and chat with your coworkers until another customer walks in. You must keep yourself busy at all times.
Not all customers are appreciative of this.
And also, like with any job, you are going to deal with unruly patrons. You cannot talk back to them. You cannot tell them they’re wrong. You can only smile and apologize for their “unpleasant experience”. Even though you almost broke your back running back and forth trying to fulfill their every wish. One woman demanded that I take back her mug because it was “chipped”. I could spot a speck of dust on a brightly lit computer screen before I could have spotted that chip. Some people just cannot be satisfied.
However..I will argue that, for a server, having an unappreciative guest is worse than most other jobs because...we’re at their mercy.
In the state of Kentucky, the minimum wage for a server is $2.13. That means we have to earn around $5.37 in tips each hour. That usually is not a problem. As long as each customer tips that 15% of their bill, that is. Even if I really tried my best and had no complaints from a guest I’ve served, sometimes I would start cleaning up a table and not see even a dollar left behind. It's frankly quite discouraging.
In short...be nice to your servers. Having a great customer was truly the best part of the job, and seeing that I helped give them a great experience was so rewarding...but we also have to pay the bills.
