This Is Why We Love It

Ask any server what they like the most about their job and almost all will respond with the same answer: the people they work with. Working in a restaurant, one is instantly connected with people from all walks of life. Serving is often an interim job for many, bringing in people of every age and at every stage of their lives. Currently I work with teachers, students, musicians, evangelists, veterans, immigrants, entrepreneurs, a graphic designer, an artist, a clothing designer, a published author, a radio show host, fathers, mothers ( I fall into the latter category.) The restaurant industry is a melting pot to say the least. But there is something we have that most work places are lacking: a bond like no other. Life long friends are made at these interim jobs. My best friend of five years is an old colleague from a serving job and although we have not worked together in over four years we still speak to each other on a daily basis. I met husband in while working in a restaurant and although our marriage didn’t survive, our friendship did. I am unable to speak to the mechanics of this bond. I am not sure that any of us could explain it. But I can attest to the fact that we would all agree that we have made some of the best friends of our lives through our restaurant jobs. Perhaps the camaraderie is built during the busy shifts when it seems like we go through hell together and all make it out alive making sure to leave no man behind. Perhaps it is in the off the clock when we really get to know one another during the after hours fellowship that often takes place. Whatever it may be, I think all servers are grateful for the friends we make throughout our service careers and most as I said will testify that this is why we love what we do.

P.S. David Grant, we will miss you. But we always have Facebook. ;o)

It's All Part of the Show

I’ve come to a conclusion in the dining establishment that currently employs me;  the general population has grown unaccustomed to superior service.  Where I work we experience a higher than typical volume.  Simply put, we are busy…all the time!  In order for us to be able to provide superior service to our competition we must utilize a unique style of teamwork.  At our restaurant it is typical that the person who initially greets a guest at their table is not the head server for that table.  I understand this causing confusion for our guests because that is not typical at any other restaurant.  But as I previously mentioned we have higher expectations for our service.  Correction, we demand it.  It is expected that all patrons be greeted and offered a beverage and appetizer within 45 seconds of being seated at their table.  The only way to execute this is through our teamwork system.  Greeting a table is the first priority of every server in the restaurant and whoever is able and the closest will generally be the one to do so.  At other restaurants a patron will most likely wait while their server finishes taking an order at another table, rings in an order, or more often doesn’t even realize they have a new table because they are in the kitchen.  So there is no question that the teamwork system is superior to the one man circus acts that most establishments employ. Often at our restaurant a guest will have several different servers taking part in their dining experience as greets are only one of the areas in which we exercise teamwork.  One may take a drink and appetizer order while another, still not the actual server, will deliver entrees and offer to bring anything else necessary for the meal, one more will probably bring refills while another could possibly remove plates from the table and yet another will probably take a credit card from the table and still another may return it.  Keep in mind that much of these actions especially refills being sent by a coworker are still orchestrated by that tables server.  At work, we are trained to focus on the restaurant as a whole so that all of these tasks will be completed in a timely manner.  While it is meant to impress we still have some patrons that are confused by this superior style of service and make complaints that everyone else is doing the job of their server.  I have walked up to tables to introduce myself as their sever after one of my colleagues has taken a drink order and her and another have returned with their drinks only to hear them demand an explanation as to why I am the third member of the staff to approach their table if I am their server.  We have had some people not leave tips complaining that although their dining experience was not lacking anything, there were so many people involved they could not tell who their actual server was.  Now these cases are the exceptions but it is more common that people are simply baffled by our teamwork system.  So of my readers I ask a favor.  The next time you hear some one complaining because their needs were accommodated by more than one person, bop them in the forehead like they do on the V8 commercials and explain to them what superior service looks like.