Waiter
From Free net encyclopedia
Image:Waiter!.jpg A waiter is a person who "waits" on tables, often at a restaurant or a bar. A female waiter is often called a waitress. The gender-neutral server and collective waitstaff may also be used.
Waiting tables is one of the most common occupations in the U.S. (along with nursing, and teaching). The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that, as of May 2004, there are over 2.2 million ([1]) persons employed as waiters and waitresses in the U.S.
Waiters' duties include preparing tables for a meal, taking customers' orders and serving drinks and food in a restaurant. Depending on the restaurant, other less common duties may be required, such as singing birthday songs to customers who are celebrating a birthday. A theme restaurant may even require waiters to dance (e.g. Joe's Crab Shack). There are now event caterers that outsource waiter/s/esess to events and specific functions.
"Silver Service" waiters are specially trained to serve at banquets or high-end restaurants. They follow specific rules of service and it is a skilled job. They generally wear black and white with a long, white apron (extending from the waist to ankle).
The head waiter is in charge of the staff of waiters, and is also responsible for assigning seating. This person can also be referred to as the maître d'hôtel. Some restaurants employ busboys to assist the waiters.
Tipping
In the United States and some other Western countries, it is customary to tip a waiter after a meal. In the U.S., waiters, like other "tipped" employees, can be paid a lower minimum wage than other occupations. For example, waiters in Georgia are generally paid around $2.13 an hour.
In contrast, waiters in many East Asian countries refuse tips, which are sometimes even considered an insult. Many cultures in the region believe that leaving a tip implies that the waiter is not being paid enough by his or her employer.
Tipping is not customary in Australia or New Zealand and is not factored into wages of waitstaff. However, tips are appreciated especially if the customer or party has been unusually difficult or has left a mess. Many parents of small children leave a small tip. Tips in Australia, because they are not a significant part of the income of the service staff are usually token amounts rather than a percentage of the bill.
Waiters in fiction and film
- William Somerset Maugham: Of Human Bondage
- James M. Cain: Mildred Pierce
- Terrence McNally: Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (filmed as Frankie and Johnny)
- Garçon! (Claude Sautet; France, 1983)
- Team Mew Mew from Tokyo Mew Mew
- Amélie Poulain (Audrey Tautou) in Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain
- Tyler Durden from Fight Club
- Reservoir Dogs features a lengthy dialog on the principles of tipping. Pulp Fiction has a brief cameo by Steve Buscemi as a cynical Buddy Holly-lookalike waiter
- Monty from Waiting...
- Buscemi plays a waiter again in Jim Jarmusch's Coffee and Cigarettes.
- It Could Happen to You
- Cocktail with Tom Cruise as a barman
- Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston) as a coffeehouse waitress in the first three seasons of Friends
- Joanna from Office Space
- This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.