Working as a Waitress

Answer 1

Many people think about becoming a server at one point or another. The job seems simple enough: take orders, deliver food, and make great money in tips. However, there is more to being a waitress than just this. Working as a waiter or waitress can be very stressful, and it demands a high level of self-confidence and skill.

Job Description and Necessary Skills

A waiter or waitress has a wide variety of duties. Aside from the obvious tasks of taking customer orders and delivering food, they must also do cleaning and prep work in the restaurant, bus tables, prepare salads, add up bills and divide checks when necessary, and make change for a customer. A waiter or waitress must have strong people skills and the ability to interact with many different personalities. He or she should also be able to multitask and have the ability to memorize an entire menu. Additionally, a waiter or waitress will need to be able to do basic math without a calculator. Finally, the position requires an individual to have a lot of self confidence and be able to move on after a difficult table or an embarrassing incident like spilling a drink or breaking a dish. Working as a waitress is a lot more complicated than it looks!

Types of Waitressing Jobs

There are as many different kinds of serving jobs as there are restaurants. Some waiters and waitresses work in very busy restaurants, where they serve many tables at the same time and work in a very hectic environment. Other servers work in high-end restaurants and may have just one or two tables at a time. Some restaurants want their servers to be discreet and formal, while others encourage waiters and waitresses to entertain their customers and be very friendly and outgoing.

How Much Money Does a Waitress Make?

This is a complicated question. Servers make a wide range of money, depending on how many tables they wait on per night, how expensive the dishes are at their restaurant, and how good of a server they are. Keep in mind that minimum wage for tipped staff is lower than minimum wage for other positions; most restaurants are legally obligated to pay servers just two or three dollars an hour. The bulk of a waitress's income comes from tips, so the amount a server makes can vary widely.