I work at a school during September- the beginning of June and then have the summer off where I don't make anything. (You can opt to get paid less during your paychecks during the school years so you can get paid during the summer, but I needed the full paychecks, so this wasn't an option for me.) I decided it would be smart to get a job for the summer. Something low stress, fun, and part-time hours so I didn't have to spend my whole summer working, and could recover from the school year. If you've read the title you might see where this is going I applied to be a server, and got the job. However, this is by no means a low stress job at all, and with how short-staffed the food industry is right now, I am working more than I wanted. I started working at Applebee's this month, and since then have learned a ton about what it means to be a server. (With my first job I worked in a nursing home dining room where residents could order off menus with only three items, which was kind of similar but not really.) Here's a list of what I have learned so far, and why your servers deserve the tip you give them.
1) Servers can be dealing with up to six tables at one time, and each table could need something different, at one time. The server has to keep in mind what every table needs and figure out a solution that will cause the least amount of frustration for each customer. Be patient with them if they forgot you had asked them for another Pepsi, etc.
2) The servers may have put your order in the right way to your specifications, but that doesn't always mean the line cooks have cooked it to your specifications. (We usually make sure its cooked to your specifications but be patient with us when you asked for a specific specification but it didn't come that way).
3) This is common sense but if the restaurant is busy, the kitchen is dealing with a lot of orders so it's probably going to take longer. Most restaurants are offering curbside pickup so the restaurant may be even busier than it appears.
4) Servers and other staff are usually at the restaurant an hour after closing cleaning and organizing the kitchen and dining room/ wrapping silverware. Jobs include putting sauces back in the fridge, putting away dishes, wiping down surfaces, sanitizing flavoring nozzles/soda nozzles, making sure items are stocked, vacuuming the floor, sweeping up things, wiping down the windowsills etc. (At Applebee's we have a specific job we're assigned to do based on what section we were assigned to wait on during our shifts)
5) Most people tip less than 15% or only $5 and servers rely on these tips. I've gone home making less than $30 in tips after a 6 hour shift and multiple tables all served well. Some people don't tip at all, and that's really difficult to deal with. (The two times I haven't been tipped have been on tables with 6+ people making huge food orders and drink orders.) It took along time to put in the order and make sure it was accurate and make sure it was accurate in the kitchen as well. It also takes multiple trips to get all of the food out of the kitchen.
6) Sometimes the line cooks forget to make one of your sides so it takes longer to reach your table. (Mistakes happen and I appreciate the line cooks so much!)
7) Sometimes the computer system gets messy and it takes longer for you to get your credit card back. They haven't forgotten to bring you your credit card back the computer just sucks sometimes.
8) After hours of consistently walking around, your feet start to hurt but the only break you get is when there's a lull in people coming or when you need to use the bathroom. We seldom if ever get a chance to sit down.
9) We don't eat at all or very little. Shifts are usually upwards of 6 hours and you eat very little or nothing. You dont get a lunch break or dinner break (at least at Applebees) but you can bring snacks, and eat them when you have a lull in service. Otherwise when a meal is brought back into the kitchen because their was a mistake you can eat that. Which is glorious.
10) Dine and Dash. If you've never heard this term, consider yourself lucky. It's where people come into a restaurant, get their food, eat it, and leave before paying. It happens, and it happened to me. With a huge order ^ one of the ones mentioned above that didn't end up tipping. Don't do it.
11) I myself didn't get sufficient training which I do not blame the restaurant for, they are understaffed right now and need as many servers as possible, so be patient with new servers who have to ask other staff questions. They're still learning everything. The menu and what comes with what and what alcohol we serve takes a bit to learn.
12) You're doing better than you think. I felt like I didn't do a good enough job because I had a hard time dealing with four tables at once on a Saturday night and made a mistake on Sunday night (Father's Day). Of course there were valid reasons for my not doing a perfect job and that's okay. All servers make mistakes. We all want to be good at the jobs we do, just don't be too hard on yourself. It takes time but you'll get it.
13) I'm not sure if this happens in other restaurants but when you clock out, and put in the amount you made in tips, if you didn't make a certain amount it alerts the manager. (Either you're a bad server or/and more likely you had low tippers and it had nothing to do with your quality of serving.
14) The servers rely on tips, since they only make around $2.50/hr. on their own. If you don't tip the server only makes $2.50 for that hour or longer of service, and worked hard for barely anything to show for it.
I'll probably add more to this list, but this is what I've observed so far. The next time I go to a restaurant I'm going to have all of this in mind, and think about the way I tip a lot more.
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