Your Servers Are People Too

One of my favorite bloggers, Ashley from Forever Ashley posted yesterday an experience her and her husband had while dining out at a local sports bar in Atlanta.  She shared with her readers about their server and how wonderful this young man had been and how he thanked them for being so great.

Photo: from WaitersToday.com

This post reminded about the total opposite of what this young server could have endured instead of the lovely conversational guests he had with Ashley and her husband.  I don't know how many stories I've heard from my classmates that also work in the food service industry and their horror stories of sorts of guests who are, let me just put it this way, less than desirable to deal with.  Even in fast food I've seen my fair share of guests who have gotten angry at a coworker or even myself for something trivial or out of our control.

The thing that I want to point out is that people who work in food service may not be doing it because that's what they want to do in life.  Think about it, most people don't want to spend six or seven days a week standing for eight or more hours, walking, carrying trays, lifting things, busing tables, standing over a grill, etc.  They are most likely doing it because they need some sort of income and that job is probably just a transitional phase.

I feel like this shouldn't need to be a public service announcement, but your servers are people too.

Even for people like my classmates and myself who want to be in this industry there are a lot of jobs we have to suffer through to make it to where we want to be.  We do it with a good attitude and give every day our best effort.  I'm pretty sure no one is seriously out to ruin your meal/day so that we can not get tips and you know, pay the bills.

Now take a moment, think about the last time you got frustrated with your server.  Was it something that the server was in control of? A lot of frustration that comes from guests in the food service area, it seems, are things that the server can't control, like running out of caramel cupcakes in Ashley's case.

It aggravates me that there seems to be this idea of giving inferior treatment to those who work in the hospitality industry.  Yes, this is a service industry but we're all humans too.  Can we not forget that when something goes less than planned?

Okay, my ranting for the evening is finished.