If you've never worked in the restaurant business as a server, you have no idea what we go through on a daily basis. Normally servers make less than four dollars an hour, I myself make $2.83 per hour. Being a server may seem easy to some, but there are many other things that we need to do besides bring you your food and refill your beverages. All of these aspects that you may or may not have known about should be the reason why you should be tipping your server AT LEAST 15% to 20%.
We answer important questions that you may have about the menu.
Many times I have had people at my table ask me about a food item that we have on our menu. Most of the time I have an answer for them immediately, and if I cannot find an answer for their question I will excuse myself from the table and ask someone in the kitchen.
We memorize specials for you and make sure that you have a range of options to choose from.
In the restaurant I work at, we are required to memorize specials to read to our tables. What the tables do not know is that we get different special options everyday that need to relearn. There will also be times where I will be asked to read the specials again, because mistakes do happen, such as simply reading too fast, or forgetting what one of the specials was for that evening.
We accommodate any requests you may have for your dinner or seating placement.
I can't even begin to tell you how many times I have had to uproot a group from their table and move everything that they had to another table because someone did not like where they were at, which is understandable and as your waitress it is part of my job to make sure that you have the best dining experience that you can have. We also make modifications to dinner plates as well. For example, if someone would like a different pasta other than what is normally served with the entree we can accommodate that. We can also modify what goes into the meals and what does not into the meals such as a vegetable or a certain sauce.
As a server, we are put in charge of a lot of responsibility when it comes to the food.
As a server, it is our responsibility to make sure that everything comes out right with the food. We also need to be sure that all of the food gets out to the table in time and nothing gets cold. If we are given a very detailed and specific food order, sometimes it can be challenging to communicate everything to the kitchen.
One word, DISHES.
If there is one thing that any server hates the most about their job, this is it. Having to clean silverware, polish everything and then place it back where it is supposed to be. Honestly, nobody actually likes doing dishes.
We like to make your special moments even better.
Often times we will have people call in to make a reservation and they make us aware that it is a special event such as a birthday, retirement, or an anniversary. Thankfully where I work, we do not sing happy birthday, but we do like to do a candle on the dessert if the table decides to get something after they have finished their meals. It's the little things like that that we believe make the night all the more enjoyable.
So please, when you go out to eat tip your server.
