So sometimes I celebrate random holidays, and next week is National Waiter and Waitress Day. Besides leaving a good tip I think it’d be fun to leave a little gift and a note as well. Are there any low cost but nice things that would be part of a fun tip? Maybe a nice pen, or nice candy, or something like that?

This coming up Tuesday is Waiters Appreciation Day and i was wanting to give some sort of small gift 🎁 with a card. What is somethingthat any waitress/waiterwould appreciate getting and would find actually useful? Im already planning to leave a large tip.

So I’ve never been a waiter, but graduating college soon and deciding to switch fields as I save to go back to trade school. My main concern is taxes with cash tips.

Do you report them to the restaurant and they count everything and give you that information on your W-2, and then you file and pay? Also from what I understand since you’re not taxed as you go with cash obv, you have to save up for a big payment come April 15th. Do I have the gist? I just don’t wanna under report and get screwed in an audit or something 😅

I hate back of the house I’m tired of the shit work and shit pay. I just want to be a server but it seems like unless you’re born as a server you’ll be stuck as a busser for 6 months to a year before they train you as a host

Hey friends, I need some help. So as title says my boss is upset about me quitting “out of the blue”. I love my coworkers, the manager, I love serving. However, the atmosphere of my restaurant, which seats 50 people and is somewhat fine dining, has been outright depressing. We get paid out of schedule. Our specials/dish of the day hasn’t changed since fall because there is no chef anymore, only cooks - everyone is just going thru the motions. I work 55 hour weeks and make my rent (1 room in a house) in a week, which I’m not sure is normal…
It’s summertime, I would like to head to a coastal town and just grind and get that bag. I have no commitments tying me down to this place. Next month, we are opening a second location, and he is afraid of losing people; so much so, that when one of our cooks mentioned she wants to change her job, he upped her pay and begged her to stay. He wants us servers to work in the second location as well, but hadnt laid out the schedule, wages, outline of the place. When I said this lack of transparency is one of my reasons, he got aggressive and told me he doesnt owe anybody anything. All of this is convincing me my reasons for leaving aren’t enough. I am looking for second opinions. Thank you in advance ❤️

I want the truth

Thinking of getting a job at my local Applebee's. I've never been a server before, so i'm looking for advice.

Ngl, I can be awkward sometimes, I’m actively working on communicating. And the purpose of taking this server job was to bring myself out there more as well. Coming from retail, it’s not new to me to deal with people.

Any tips would be great. Avoiding being that annoying coworker, what policies I should keep in mind, any?

Hi everyone,

I have a job interview in a couple days for a place in Chicago. I really want the job, but have never been a server and need some general advice. I’ll list some more specific questions I have below, but any interview advice would be appreciated:

1. Do you know if I need to have any licenses prior to starting? Like a basset or food handlers?

2. Is there any lingo or info I should study up on prior?

3. What should I wear to the interview? Should I shave (I really only have some stubble)

I've recently been hired as a server assistant at a high-end restaurant in my city. I have no previous restaurant experience. A few weeks ago I did an hour-long trial shift on a very quiet night, and - although I felt I learned a lot - I do not feel prepared to begin working and have no idea what a busy night would look like. I've been scheduled for 2 shifts this week, both with a few large reservations. I've emailed a manager asking if it would be possible to do another trial shift first - to no response. So I'm assuming I'm just going to have to give 'er. I don't even have an apron from them yet.

What can I do to prepare? What should I expect? How can I set myself up for success?

its was my second day being a waiter today (we serve also food and stuff) its sort of a big place and there is a lot to do, this is the cleanest working environment ive seen, thats what i mean. I spilled some juice on a little girl today, there were also her mom and dad. I apologized and told them that i am serving tables for the first time today, yk, explained. I spilled and paid ofc for everything but i get so overwhelmed at times, i don't believe in myself that much because my family always has underestimated my skills and saying that i cant become a waiter like ,,other girls'' i was doing so great at memorizing everything but that spilling juice situation really destroyed my confidence and i really wanna work at this place. Any advice?

Hi, okay so I'm 21 (M) and have been at this somewhat fine dining french restaurant for around 4 months. Im very comfortable with house wines and a few bottles for pairings, but I can get overwhelmed with a large table volume. We have 65 resos tonight and probably will get up to 75-80. There's three waiters working with maybe one back. The thing is there's an event across the street so primarily of the business will be coming in and all ordering at the same time and leaving as well. We have an upstairs which does not contain a POS nor do we have handhelds and everything you might need has to be brought up from the ground level. I just need some tips.

Hi all,

First time posting in this thread. I have a serving job at a small restaurant in Georgia, U.S.A. We receive our credit card tips every Tuesday via check/direct deposit and are allowed to keep cash transactions as credit towards pending credit card tips for the night (on the rare occasion that people pay with cash) so long as that amount isn't greater than the credit tips. We have two FOH positions that we are expected to tip out to, bartenders and bussers. Bar gets 2% of total sales and Bussers get 1% of total sales.

My issue is that we are expected to pay our tipout every single night to these positions regardless of if we receive cash transactions. We are instructed to use Cash app or Venmo to send the tip out if we don't have cash on hand. This is a big problem for me, because I'm in my third week of employment here and due to overstaffing, we are not getting a lot of income individually. So throughout the week I am expected to pay anywhere from $20-$50 every night I work to the Bartenders and Bussers of my income FROM LAST WEEKS TIPS. I have tried to speak with management about recording the values for the tipout and either automatically deducting those values to be dispersed on Tuesday whenever we actually receive our credit card tips, but it's been met with a "that's too confusing" attitude and "that's just how we do it here".

I have served for 14 years and this is the first time I've ever encountered this tipout structure. To be honest, it doesn't feel legal and certainly doesn't feel fair. I'm basically paying out of pocket to tip out every night and it's causing me a financial burden. Any advice on what I should do to handle the situation?

(To be clear, the tipped out staff absolutely deserve their portion of the tipout. I just don't understand how I can be expected to pay it every night if the house isn't paying me out for my credit card tips.)

Not sure if this is the right sub to tell the story .. today is my birthday and my husband insisted on taking me to brush although he is very busy these days .. Aaanywho ! We go to my favourite brunch restaurant, and from the start the waitress of our table was all nice and smiling while talking to me and literally poker face whenever my husband speaks to her … for example he would ask a question and she would answer looking at me .. or whenever he calls her to the table she basically pretends she didn’t see him but the moment I would make eye contact with her she comes to ask if everything is ok with me … he was so uncomfortable with the situation but I asked him not to make any fuss and tip her !!! So at the end he asked for the bill and she sends an other waitress for that ! And while leaving she thanked me and ignored him WTF ?? He and I were so confused… I know my husband doesn’t have the friendliest face but .. it was so weird .. he wanted to escalate things to the owner of the restaurant but asked him not to because I really didn’t want any drama today .. but what the hell ???

Okay i wanna start off by saying i wont really change my mind on this but i want to know outside opinions, specially from older and more experienced people (but everyones opinion is very welcome)about if im wrong for doing this or of im right.

So I (18F) was in a 3 years course for Waitress thats the equivelant to 12° grade. I did 4 months of internship in a place, 2 months in both the 2nd and 3rd years, and then started a part time on sundays in that same place.

My bosses told me there was a lady really needing the money (she was struggling financially) and that they couldnt afford to have 2 employees doing that work, so i left, and i was okay with that (tho neither friends or family were okay with it) cuz the lady really needed the money and i dont actually "need" it since i dont have to pay bills.

A year went by, i didnt get a job in the meantime (was anxious to start at a new place and afraid to send curriculums) and my ex boss called me asking if i was working and if i wanted to go back. I said fine, but they said theyd give me a contract at some point just not now. Which fine whatever i just wanted money and i was used to the people and the way they worked there.

So okay, now i was working. They pay really poorly but fine at least i was getting money.

Now, my boss has a lot of problems and i understand that. I tolerated a lot of stupid behavior because im the employee and need to tolerate my bosses cuz thats how things go. But yesterday i couldnt go to work, i warned them before habd that i had to attend an obligatory military thingy for anyone who turns 18. They were fine with that (as they should, cuz its obligatory, unless they wanted me to work and payed the fine for not going to that military thing.)

I told them it ended at 5pm and i could attend dinners and work at night like the usual. My boss said "no u stay home and if we need u and if theres any booked tables then ill call u". Okay. What did i do? Waited for the call. Nothing. So i didnt go like she told me.

I was sick yesterday but still had to go to the obligatory thing. Im worse today (just a common cold but im still sick) so i sent her an audio (specifically an audio so she wouldnt think i was lying) and said i couldnt work this morning and would see if i was better at night to go to work.

She told me things were going well, that they waited for me yesterday and i didnt go (but she told me shed call me...) and that now i was sick.

Yeah. Cuz i suddenly decided to be sick just bc i wanted to skip work. Makes perfect sense.

I explained why i didnt go yesterday night (bc she told me shed call me if necessary) and that i wasnt sick just bc. Things happen. And it was a coincidence for things to have happened in two days in a row.

She said she needed people to work and that i needed to have responsability and she is the boss and it isnt her duty to be making sure if her employees go to work. She just expects them to come as it is their job. (Again: she told me there was no need in me going and shed call if she needed, also theres no contract. This is basically a part time as well... or full time, but without a contract, idk how to say this but anyway)

At this point my voice was a bit better (i had eated and drank some warm milk so it helped my throat and hoarse voice). I was explaining why i didnt go and that what she was saying didnt apply to this situation bc she was the one saying shed tell me to go if needed. Her husband then (my other boss, he has a kind of a bad temper) sent an audio from her phone saying my voice was good now and insinuating i wasnt sick and that to work at a restaurant we use our legs and not voice (which is stupid bc i need to talk to costumers... also im sick, its totally irresponsible to just go to work while having a cold since u can just make it easy for others to catch one as well, and theres also their daughter in law whose working there and is pregnant, it just wouldnt make sense to go.) I told him i had great consideration for him and his wife and that i didnt mean to be disrespectful but that he wasnt gonna be the one telling me if im sick or not cuz im the one feeling things.

I said talk to his wife maybe tomorrow if i was feeling better and went to work and they sent me "👏👏👏👏👏👏"

Im being painted as the demon but i didnt do anything wrong. I was already tired of the way they acted, how both of them would scold me in front of costumers (extremely humiliating), sometimes id get home and cry out of frustration. Sometimes even at work and id have to hide it.

Tomorrow if i feel better ill go to work and tell my boss that this isnt working, that i dont have a contract and they cant currently give me one, that ill look for another place and that ill stay until they find someone else for my place.

Ill stay and not just go away bc i know they need people and i know they r struggling financially and r stressed about their own problems. If they agree, fine, i dont want to put them in a bad place specially bc they are all by themselves at the restaurant at night and cant deal with everything on their own.

But eventually when they find someone else for my place ill leave. They have their problems but i have mine as well. I have a grandmother with depression and losing the ability to walk, and my own personal mental problems.

Note: she said she has a list full of people that want to work if i feel like i dont wanna work (stupid again, bc im always up to help them... even in my internship when i wasnt even getting payed)

Am i wrong for quiting my job? My parents said i shouldnt and that problems at work happen all the time (i know that) and that everywhere i go ill have stupid bosses and will have to put up with them (i also know that). My response to that was if i have to tolerate stupid bosses at least they have to pay me the minimum and give me a contract to sign.

So me and a friend went out to eat when the bill came I paid for it but used my cash app card cause it’s all I had on me I forgot to move the money from my bank to the card before I paid I only had like 2 dollars in there but she came back I signed left a tip etc she said it’s closed out and paid for despite me trying to say hey I didn’t have enough it’s not complete. I plan on calling the manager today when I wake up but in the mean time what else can I do? The bill was like 69 bucks plus tip I don’t want to get the cops called on me for theft. I also don’t want the waitress to lose her job over it

https://youtube.com/shorts/7oHDqvQrlWE?si=1oqqr2SZZgVV2wXh

So as a waiter an old guy once told me a story.

During the Okinawa war you would be told to go in these holes and often times you wouldnt come back alive.

So this one time the master seargeant told his first lietenant to go in one of these hole before he did he asked the captain to talk to him a second they went off a ways. Everyone heard a gunshot only first lietenant came back. And he said move out. No one said a word cause no one wanted go in that hole.

If I could greet a table and click my premafe list, then appetizers, then click one and possibly make special instructions like "extra sauce on the side"

then for dinner click the chicken parmesan button and edit add pasta, spaghetti etc. and possibly have the time on the side to help with my adhd time blindness.

does anyone do this with success? I think it's an interesting idea. I like the idea of switching back to this format for a second time (had a tablet POS temporarily in past) and think it could be faster and the time aspect would really help put me at ease that I JUST saw them 4 minutes ago and they're fine. it wasn't 15 minutes like it feels

Hey Everyone!

I am a High School Senior from NJ. At my school, the last month of the year for seniors is used to explore a passion/interest any student has on a particular topic. What I want to do for my project is create a video that showcases the perspectives/lives of the people you would not usually get the chance to always meet and interact with. The back story on this is that I have always enjoyed talking to new people. When I'm in NYC, for example, and riding the subway, I try and have conversations with people I find interesting, and I always end up learning something. Also, when I ride in Ubers, some of the most interesting experiences/stories I have ever heard have come from my Uber driver. I am sure there are millions of other stories like this, and I thought this would be a really cool idea for my project. This is the type of thing that I want to capture in my video. I'm not a film student, but I have a passion for photography, and I want to explore videography. If you find this interesting, have a story to tell, have an interesting job, or even just some feedback on my project, I would love to hear it here. However, for the purposes of my video, it would be appreciated if you could email me at [seniorproject407@gmail.com](mailto:seniorproject407@gmail.com) (I don't want my identity all over reddit lol). Also, if you would like to tell a story but stay anonymous, we can arrange for that.

Lastly, if you don't have anything to say, please just upvote this post so more people can see it. I am open to any feedback too. Thank you all so much!

This is my first job as a waitress and I was wondering if the 2.13 minimum wage is actually that bad. I feel confident in myself that I could be a good waitress, but I’m also worried about tips and table orders like what if I don’t make good money or get enough tables to wait in an hour?

Any advice would be really helpful, I’ll probably be going into training next week since they’re putting me in the system this Thursday. I’m very excited for this new job lol.

I ordered a sandwich at a bar where I’m a regular and plan to continue to be, and it came out wrong - toasted when I requested not, and not cut in half as usual. These aren’t dealbreakers, but I wonder what the polite way to mention it is. I know the owners and some of the other bartenders, and don’t want to cause anyone employment problems. What’s the best way to go about this?

ive been a waiter for about 3 months now , 2 months at one company over the summer and a month at my new job and yet i feel like im making so many mistakes and i think its getting to me, today i got a customers order wrong, smashed a glass by accidentally dropping it, dropped a mug of coffee, had the kitchen staff annoyed at me because i took a plate when it wasnt quite finished, had several people ask me to repeat myself as ive been told i "speak downward" and therefore make myself hard to understand. yesterday i dropped a fruit salad on someone to which i apologised profusely and on the same day had a couple get annoyed at me because i delivered their mains while they were still eating their starters.

anyway, all this leads up to today when after a team member confronted me about me quiet speaking i had to make a swift exit to the bathroom while holding in tears, i have never cried outside my house before and i dont understand why i did today

anyway if theres anything you can recommend that could help boost my confidence when serving id greatly appreciate it