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| *Ostroff, Fair and Company>>>Food Service |
Any tips for a waitress in training? |
i am just starting to waitress any tips to be a god waitress get good tips......and carry lots of plates Never go into or out of your section empty-handed. Obviously if you only have one table and nothing to bring to it or take away from it you will be empty-handed. Still, look for stuff to do, even if it means pre-bussing another server's table. The next time they come in they could be your table. You want them to come back remembering good service even if they don't remember you. Love your bussers. They can save your *** more than anyone else you work with. I had a policy with my bussers: Stay out of my section until I ask you for help and I will tip you out twice as much as anyone else. Do not abuse this policy. I bussed my own tables for the most part. The bussers, even, ignored my request and would still buss my tables. When I got slammed, though, and really needed help they were right there. If they couldn't be because of a more pressing issue elsewhere I did not punish them for it. When most servers were tipping out 10% I was tipping out 20% and the bussers new it. Even if I never needed a busser in a shift I tipped them out 20%. It always pays off in the end. Make friends with your bartenders and cooks. They will fight you on this. They will hate you simply because your job is to make their job more difficult. Be nice to them, sympathize with them, ask them kindly when you need things and always offer to help them when you have nothing else to do. An extra thing is to offer to get drinks (sodas, water, etc...) for the kitchen staff. It gets hot as hell in there and they don't have time to get refills on drinks when they want. They will appreciate it. Likewise run barfood when you can. the bartenders will love you for that. ASK FOR HELP. When you need it, no matter what, ask for help. If the entire restaurant is empty except for your two tables ask someone to run the food for one table while you run the food for the other. If you are completely drowning and can't get to your tables fast enough ask other servers to help. Ask your manager to help. This is their job. Managers are glorified bussers and hosts. The bulk of their jib description is dedicated to doing your job when you need help. Help others when they need it before they ask. If food is sitting in the kitchen ready to be delivered and the server isn't there then run it. The table doesn't care who brings out the food. Chances are you could be 6 inches taller, a completely different race and gender and the customers won't notice. They will notice getting their food in a timely manner. Don't worry about carrying lots of plates or dropping anything. You will carry more plates as you learn to balance more and the same goes for balancing trays. You will drop things. You really just will. You won't drop as much as I do. It's really just a special skill I have. The point is that we all, servers or presidents of nations, drop things. When your job is to carry things from point a to point b you are going to drop a lot of things. It's no big deal. Make sure your table thinks it is a big deal. You dropped their food, after all, and they are the ones paying you (tips count way more than paychecks!). Say you're sorry, let them know you mean it. Don't obsess over it, however. This is where your relationship with your busser pays in spades. If you are tipping them out well and letting them know it while making their job easier most of the time they will be right there to clean up your mess so you don't have to. You can go to the cooks and manager right away to tell them you need that order done over because you aren't trying to find the broom and mop to clean it up. Last, always try to be timely and friendly with your customers. I ache every time I see another server I work with chatting in the kitchen when they have food up. I cringe when I hear them being short with their customers. I want to hit them when they whine about how low their tips are. I worked at a night club in Los angeles with 4 bars. I ran the bar everyone hated working at because less people came to it. When I was there I had to have my barback do his job and part of mine (he poured beers and made baaic drinks. He always got half the tips as opposed to the 15% the other barbacks got). I made more than the other bartenders even after giving half my tips to my barback. Why? I was nice. That's really all it was. Sure, I was fast and made good drinks but there was never a night when I didn't have a few new customers telling me how much nicer I was than the other bartenders. Those customers always came back to my bar and even tipped extra because of it. Just wait on your customers like you would like to be waited on and treat your coworkers as you would like to be treated. Add to that a little extra niceness and you will rock. dont drop the food, smile, ask questions to the voss\\, and get great tips Be courteous. You will get more tips by being polite but do not overdo it. Always remain nice no matter what. Im sure you will get better and better about the plate issue, of course when your a beginner its not gonna be perfect but within time and practice. practice at home with plates that you dont want or dont mind breaking. You may even use other house hold items to represent a plat like frispy in case you dont want to mess up ur house or plates LOL act professional even if the postition is not. good service equals good tips. Coming from 8 years experience, don't look down! If it's too heavy take 2 trips. That's a lot better than cleaning up an embarrassing mess. trust me i know. Smile ALOT, be friendly, and as speedy as you can. People love that, especially the SMILE part! Good Luck know your menu.. know what the kitchen is out of that day, know what the soup or salad of the day is.. and always smile.. check back with your customer to see if they need anything, but don't be over bearing about it.. Keep the dirty dishes off the table, and let them relax and talk for a bit after they eat.. they you can start to hover to get them out for the next set of people.. |
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