"The dinner rush is kicking in. Platters of cooked food are starting to stack up on the counter. Six bottled beers are being sent back because they are not cold enough. The entire dining room is thick with hot and greasy air that leaves a distinct scent on the skin. The place is almost packed and still more people are being seated. The little brat on table three spills and breaks another glass of orange juice. Here comes the prick on table seven asking for a reheat of her half uneaten burger for the third time. Where is that damn busboy? The customers on the counter have been bugging me for their dessert order. Those fucking tourists did not leave a tip! Everybody seems to be talking loudly at the same time I can barely hear the nice old lady's order. Someone asks for their tab as I carry out four heavy plates of food at the other table. I have not studied for my exams yet and I have another paper due before the week ends. Thank you folks, please come again!"
The busy hours of a dinner rush is something James is all too familiar with. The chefs, the restaurant managers, and the wait staff all share this grueling part of the restaurant industry. Every worker has its own trials. Every worker has its own story to tell. I meet up with James this Sunday morning to catch the train for his part time work in midtown Manhattan. Inside the train, I couldn't help but to notice our fellow passengers. People are quiet. There are men reading the Sunday papers. There's a mother and her kid on the stroller. And there are some-James included-with their heads hunched down trying to catch a few minutes of sleep before they get off the train. I wonder if these people are restaurant servers who often works fifteen hours shift. Restaurant servers work in shifts usually in days or nights and most of the time during weekends and holidays as well. Work hours vary on every restaurant establishment. His day shift starts at 10:00am and ends at 6:00pm, the night shift from 6:00pm to 1:00am.
As we walk towards the entrance, I hear the whole place just starting to come alive. I hear the usual cracking sound of a knife and the grill as it sizzles. The sweet-smelling scent of cooked bacon permeating the entire kitchen is invigorating. He put his apron on and gets his tab book by the register upfront. He introduces me to Johanna who is seating on the counter and eating her breakfast. They will be manning the tables today and she told him that she will do the night shift as well.
"Bummer. Who got sick this time?" He asked and took a piece of bacon on her plate.
"No, nobody got sick. Michelle is moving some stuff to her new place plus I need the extra shift anyway." She replied.
"I see. Okay, let's make some money then. Let's start earning those tips, stat!"
"Don't say stat." She took a sip of her coffee and rolled her eyes at him.
According to the US Department of Labor, being a restaurant server requires agility, being able to work under pressure, and most of the time working on their feet for long hours during busy dining periods. In addition, all employees, especially the server, must provide fast and efficient service to all diners. Being able to move and think quickly, taking orders from the customers, and just getting along with people are common qualities of a good restaurant server says Shawn MacDonald, a restaurant server herself and a staff writer for the Associated Content.
James grabs a cup of fresh brewed coffee and put ice on it. He introduces me to the rest of the employees. As he walk me towards the kitchen, I see one of the cooks adding the chopped vegetables in a tall soup pan and stirs in the broth to make the soup of the day.
"The soup looks delicious, what are you making?" I asked the cook.
"Eh, ¿que es esto? " James translated.
"Sí, sopa de pollo de la gran manzana. ¿Cómo estás, chico?" the cook replied enthusiastically and shook my hand.
"Say, 'muy bien!'" James said.
"Muy bien, muy bien!" I replied back.
James tells me he didn't speak a word of Spanish when he started working here. "That is one of the perks of working in a restaurant." He adds.
The breakfast regulars start to show up. James lets me grab a seat by the counter where I can see them do their work. The customer on table three orders a short stack of pancakes and a cup of fresh brewed coffee. On the other table, James is serving an order of omelet and home fries to an older lady reading her newspaper. "I need an order of French toast and waffles for table four!" Johanna says in a commanding voice to one of the cooks. There aren't many diners who stopped by to have breakfast this morning which is never good for the restaurant servers. They rely on the diner's gratuities just to make the minimum wage. Unfortunately, for some restaurant servers, they don't even make the minimum wage. The US Department of Labor states that the median hourly wage-and-salary (including gratuities) of restaurant servers is .14 as of May 2006.
That is a few cents below the Federal regulated minimum wage which as of July 2009 is equivalent to .25. Here, in New York City, waiters and waitresses can earn up to an average of ,640 annually and for experienced waiters and waitresses, earnings can average from ,570 according to the New York State Department of Labor. "A big part of our earnings come directly from our customers rather than our hourly wages." James stated. So, what is a proper tip? According to Kim Dickerson, a small business entrepreneur and a staff writer for the Associated Content, a proper tip for an average service is fifteen percent of the total bill. An exquisite service deserves a twenty percent or higher and a poor service, which happens rarely, is ten percent. "I don't know where you get your sources from but fifteen percent is cheap!"
Johanna jokingly remarks. "All we ask is just a fair amount of generosity from our diners for the service we provide." James stated. Now, the other question is why do diners tip or should tip their waiters or waitresses? I got a lot of different responses from other restaurant servers to this question. But, they all agree-James and Johanna included-that it's for the sole convenience of not having to worry about what's for dinner and the mess of cleaning up afterwards. "All of that is all done for them while they sit with their friends or family and relax" Kim Dickerson adds.
A few minutes passed by, more and more diners start to pour inside. Johanna has just finish refilling the little containers of maple syrup for the pancakes and James finishes brewing another pot of fresh coffee. An hour or so later, the lunch time rush is well under way.
A party of nine walks in and is properly seated on the middle of the dinning room. James hands in a few complimentary pickle slices on their table and just as he suspected when they walk in, they are tourists-European tourists. James tells me that they are one of the worst types of diners next to the occasional assholes, which whines no matter how good the food tastes nor how good the service is. European tourists do not leave gratuities or are very stingy with them and still expects to be served to their every beck and call.
"Do you want to take them? They are Spaniards, our favorite people in the world." He asked Johanna sarcastically as he hand her their lunch order.
"Not a chance. That's for taking my bacon earlier." She grinned as she walked away carrying the beers for table three.
They gather a fairly decent amount of gratuities during the lunch hours and as expected, they got nothing from those European tourists. But, James still provides a quality service to them. That's a part of his work as a restaurant server. A restaurant server's duties can be oversimplified into two main categories. Number one is providing a great service to all customers. Providing a welcoming environment sets the tone of the service from the moment the customer walks into the restaurant establishment. The simple act of always having a smile and just being pleasant in front of customers are the key to providing a warm and hospitable environment suggests Rodney Southern of the Associated Content and author of a short essay "How to Be a Fantastic Server at Your Restaurant." "What I do is I kill them with my kindness." Johanna states. Even the most cynical and gloomiest of customers fold when shown genuine kindness according to Shawn MacDonald.
Number two is doing "sideworks." Sideworks refers to the tasks restaurant servers do during off hours or towards the end of every shift. Such sideworks are refilling the salt and pepper shakers, mopping the floor, and cleaning out the coffee pot. "It takes me a good hour to an hour and a half to do all my sideworks." James states. General cleaning and sanitizing of the working areas of the restaurant is basically the whole definition of doing sideworks in the restaurant industry and is also eighty-five percent of a restaurant server's daily routine states Steven, also known as "Ribeye," a professional restaurant server in Nashville, Tennessee and the webmaster of his internet blog site ragingserver.com.
The lunch time rush slows down and the flow of diners coming in starts to dissipate. Johanna and James take turns eating their lunches. The employees' lunch consists of yellow rice and beans, a grilled chicken cutlet, and some sliced avocadoes with squeezed lemons. They let me have a plateful and ate with them. I take a bite and it is absolutely delicious. "That's the other perks of working in a restaurant, great food and you'll never go home from a shift hungry." James adds.
During the entire time observing James and Johanna on their work, I notice a middle aged gentleman sitting five seats apart from me on the counter. I notice he has been there approximately at the same time James and I arrived this morning. "He's one of the regulars here." Johanna told me. She tells me this customer in particular hangs in here almost everyday. Most of the employee here seems to know him by name and even some of the regular diners as well. He will walk in, greets everybody, sits on his chair by the counter-he even has his own chair here-orders "the usual" food and drink, and just hangs out and read his book for hours. "The good thing is we never had a problem with him." She adds. He gets along with almost anyone who strikes up a conversation with him. "He's also a lawyer which sometimes gives us free legal advices. As a result, he is the only diner here that gets free refills on drinks for life." She adds.
The dinning room is quiet right now-free of demanding and bossy diners. James tells me that he takes this afternoon lull as an opportunity to do some of his usual sideworks. Johanna is doing the same. She's cleaning off the laminated menus with a cleanser and arranges them neatly on the rack above where the napkins are. Before that, she dusts off the frames on the wall with pictures of old country western movies and the six feet by four feet decorative mirror at the back side of the dinning room. James also sometimes takes this quiet period to catch up on his school homeworks. He grabs his book bag by the register upfront and takes his math homework out.
"Hey, Johanna." As he signaled her to sit beside him on the counter. "Do you still remember your college math?" He asked.
"Of course. Which math is it?"
"It's calculus, and I'm having trouble solving this problem right here." He pointed out the question on the textbook.
"Ok. Here's how you do it." And she started scribbling numbers and equations on the scratch pad.
Being a restaurant server is a fine entry level job for a high school or a college student. According to the US Department of Labor, "food and beverage service jobs are a major source of part-time employment for high school and college students." There are no specific educational requirements and only requires basic skills. However, due to the nature of the work which pays very little, it's not very encouraging to get a career out of waiting tables and getting ahead is very slim. "Job advancement is limited to finding a job in a busier or more expensive restaurant where prospect for tip earnings are a little bit better" according to the US Department of Labor. "Even landing to a busier and more expensive restaurant does not guarantee better earnings. It just means doubling the amount of work for a slight increase in pay." James states.
"It's more of a transitory job and it's really not meant to be a sole source of income." Johanna adds. In contrast, the job outlook for restaurant servers is "expected to rise by thirteen percent over the 2006-2016 decade" according to the US Department of Labor. As more diners head out to eat in restaurants, more servers are also needed to provide service for this growing trend. There is still hope for decent earnings from waiting tables that's for sure.
James seems to have finished his math homework through Johanna's mathematical prowess. She's in college as well studying on her masters' degree in psychology. He puts his homework away and the employees for the night shift are starting to get ready-which includes him and Johanna. He goes to the washroom and splashes his face with lukewarm water to freshen up. He goes back upstairs to the dining room and diners are starting to pour in once more.
"Are you ready for round two?" He asked Johanna as he raised his right hand for a high five.
"Let's do this baby!" She replied enthusiastically.
"You kept me hanging over here."
"I don't do high fives." She said and gave him a bear hug instead.
The familiar sound of utensils tapping the plates and diners waving their hands for James to take their food orders indicate the start of the dinner rush.
