At Your Service: Top 10 Etiquette Tips for Restaurant Servers

[TexasTowelie]

Waiting tables is no longer the venerable position that it once was in America before World War II. It's still a fairly prestigious job in much of Europe, but even in the United States, waiters used to pay for the right to work at good restaurants. If a head waiter position opened up at a fancy, well-known restaurant, a person might have to get a financial backer in order to bid on the position. The financier would then receive a portion of the waiter's tips after he got the job.

Today, waiting tables is more of a punchline. Most waitstaff don't even make minimum wage. They rely solely on tips to pay their bills, and many members of the public see waiters as people who have to serve because they can't get any other job. You know, all those unemployed actors and singers and high school drop-outs.

While this is definitely not always the case in America, waiting tables is a largely thankless job. Because it's not always a job that people seek out anymore, and because the pay is fickle, some servers have lost a sense of propriety that should come with any service job. Most waiters I've encountered in Houston are great, but some could use a reminder about a few specific etiquette tips. I've talked to waiters around town to get their impressions about how to behave properly at work, and this list reflects their suggestions.

In my last post on diner etiquette, I gave the impression that I'd never worked in the business, when what I should have said was I've never been employed by a restaurant. I have family in the industry, and I've volunteered in restaurants on more than one occasion, taking a turn in the kitchen or on the floor to see what the job is all about. And it's hard. So be nice to your server, and chances are your server will be good to you as well.

The list is at http://blogs.houstonpress.com/eating/2013/08/at_your_service_top_10_etiquet.php .

[msongs]

1. a good server is like an actor and the customers, the audience. just enough pizazz, not too much nt

[pnwmom]

2. They're right about not eating the leftovers.

At least unless you're absolutely sure they didn't ask for a doggy bag.

Once a waiter didn't hear me ask for the bag, I guess, because when I asked where it was he hurriedly ran back into the kitchen -- and then came back and admitted that someone had already started to eat my leftovers! Needless to say, I'd lost interest in it by then . . .

[Journeyman]

3. I would add (from recent experience), "Don't quit your job in the middle of serving me." . . .

Don't know what the story was, but the waiter was friendly enough, we had good rapport, he took our order and disappeared into the kitchen. There were five of us, with a small child.

We didn't notice it at first -- the busboy brought our drinks and we had food for the little girl -- but after 20 minutes or so we began to wonder what had happened to our food. We flagged down the busboy, told him we hadn't seen our waiter since he took our order, and asked if he could find him for us. About 5 minutes later, a different waiter came out, told us there'd been a foul-up in the kitchen, and the restaurant wanted to make good on it by giving us a couple of appetizers and discounting our meal. We laughed, said 'Sure,' he passed out new menus and placed our order.

Later, the busboy told me no one knew what happened to our waiter. He just gathered his belongings and walked out, taking our order with him and stranding a handful of tables.

[Cha]

4. What are the odds?! And, how rude!

But, discounts!

[TexasTowelie]

5. Bumping for the dinner crowd tonight.

Bon appetit!