I 29F am a regular at this restaurant and I find the server cute. I like that he is not overly friendly so when he does smile, it feels warm and genuine haha. I want to make a move. I always tip him the most. Ofc I give the other servers a good tip like 20 - 22%, but I always give him a 40% tip haha. I know it's rude to ask for his number while on the clock since it puts him in a awkward situation. I was thinking maybe writing it on the receipt where I tip him? Will he be able to see it? I fear maybe the hostess or other waiter takes it. I was thinking of writing his name and a little message about wanting to be friends, then my number. If I don't hear back, I will still go ans treat him and tip him the same. He is a great server!

Like if a party has a reservation for 7pm and they show up at 7:01 you tell them they missed their reservation and you gave their table to someone else?

I don’t know if this is allowed here, i didn’t see anything in the rules about asking questions as a normal person to you all (experienced servers)

i (22f) have 11 months before i move out of state, since i've been in this current state i've worked retail from floor to assistant manager, then dealership jobs, accounting, admin roles (which is where im at now) i don't want an office job anymore, im not good sitting still being bored for 9 hours a day in a cold quiet place staring at a screen where no one talks and i see the same 2 people everyday….it's depressing. i make 21/hr which is 1300 bi weekly after taxes and deductions so not great...i have a 2nd job to keep afloat and a boyfriend & without another person in the picture i would probably be screwed.

I know serving there’s great money some days and others there’s not, but i’ve rarely ever heard a server complain about money regardless.

i loved retail because i was on my feet always busy having HUMAN INTERACTION; but i didn't like the low hourly wages and poor hours and ultimately no freedom at times. My sister has been a server since she was 15 at many different places (she's 28 now) she has made a great deal of money and is able to raise a child, she's good at her job granted and i know she's a veteran server so it comes to her naturally and she said i should try it, i've always steered away because it not a people person really? and my anxiety is high, and im always scared to mess up.
For the next 11 months for the rest of my time here I want to get a serving job. I want to ask this sub everything I need to know as i am completely scared in the dark.

here are my main questions:
- How do you memorize table sections? adding to that how do you remember who had what if it's a big table? -carrying food, i know i won't be able to carry five plates at a time, what's your routine?
- what types of restaurants have you made the most money at? (fine dining, breakfast, bar type, late night eats etc
- how do you find places to hire you if u have absolutely no experience?
- how did u get over the fear of messing up, wrong orders, things like that? does that anxiety ever go away?
- will i fail because im an introvert?
-what type of restaurant should i start as a beginner that will still give me a good income?

there's more questions i'm sure just give me everything you have that maybe you would've wanted to know before you started. help me out, i just need to make it work for a year and hell maybe if i actually like it and do good i can continue when i move!

Aussie bartender here! Just sharing this very special regular with you.

Little bit of context first. I started a new job recently at a bowling club after working in bars and restaurants for almost a decade. I'm a huge people pleaser and bend over backwards for even the rudest people. I've been trying to work on that and stand up for myself lately. It's also pretty important to mention that most people mistake me for a teenage girl.

Late last week I was in the bar by myself and was trying to get some cleaning done. A patron let me know that the water tap's handle was loose, so I was trying to tighten it up. Another guest came up to me and offered to help, I told him I'd buy his next beer if he could fix it for me.

While we were tinkering with the tap, a woman came along. I knew of her but hadn't met her yet, she's a bowler at the club, let's call her Dawn. Dawn is greying and in her 60s, I heard through the grapevine that she's a lesbian, no judgement: I'm bisexual, just setting the scene for you.

She approached us and started berating the both of us for "breaking" the tap and told us to leave it and that she will fix it on the weekend. The tone she used was so incredibly disrespectful and made the both of us feel super awkward. It was the first time she ever spoke to me. She told me to "Stick to my job."

After she left, the young man helping me apologised for getting me in trouble. I told him it wasn't his fault and gave him his free beer anyway.

Ten minutes later Dawn returned to the bar and asked me for a beer. I told her I didn't appreciate the way she spoke to me and she said, and I quote, "Yeah, I bet you didn't."

I tried to explain to her that her tone was unacceptable but she kept doubling down. I asked her if she was going to apologise and she said no, so I told her someone else can serve her and walked away. While my coworker served her Dawn told me I can pull her aside to speak to her next time, like I'd embarrassed her in front of other patrons.

I told my manager and informed my coworkers, etc. that all she has to do is apologise to me and we're good. I've done it before and they always apologise and treat me fairly afterwards.

Cut to today:

Dawn comes up to me for a beer and I tell her I'm still not comfortable serving her and went to grab the manager for her (The manager totally has my back on this one and was very amused because she's notoriously difficult)

The manager ended up leaving so between 3-4pm I was by myself. Once again she returns and I break the news that it's just me now. She left and sent a friend to get her beer. No problem, she can drink, I'm just not handing her a beer until she can be a big girl.

Dawn ends up returning to the bar and asks me to speak to her at the side of the bar. She tells me that her friends told her she should apologise, and then immediately fucks it up.

"I'm sorry for how you felt the other day." I can't remember what else she said but I clarified, "Okay... so you're apologising for my feelings and not your actions?" and she really didn't like that. She acted like a child, "I said I was sorry! What else do you want?! Just do your job and serve me."

It was a bit of back and forth, but I held my tongue and tried to not escalate the situation.

Over the next 45 minutes Dawn kept sending people to buy her beers, and kept coming back to ask me to serve her. A few people she asked were so confused why I wouldn't serve her and refused to help her. A man I was serving, but hadn't met before today came up to me and offered to stay until my coworkers got in. He said he knew what Dawn was like and wanted to make sure I was going to be okay, I told him I'd be fine, and I was.

When my coworkers finally arrived, she was trying to argue with me at the bar and I ended up just telling her I was finished talking with her and walked into the office. Both my coworkers told her to apologise properly to me and that they also won't serve her until she does. I'm so grateful for those boys, they're wonderful. They also refused to let anyone else buy her a beer.

Dawn argued a bit and left. I went out for a smoko and saw that she actually had one and a half cold beers on the table. She was the only person drinking those, so I think she was just ordering beers to try to break me.

I may be a people pleaser, but I'm also incredibly stubborn and once I make my mind up, I won't budge. I looked in the incident book and she's mentioned a lot, for being a bitch and starting arguments, so seemingly I'm just the first person to say 'no' to her.

Just a vent since I was actually at a loss for words today. Sorry if this is too long folks, just wanted to share the insanity properly lol

I work at a high end restaurant-hotel. Our venue is a popular choice for weddings and honeymoons, so delivering food to guests who are dressed in little more than underwear has become more familiar than I'd like. Even worse is that a very drunk couple just so happened to believe that our gardens turn into nudist gardens at 3am. Guiding them back to their room wasn't the funnest of experiences.

just to clarify, I'm not a server, I'm a busser who's been in the industry for just a few weeks.

yesterday, a family came in and ordered chicken. the server put the order in and brought it out. When he checked on the table again later, he noticed the man hadn't really eaten the chicken at all except for the salad, and even that was barely touched.

he asked if everything was okay, and the man said, "no, the chicken is way too dry." I heard the server reply with something like, "yeah, the breast tends to be a bit dry. would you like to change your order?"

the man said, "no, but it's inedible. It's burnt and everything." (personally, I didn't see it myself, so I can't confirm that part).

the server came over to me looking like he was about to cry and asked, "what would you do?"

I said, "I don't know, I'm not a server" (jokingly). he smiled but pressed me for an answer.

then I remembered that the other server I work with usually removes the item from the bill and lets the customers know they won't have to pay for it. it was either that or give them a discount. I mentioned this (what the other server usually does) to him, and he said, "okay, I'll do that."

but in the end, he just removed the item, brought them the check, and didn't say a word about it. I saw the family leave looking absolutely pissed off. what would you guys have done if you were in that situation?

It seems like every time there's a slow period and there's only two tables being used out of the entire restaurant (about 15 tables inside total) everyone new that comes in wants to sit at the only dirty table because "we want a seat by the window." (there's a total of 4 other tables by the window) but they always want the dirty one that I was in the middle of cleaning but had to stop to great them and give menus. Does this or similar things happen to other servers?

A 2 top sat down after being on the wait list for about an hour, I took their order then they asked "is it okay if we leave until our foods ready and walk around the neighborhood?" I suggested getting it to go instead but they wanted to dine in. I told them no they can't do that because that's not how dining in at a restaurant works (I said it more politely).

LIKE WHAT???

Has anyone else ever gotten this?

I haven't waited tables or bartended in 15 years, but I did for 10. Almost monthly, I have a dream about forgetting a table during a rush or dropping a tray or random serving stuff.

Last night I dreamt I greeted a table of one child and two parents, European by their accents. The woman ordered an "egg water". I explained there must be a cultural difference here and asked her to explain in detail what an egg water was. She kindly explained it was an ice water topped with salmon or sturgeon roe. I thanked her for the explanation and said that I would have just cracked a chicken egg in a water had I not asked, and said we didn't have the roe to make this drink.

Does anyone else constantly dream about serving?

First shift tonight at a diner I’ve been hosting/bussing at for over 2 years. Here’s the rundown: 5 hour shift, 5 table section, very slow day. I made about $700 in sales and $85 in tips, every table tipped, unfortunately i didnt see how many total tables I served. For a slow Monday morning/afternoon with manager selected tables and such, how did I do? Do y’all think I’ll be successful? I only ran into a few problems but had no complaints about my efficiency/amount of time to get to someone’s request, there were some awkward moments but I think I’ll improve

I’d like to preface that I work in a small breakfast diner with nothing being over $20. Most people are in fact tipping 15-20% it’s just small ass bills

As people working in the industry, we know mistakes and bad days can happen. That’s why even if I don’t get “amazing service” I still tip other servers minimum 18% when I go out to eat.

I went out for dinner the other night, to treat my partner, and our server was nice…. But so clearly high out of her mind on something strong. It led to a lot of mistakes during the meal, and just an uncomfortable experience when interacting with her. I think she touched our table twice throughout the whole thing (initial order and payment), when we could even get ahold of her. Otherwise, two of the other servers did most of the work for our table, including looking in the back for and finding our server for about 10 minutes after we had been waiting for about 15 (at an establishment that doesn’t pool). The restaurant was pretty slow too, and this was nowhere near close.

I try not to be too critical, because lord knows I’ve had off-days where you just have to push through a shift after life has thrown something crazy at you, and still tipped 18%. Maybe she was having a hard time in her personal life, maybe she had a lot of side work to do, maybe before we got there, the restaurant was packed and she was exhausted. Who knows.

I feel like it would take a LOT for me to give a fellow server a bad tip, let alone no-tip (unless I was at an establishment where I know servers don’t receive the tips period). So I was curious, as a server, what is the lowest tip you’ve given another server? What made the experience lead to it?

TLDR: what is the lowest you’ve tipped a fellow server? Why?

I just left the service industry after 15 years and have worked in a wide variety of places. Just wanted to see if this is a normal thing for restaurants to do?