Introduction to Waiter or Waitress Training

"Hello. May I take your order?"

"Yes, I'll have item number seven."

"Would you like a salad or fries with that?"

"Hmm. I think I'll have a salad today."

"What type of dressing?"

"What do you have?"

"Italian, blue cheese, thousand island, or house."

"Do you have French?"

"No. But our house dressing is nice. Most everyone likes it."

"OK. I'll have that."

"What would you like to drink?"

"Iced tea."

"Lemon? Sweetener?"

"Lemon only."

"Thank you. I'll have that right up for you."

 Becoming a waitress or a waiter is often as much an accident as it is a choice. Because most positions
are on-the-job training, usually all that is required is an opening and a person to fill that opening. But
what if you really want to know about the job and how to prepare for it?  It might help to view the
position from a more global perspective.

One of America's favorite pastimes is eating out. Typically, the food is different from your normal fare.
More to the point, eating out requires that someone else decides what to cook -- the menu; someone
other than yourself cooks it -- the chef; someone else takes the order for your meal -- the waitress; then
brings the food to your table -- the expediter. Condiments are requested and provided. Drinks are
refilled automatically. Dishes are removed promptly -- the busser. Sometimes this is followed by dessert
and coffee, again the waitress. The last step is the presentation of the check, whereby the food is
priced.  Service is acknowledged with the requisite 15 percent or more if service is exceptional.
 

In the opening dialogue the waitress asks no fewer than six questions in her 60-to-90-second encounter
with a perfect stranger. By default you will see that a waitress has to have a few specific skills in order to
be an effective waitress:

 Patience

 Curiosity

 Be a "people-person"

 Communication skills

 Divert/suggest

Self-Assessment:

Let's take the above characteristics and evaluate them and you'll to see if waitressing might be a good fit
for you.

Patience – Are you patient? Can you keep asking different questions until you have assessed properly
what your current customer wants? Can you wait a moment for your customer to make up his mind?
You must realize that not everyone is a mind reader and should know that after ordering a salad, you'll
need to know what kind of dressing they require. Even though you may ask that very question 105 five
times in a shift, your current customer may very well have something else on his mind.

 Curiosity – This is related to patience, but is different. The dialogue at the beginning of the article is
entirely devoid of the curiosity component. Why should you exhibit curiosity? For the single purpose of
establishing that your customer is important to you.  Next to their name, having someone interested in
them is frequently one of the most important sensations a person can experience. Exhibiting curiosity
establishes a connection between you and your customer. If you are serving in a fine dining
establishment, you might ask if they are celebrating a special occasion. If you are serving in a café near a
motel or tourist attraction, you might ask them if they are traveling. This does not have to be a long and
drawn out conversation, but by exhibiting curiosity, you have your table feel important.

 People Person – Do you like people? Do you like being around them, talking to them, interacting with
them? If you have answered affirmatively to the patience and curiosity requirement, then you are likely
a "people person." What you must do now is evaluate your skill level as a "people person." Fortunately
this can be done on the job.  By building your personal development skills, your waitressing skills will
improve, as will your tips.

Communicate – Communication is asking questions, then really listening for the answer. Do not ask a
question if you do not intend to hear the answer. To do this devalues the customer at your table and
you may ruin your tenuous relationship. Communication requires reading body language and to have
the ability to hear what is not being said. You are not a counselor or a marriage therapist, but you may
sometimes feel like it. By communication, you must give and take information -- speaking and being
heard on both sides of the table.

Divert/Suggest – How good are you at being able to avoid disappointment by having a suggestion at the
ready? The opening dialogue's customer wants French dressing, which is not available. Without batting
an eye, the waitress offers house dressing as an alternative and it is accepted. It is not always this
smooth and easy, but your delivery needs to be.

If you answer affirmatively to all the above questions, that is a good indication you have what it takes to
be a waitress.  Do you have what it takes to be a good waitress?  Why would you want to be a good
waitress and not just an average waitress? Because a bad or less-than-average waitress makes less
money; she will likely not stay in the business very long. We will discuss more about this later, but low or
no tips = no money.  No money, most people lose their incentive to work.

The Job:

Waitressing means you will greet and welcome perfect strangers to your establishment, and make them
feel comfortable. You may be required to provide menus and drinks. Once they read the menu, you will
need to answer questions about the food, its ingredients, and its preparation method. You will then take
the order for appetizer, soup, salad, (dressing), entrée, sides, bread choice -- for each customer at your
table. Some restaurants allow you to write the order down. Others require you to memorize (accurately)
full orders for up to six people. The order must be given to the kitchen/chef. You must then balance
when each portion of the meal comes out, preferably with the appetizer appearing first. You will then be
required to locate and provide condiments, extra napkins, utensils for those that are dropped or are
merely missing, keep drinks filled, check on customer satisfaction and quality of the food. It is your job
to ensure that each customer at your table has what he or she needs.

 
Lastly, you will be required to do this for multiple tables, all at the same time.

The Hours:

People eat at all hours of the day and night. In order to provide for this need, some restaurants are open
24 hours a day. Others have set opening and closing hours.  Breakfast establishments open anywhere
from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m., with the expectation that the workers report to work up to half an hour before
their shift begins. Restaurants that are dinner-only open anywhere from 4 p.m. to 5pm and stay open as
late as 1 a.m. to 3 a.m.  Again, you will report to work slightly in advance of your shift to ensure that
everything is in place before you open. Hours can be long, though more than an eight-hour shift requires
overtime, something most employers avoid.  The point is, you will be on your feet and running to and
fro most of the time that you are at work.

xpediting:

Not every restaurant has an expediter, but those that do have a very valuable team member.  Their
basic job is to check the food that is up in the window against the ticket and ensure it is correct. They are
to see to it that any special orders have been carried out, i.e. sauce on the side, etc., and then they
deliver the correct food to the proper table.

Expediters can frequently be valuable, because they are not the ones who place the order, but they are
the ones who communicate with the kitchen and see to it that the orders are carried out. If there are
errors in the order, the expediter does not get emotional about being wrong; they did not put the order
in. This helps to keep tempers cool and emotions out of the running of the business.