Reply to Do Wolfgang Puck waiters really make $120,000/year?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It's worth pointing out that you don't START as a waiter making $120k.  It's a profession that requires skill, personality, stamina and seniority to make the big bucks.  In my restaurant, almost everyone worked in the kitchen first, graduated to bussing tables, then started on lunch shifts and weekday dinner shifts.   You usually didn't get to work weekend dinners until you'd been there awhile.  [/quote]

Skill? You are only required to be really good looking at the high end places. Oh and have the ability to memorize the menu and drink recommendations. [/quote]
Waiting tables is absolutely a skill. As a person who is both clumsy and forgetful, it was never something I could do, so I worked at camps and regular retail instead in my teens and early 20s while my friends were servers.[/quote]

Oh gd yes. I used to wait tables and I was awful at it. I was clumsy, forgetful, disorganized - I found it really hard to get all the things right that you need to do, to make your job look easy. Luckily I like to talk to people - briefly, one on one like that; introvert otherwise - so I had SOME moments that weren't the worst. But I think it is a hard job - physically and mentally. And would never begrudge someone earning a decent living doing it.
[/quote]

Waiting tables is not a skill. Everyone can (and has) waited tables in their 20's. If you can't remember everything you just jot it down on a piece of paper. At the high-end you are just dealing with more demanding customers who ask you for the same recommendations the Applebee's waiters are asked. Can I get you any drinks? Try the Chilean seabass special! You know a good Pinot goes well with that? [/quote]

I'm the PP who wrote about having worked at a white glove service restaurant and you have NO IDEA what you're talking about. Yes, that's what it takes to wait tables at Applebees. That is NOT what it takes to wait tables at a high end restaurant. And yes, if you're lucky, good at your job, and work your butt off you MIGHT make barely six figures - but even at a fancy place like where I worked, that's 10 people, and there are literally 100 more making way less than that. You have to take special wine classes, generally become either a certified sommelier or equivalent knowledge. You need to be prepared to answer IN DETAIL questions about wine from different regions, grapes, and years, discuss pros and cons, recommend pairings based on the food, the budget and the preferences of your table. You also need to be able to discuss the food and flavor profiles of it, sourcing, cuts and types of meat, spices, again, in detail. A lead waiter in a high end restaurant is an incredibly skilled position.

And for all those people doing back of the napkin math of "well, I tipped $100 and there were four other tables doing that, so they could easily make $120k," you also have no idea what you're talking about. Especially at fancy places, you're tipping out a whole TEAM. At our restaurant, you had the waiter you probably recognized as your waiter. Well, you also had two other waiters assigned to you, that just registered as "cocktail waitress" or "busboy" plus we had to tip out dishwashing and other back of the house staff. At our restaurant, tips were split 40/30/20/10 - 40% to the captain (head waiter), 30% to the front waiter, 20% to the back waiter, and 10% to the back of the house. So the person you perceive as your waiter is getting 40% of your tip. Plus - yes, you can make bank on Friday and Saturday nights. But you're also covering Tuesday lunch shifts. It all has to average out - there's only two weekend dinner shifts a week, folks, and most people are working 6-10 shifts a week.  [/quote]

What a sad profession. I can't imagine having so many hands out for my money. What does a "captain" even do for you? Provide motivational speeches at start of shift? [/quote]

PP here - your misreading me. The captain, from the customer's perspective, is the person you're actually giving the tip to - your head waiter. The one who greets you, who's name you know, who hands you menus, who takes your order, who hands you the bill, etc. But they're only getting 40% of the tip. Because the other people (front waiter, back waiter, back of the house staff) are splitting up the other 60%. At our restaurant (I'm sure this varies dramatically at different places) front waiters take primary responsibility for drinks and back waiters do water/bread/bussing (though there's a bit more nuance, that's the general idea). [/quote]

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