How to Be a Good Waiter and Waitress

張貼日期：Apr 10, 2010 4:45:9 AM

How to Be a Good Waiter and Waitress

Annie Hsieh

      I had a great deal of experience of being a waitress. In my opinion, a good waitress or waiter must have a good appearance and be good at speaking a second language. It was difficult for me to be a good waitress in the beginning. However, one of my bosses, who was a Korean and managed a Korean restaurant, taught me some correct concepts and steps to be a good waitress.

    My boss told me that showing a good attitude was more important than having a good appearance and speaking a second language well. Giving a kind smile was the best way to show the attitude to customers. And smiling could also give great impressions to customers. So my boss taught me the first step was practicing smiling. My boss also reminded me that I should keep smiling as possible as I could. It would make me look better.

     Keeping the smile and introducing the menu to customers carefully was the second step. My boss told me that I had to know well all the dishes on the menu completely. Those foods stood for the restaurant and realizing them would be useful to help customers to understand the characteristics of the restaurant. So I had to realize them clearly. Moreover, my boss also said that I could express some of my opinions when I introduced the menu to customers. They would be more powerful for convincing customers to order the dishes.

     Before my boss taught me the third step, he told me that I still had to provide customers all the routine services, such as giving glasses of water or wet towels and so on. Although they were basic work for waiters or waitresses, they were easily forgotten. So my boss asked me to remember to do them. Moreover, he reminded me that I had to be polite when doing those things. Finally, to think of customers as good friends and talking to them was the third step. My boss said that it could help me to be closer to customers. And I could also improve the service. In fact, I thought that the step was the most difficult for me at that time. Because I would feel embarrassed at talking to strangers, I spent a long time practicing the step. However, I felt that it was really a good way to improve myself gradually. And it also made me think that a good waiter or a good waitress should care customers from the beginning to the end.  

     Those steps may be a little difficult to do for some people. But if we can follow them, I think everyone can be a good waiter or a good waitress. Finally, I really hope those steps can help the people who also want to be good waiters or waitresses.