Drafted to Wait Tables?

Published on Monday, November 19, 2007, by Tea / Edit Post

Diners love to kvetch about waiters: They’re too slow or they serve you so quickly your meal is rushed. They ignore you or they’re overfamiliar. They forget to bring your water, they don’t tell you how much the specials cost, they bring out cold food—the complaints go on and on. But chef and food blogger Shuna Fish Lydon thinks we’d treat our servers more kindly if there were a mandatory food-service draft. If everyone had to serve, how would that change things?

Her Bay Area Bites post on the matter has incited some strong feelings. There are those who think bad waiters should just get their act together, others who point out that every field of work has its own critics, and an excellent comment from a reader who does the math on how many hours of hard work it takes to go and splash out for an upscale meal:

It turns out it took me about 12 hours, hard graft at the office, for me to be able to treat three friends to a meal at [the restaurant where Lydon works] … including more than two hours spent slaving away for the tip alone. … I choose to find my own pleasure over dinner and I don’t think it’s too much to ask to expect good and pleasant service.

There’s a slew of impassioned comments on the post from both diners and food-service folks. I’m staying out of the fray on this one, except to say that my brother, former waiter that he is, is by far the best tipper I know. Perhaps there’s something to the idea after all.

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  • I agree with the above poster. I also find that it's part of the "make everybody feel good" movement. People choose to wait tables. They're not sold into dining slavery. I get annoyed when my waiter is annoyed or frustrated that they have to deal with a party of diners - almost as if they're surprised by what they're expected to do.

    I don't think everyone should "have" to go through what...+READ

    I agree with the above poster. I also find that it's part of the "make everybody feel good" movement. People choose to wait tables. They're not sold into dining slavery. I get annoyed when my waiter is annoyed or frustrated that they have to deal with a party of diners - almost as if they're surprised by what they're expected to do.

    I don't think everyone should "have" to go through what waiters do, but simply should reward good service and not reward poor service.-COLLAPSE

  • I think an important distinction is that folks who work in offices are usually guaranteed a salary or an hourly rate. Waiters are paid at the whim of their customers.

    I think we would treat EVERYONE more kindly if there were a food-service draft. I'd be willing to grant a retail deferrment. The rigors of waiting tables, etc., doesn't excuse bad service. However, I think the world would be a...+READ

    I think an important distinction is that folks who work in offices are usually guaranteed a salary or an hourly rate. Waiters are paid at the whim of their customers.

    I think we would treat EVERYONE more kindly if there were a food-service draft. I'd be willing to grant a retail deferrment. The rigors of waiting tables, etc., doesn't excuse bad service. However, I think the world would be a much better place if more people had empathy for the folks that have to continue to smile when they're working for folks that don't have to pay them.-COLLAPSE