When you go out to eat, one of the main determining factors as to whether or not you plan on returning to that restaurant usually has to do with what kind of customer service you received.
Even if you do not think about it later, at that moment, the way your server treats you has a big impact on your experience, whether it’s a burger joint or a five-star restaurant.
May 21 is National Waiters and Waitresses Day – a day that’s dedicated to showing appreciation to waiters and waitresses who are great at their jobs and work extremely hard to please their customers.
“I like being able to socialize with customers,” Eastern Michigan University sophomore, Elizabeth Williams, said. “It’s fun to serve guests food and have them leave satisfied.”
For almost three and a half years, Williams has worked as a server at Steak ‘N Shake in Ypsilanti. She said waitressing is a good job to have while in college because it teaches students how to be personable with strangers and how to have patience.
To give a customer genuinely good service, a waiter or waitress has to be friendly, be able to make suggestions, be knowledgeable about what their establishment has to offer and know how to deal with all different types of people.
“Tough-skinned, self-motivated, outgoing, and able to work well with others,” EMU student Zenah Mitchel said, regarding how someone needs to perform as a server. Mitchel is majoring in apparel and textile merchandising and has been waitressing for about two years. Her first waitressing job was at a Natural Burger Joint in Santa Cruz, Calif., and she is currently employed at Conor O’Neill’s on Main Street in Ann Arbor.
Some people do not tip at all, no matter how good a server is. That can be disappointing for the server who makes less than minimum wage.
Brianna Davis, a waitress at IHOP on Ellsworth Road in Ypsilanti, said one of the worst parts about being a waitress is when things are really slow and you hardly make any tips.
“It sucks because you do a lot of work for only $2.65 an hour,” Davis said.
Not all waitresses are young high school or college students; some people do it for a living. A server, just like many other jobs, takes work and a combination of many different life and people skills.
