Preview

Life of a Waitress

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1664 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Life of a Waitress
|

“Hello, my name is Stephanie and I will be taking care of you tonight.” This is my routine that sounds rather scripted. Waitressing is just one of the many roles in my life. Wait staff almost have a script for how to handle customers. Being a waitress is a positive role in my life. It is something I can enjoy while doing and work with people who appreciate working with me. This is one of my favorite roles that I have had in my life. Waitressing has made me a more open person. I have learned many different things in these two years of waitressing. There are certain expectations that all customers have upon entering a restaurant. Within waitressing, my role consists of serving customers, working with other wait staff, cooperating with the kitchen staff, and fulfilling my mangers expectations. Social roles cannot be escaped. Each role that is carried out has its own expectations and obligations. Some roles intertwine with other roles that a person partakes in, which can make similar responsibilities in the roles. A role is determined by a person’s society. Each situation that a person stumbles upon fits into one of their given roles. Most people attach themselves to their roles and attempt to fill the roles to the fullest. Waiters and waitresses have many expectations coming from many different angles. I am a waitress in a winery/bistro. My expectations from customers differ from the expectations from my co-workers and bosses. Customers expect that they will be my number one priority at all times and that I will be of service to them at the times they need me. Sometimes this is hard to achieve, especially on busy nights when trying to make every table as comfortable and satisfied as possible. Some customers get upset if their server is not as punctual as they would like. This causes them to be unpleasant with the server and this can impact a server’s mood. I know that my performance has changed because of the way I am treated by customers. If I have a table



Bibliography: Fine, Gary Allen. Kitchens: The Culture of Restaurant Work. Berkeley: University of California. 1996. Print. Williams, Damian. Social Psychology 4150. 2011.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Castle Family Restaurant

    • 1300 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The staff of any restaurant industry needs to be able to meet the needs of the customers and the Managers…

    • 1300 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Applebee's Pros And Cons

    • 1441 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The atmosphere at Applebee's was very pleasant and our waiter was friendly and accommodating. We counted seven courtesies (please, thank you, your welcome, may I help you, etc.) that he said to us. Unfortunately, we did overhear another waiter making unprofessional complains about their customer. Our waiter also told us that he had been in the service industry for nine years and had been working at Applebee’s for two years. He had the most…

    • 1441 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Scoiology Quiz 2

    • 2511 Words
    • 11 Pages

    we occupy a status which is a social position but play a role which is a social expectation…

    • 2511 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Project Long Range

    • 955 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Food-service workers perform an important job that is always in demand. Waiters at restaurants have a responsibility to serve the customers' needs during the time they are in the restaurant. A waiter's salary is typically made up of a small hourly rate of pay and customer gratuity, so it is financially advantageous for a waiter to know how to properly serve customers.…

    • 955 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Second, we had a very talkative and rude waitress. When we first sat down we waited almost 30 minutes just to get our drinks and appetizer put in. On top of getting our drinks late, we had to keep asking for refills. I don’t expect a waitress to keep all drinks completely filled, but when every drink at a table is completely dry, I would think they would need a refill. Paying almost $2.00 for a drink is ridiculous enough, so I try to get what my money is worth. Also on top of all of that, our waitress kept talking to the other table near us while standing at our table. I would have rather not had a waitress and have done it all myself.…

    • 473 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Psych 233 Final Exam

    • 2251 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Role: A process of behavior a person engages based on his/her understanding of the behavior and constructs of other people…

    • 2251 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    We take on many roles throughout the day and while most of these tie into our social status, personal duties, expectations and our behaviors they are only one of the few roles we learn about in time. Social roles are used to predict the way an individual acts in a situation and there is a belief that they are the result of a situation. When working in groups, roles exists that are not related to our personality or a result of our behavior. A superior can give them to us or unknowingly we may adopt them. This we have all been doing since youth but most of the time we are so absorbed into the roles we have taken on that we rarely take time to think about them. They have become as automatic as breathing to majority…

    • 1595 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Work is defined as a job or activity that one does regularly in order to earn money, yet the concept of work seems to be a controversial topic many argue about. Those who do work are often happy with their job but there are also those who are dissatisfied. Perhaps this controversy is due to Social Darwinism, also known as the survival of the fittest, by brainwashing society to believe that success is being superior to others. This mutual theme of Social Darwinism is presented amongst the poems Night Waitress by Lynda Hull, Singapore by Mary Oliver, and Hard Work by Stephen Dunn. The biggest dispute is if people are working to survive or working to be…

    • 118 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Secret Shopper Tgifridays

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages

    We weren’t even greeted properly, we had ask to sit in the bar area, and the hostess told us to go ahead and didn’t even take us there just pointed to where it was. I felt she was snotty and was put out by having to deal with customers. Her attitude was horrible. (pg38) My boyfriend and I are sports fans, that’s why we decided to sit in the bar area so we could watch ESPN. There weren’t that many tables in the bar about 6 total, two had dirty dishes on them and two needed washed, one was occupied so we took the only available and clean table. I didn’t understand it really, they weren’t real busy, and everyone seemed to be doing nothing for towards what customers want.(pg38) The one other table that was occupied was people who were also disturbed by the lack of professionalism that was being displayed. One guy even commented on it, I in return said “If I was the boss a lot of people would be losing their jobs tonight”. Their service delivery systems seemed to be failing tonight. (pg38)…

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    “I tell everyone I’m a Waitress and I’m proud.” (Working in America, pg. 48) In the Delores Dante reading she talks about how proud she is of her work even if she is only a waitress. I think that’s one of the things missing in today’s society. People just don’t take pride in their work anymore. Especially when they are a server. Many server’s now are teenagers and or college students paying their way through college. Rarely can do you find a server who actually TRULY cares about their job. They believe this is just a temporary job on the way to their real job. Yes, sure it may be temporary but that doesn’t mean you can just mess…

    • 1700 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    HUM/100 Artistic Themes

    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The role a man plays in society, as well as the role a woman plays in society is referred to as a gender role. A gender role can include, but is not limited to a person’s status, position, behavior, and activities that is deemed fitting for the sex of that person. Men and women’s roles are very different and have always been that way. It is expected by society that men and women have diverse principles and attitudes. The fact that certain behavior is logically linked to the gender of the person is confronted by the social aspect that is mirrored by behavior. Role is such a broad word with…

    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When I first started to work as a waiter, unexplainable excitement ran through my whole body but with time, the job I was so eager to work at, started to dim down and became a bother. When being a waiter it can always go two ways, either people notice your hard working or they don’t care and take advantage of the situation instead. For example in the poem in line 12 it says, “They don’t see me. I bring them cups,” to which I share the mutual thoughts to because when I use to be a waiter, I would go and bring my customers…

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The employees must be able to politely interact with any types of customer -whether they be rude, angry, or impatient- and serve them. Due to the low-cost, high-profit attitude of the fast food corporations, employees are not given what they deserve, whether that is money, a new position, or benefits: "The industrialization of the restaurant kitchen has enabled the fast food chains to rely upon a low paid and unskilled workforce. While a handful of workers managed to rise up the corporate ladder, the vast majority lack full-time employment, receive no benefits, learn few skills, exercise little control over their workplace, quit after a few months, and float from job to job," (Schlosser 14). As consumers, we should choose to eat a restaurants that pay their workers reasonable wages, as well as offer opportunities to promote and receive benefits. The workers are the base of a company and should receive and earn what they bring in for the company.the fast food industry must rethink how they treat their workers regarding wages, promotions, and…

    • 374 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The development of our self-concept has numerous influences, which include roles played, social identities formed, comparisons made, personal success and failure, judgments, and cultural surroundings (Myers, 2010). Roleplaying can include what we are in our professional life, as children in school, and into adulthood. The roles we assume…

    • 1179 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Strength Quest

    • 423 Words
    • 2 Pages

    -Avoid roles that demand structure and predictability. These roles will quickly frustrate you, make you feel inadequate, and stifle your independence.…

    • 423 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays