Review: Waiting: The True Confessions of a waitress

This book was an interesting look inside the life of a waitress who has almost twenty years experience working in the hospitality field.  She first decided to waitress as a means of socializing by working at a restaurant her parents operating each summer at a mountain resort.  She later works at a restaurant in and around Yosemite where she learns what it is like to be a prep person.  Later she works at fine dining establishments, chain restaurants, and a nightclub.  Though she leaves the field for a period of time to try another career endeavor, she eventually returns to waiting as it suits her lifestyle better.  I have always believed you can learn something from just about anybody regardless of the station in life or their career field and this book was no exception.

I have never been a waitress, but according to the author, it is a transient field in which to work.  You never know just how long you may work with the same group of people.  Additionally, there is a hierarchy in every restaurant starting with the dishwashers, busboys, prep staff, wait staff, chefs, and restaurant management.  You never want to be in a bad relationship with the hostess of a restaurant as he/she could assign you to a bad section of the restaurant or seat the worst customers in your section.  Also, who knew that one of the worst days of the year to waitress was Mother's Day due to the coming together of disgruntled family memebers.  The best day of the year to be a waitress is New Year's Eve because people are in a festive mood and tip well.  The down side of the business includes lack of health insurance and the dependence upon tips as your primary source of income.  I think what attracts people to this field is the sense of adventure each time they enter the restaurant as they never know who they will meet or how their shift will transpire.  Also, it is an opportunity for flexible working hours.  The author touches on some of the stereotypes patrons associate with waiting as a career; specifically, that it is for people who are doing something temporary until they can get the education or opportunity to pursue "real" work.  Patrons also tend to presume that waitstaff are not the most intelligent people, but since I am aware that there are many varying types of intellligence I have to disagree with the author on this point.  I think a waiter/waitress has to be a people-person, highly social, and have quite a good amount of emotional intelligence in order to read and understand patrons and their needs.  I have also liked the line "Hi, I'm Teresa your waitress and I'll be taking care of you this afternoon".  It feels like someone will be nurturing/protecting you and to me that is a really good thing because if more people looked out for the interests of others as much as their own then this would most likely lead to a more caring, considerate, and compassionate society.  Every field of career endeavor is after all what you make it.