Anonymous wrote:This is funny. I loved loved loved waitressing. You describe it exactly right - it does feel like a battle, every night. And then you'd go out with your friends with all that cash and stay out so late and have so much fun.

To this day, when I have stress dreams (I'm a lawyer now, btw) I'm waitressing and don't know the codes for the computer and haven't tried the new items on the menu and can't recall the table numbers.

Omg I def have had those in the weeds dreams! I loved my waitress/bartender days, I totally miss it. Taught me so much about humility and people in general, I reminisce about it often. I love dining out now and getting good service so I can chat with the waitstaff and leave awesome tips because I know how it is.

Anonymous wrote:

Yes. There's actually a movement to make waiting tables more of a profession in the USA than a transitional type of job. There are restaurateurs who now pay their wait staff a good wage and eliminate tipping. I for one prefer the way things are done in France and wish it was the same here….

I'd love to hear from the waitstaff at one of the restaurants that eliminated tipping with the promise of a higher wage. 20 years ago I worked at a chain steak house, 4 hours & made $70 a night and still had all day free to work as an office temp. Ten years ago a friend of mine worked at a higher-end restaurant in a smaller city & made $500+ a week working 3 nights a week. There is no way either one of those restaurants could have paid a wage, without tipping, to come close to that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. It's so stressful, but I love it and miss it too!

+1 I loved it too. I loved that you worked your butt off, made a lot of money but then when the restaurant closes, your job ends...no nagging projects or deadlines, no conference calls.

that is the feeling that is missing from 'professional jobs'. which is so key for mental health. it is gettinger harder and harder to keep work at work and to swtich off when you leave.

So, so true. I'd have to quit to feel caught up. Checking one item off the list isn't very rewarding when the list never ends.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you should go back and do it OP. Try starting on the weekend and quite your day job if it works out.

Or just take a few shifts on evenings, weekend.

+1. Go for it OP!

I haven't worked as a waiter in 30 years, and I still sometimes get those dreams, too. I liked being a waiter very much. I worked in a high-end restaurant in a large city, and I saw it as a game, a ballet, putting on an act as if I were serving at Downton Abbey, meeting needs before people even realized they wanted something. And the place was lovely, the food exquisite. We made great money. I couldn't be on my feet that much anymore, and I'm no longer attractive, which was a requirement.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is funny. I loved loved loved waitressing. You describe it exactly right - it does feel like a battle, every night. And then you'd go out with your friends with all that cash and stay out so late and have so much fun.

To this day, when I have stress dreams (I'm a lawyer now, btw) I'm waitressing and don't know the codes for the computer and haven't tried the new items on the menu and can't recall the table numbers.

+1! I have the same stress dreams about waitressing (I'm not a layer though so maybe +0.5?). The other awesome thing about waiting tables in my experience is that people who go out to eat are generally in a good mood - they're going out to have some fun, to enjoy themselves. So for the most part you're around people who are up. Now where I work (also in an office) I'm generally interacting with people who are stressed about insurance and very, very unhappy.

I also have the same stress dreams!

It took me until I was 26 to make the amount of money I made as a waitress/bartender on Cape Cod the summer after graduation... ahhh... the good old days.