Best Books About Waiting Tables

Every person should wait tables in a restaurant at least for a moment in his or her lifetime. It takes skill, finesse, intelligence and a true way with people to get food from the kitchen to the table all the while giving the diner an experience they will remember.

Most people have at one point or another eaten out at a restaurant to mark a special occasion such as a birthday or a promotion. How much thought do we really give to the server who is making sure the food we order and how we get it adds something special and positive to those celebratory moments?

People have very strong feelings about tipping, sometimes leaving none at all according to CNN.com. While on occasion service can be so bad to make some people justify leaving no tip at all, it is important to remember servers usually work long hours for very little base pay (usually about $2.13 p/hr). They depend wholly on the diner’s generosity with their tips to make ends meet. Try being bubbly and entertaining while balancing 6 plates on tired arms while winding your way through a maze of people after having been on your feet for 12 of the last 24 hours and still have something genuine of yourself left over to sing happy birthday to a child or congratulate a happy couple on their engagement. It is not an easy job.

There have been plenty of books written about chefs and by chefs about the kitchens they run, many of those titles deservingly end up on bestseller lists all over the country. I want to take a moment to recognize three truly great entertaining books about the servers who get that amazing food we love to eat and read about to the table. It is a hard job with little reward and the following books not only capture perfectly what is like in the trenches; they do so with humor, grace and sometimes just plain grit.

Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip – Confessions of a Cynical Waiter, by Steve Dublianca, Harper Perennial:

In 2004 an anonymous waiter started a blog, introduced us to “the Bistro” and taught us that even though “80% of customers are nice people looking for something to eat. The remaining 20% are socially maladjusted psychopaths.” This book is the compilation of the best of those blog entries. It is laid out in 22 chapters with each one a separate blog entry and a separate story. Great for reading in short bursts between tables, or anywhere. Waiter Rant even comes with appendixes; 40 Tips on How to Be a Good Customer, 50 Ways to Tell You’re Working in a Bad Restaurant, and maybe the most valuable Items a Waiter Should Carry at All Times (or Have Close By).

Service Included: Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter, By Phoebe Damrosch, Harper Paperbacks:

Phoebe Damrosch managed to land the fine dining job of a lifetime when she worked for Per Se, Thomas Keller’s upscale New York City eatery. Working her way up from backserver, Damrosch writes about the world of fine dining in a way that makes you want to quit your day job and apply at Per Se. She takes you through the intense education required to serve at that level, while never leaving out descriptions of the most important part of Per Se, Thomas Keller’s amazing food. This book more than any other shows the true education servers receive so that they are able to give the diner the best experience possible with each meal.

Waiting: the true confessions of a Waitress, by Debra Ginsberg, Harper Perinnial:

This is the book that started it all, published in 2000 and inspiring a wildly successful movie of the same name, starring Dane Cook and Justin Long, Waiting was the book that first brought to our attention the trials and frustrations of being a server. Debra Ginsberg expertly gives us the inner workings of the casual dining world. She gives us the dirty gossip, the drunk customers, and the workplace romances. It is the answer to Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, giving the reader a true look behind the scenes. Where Waiter Rant focuses on the customers, and Service Included focuses on the food and fine dining, Waiting gives us the account of the servers directly, and what it takes to survive in the business for 20 years.