…who’s better?
In addition to my banquet experience, I have also managed a fine dining restaurant. I have seen both the good and bad in both kinds of waiters. Here’s how I rate each.
Banquet Waiters
- Basically lazy.
- They want to do the least amount of work and get the highest tips possible.
- They will do everything they can to cover-up a stain or hole in a tablecloth instead of changing the linen. (see above)
- Very stubborn.
- They think they know the business better than the manager.
- They only thing they really know is how to piss off the manager!
- Never has a clean uniform on.
- Unwilling to change.
- Just because they have done something a certain way for the past 15 years, they think that’s the only acceptable way to do it.
(I love to rock their world with this one. Change is my middle name.)
- Can carry a tray of 10.
- Wouldn’t know what loose tea service is if their life depended on it.
- A bunch of prima donnas!
- They’ll bitch and moan about the slightest thing. Enough said.
- You need to constantly monitor the basic things:
- Serve from the left, clear from the right
- Refill water/wine glasses
- Refold the damm napkins!
- Remove the salt & pepper shakers after the entrée is cleared
- I hate it when the s&p is left on the table when dessert is served
Restaurant Waiters
- Not usually as lazy as most banquet waiters.
- Very stubborn also.
- They REALLY think they know the business better than the manager.
- Pompous asses. (see above listing)
- Can’t carry a tray of 10.
- Should know what loose tea service is if their life depended on it.
- Usually has a clean uniform on - only because senior management gives them new uniforms more frequently than the banquet waiters.
- From my experience, they are a little more willing to change how they provide service, especially if it will increase their tips!
- REALLY, a bunch of prima donnas!
- They don’t want to wait on a table with many kids because the bill is lower with the reduced kids meal prices
- They don’t want to wait on a table of Europeans because they don’t usually tip very well.
- If the night is slow they will argue with the manager about who should be allowed to go home early first.
- They always bitch about whose section the “good customer” should have been seated in.
You know, I need to stop this @#>%* posting right now because I’m starting to think of about 50 more things that I can’t stand about all of them! Ok, ok, I’ll take a deep breath…
Listen, I try to give the benefit of the doubt to both groups but I need to side with my banquet waiters. They can be a pain in the b@#^ most times but when you need to make a tight room turn, they always come through. An a la carte/restaurant waiter couldn’t turn a room if it was on fire…
Post a comment below and tell me who’s better; Banquet waiters or Restaurant waiters.
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11 comments:
Hey there, thanks for commenting on my blog! I have since left my position at the hotel because I realized that hospitality just isn't for me. It takes an extremely dedicated person to work in F&B at a hotel and I give you so much credit! The long hours, evenings, weekends -- I don't know how you do it!!! I am back in the office world now, but I'm glad I had the opportunity to try it out, otherwise I would have never known! Keep up the great work --- Banquet Managers are the unsung heroes of the hotel industry.
Thanks Julie for your comment. By the way, nice people like you are the smart ones and got out of the business. Old souls like me must like the punishment. I wish you all the best.
i started out as a restaurant server and then served banquets for 6 years before taking a $18,000 paycut to be the 'restaurant supervisor' at my hotel. Restaurant servers cannot hold a candle to banquet servers- they can haul crap and take crap from anyone - as long as its followed by shots at the local watering hole right before last call.
Hi anonymous,
I agree with you. As you read in my post, most restaurant servers are primadonnas and expect everything to always go as planned. In banquets, you celebrate that if it happens. And yes, at the local watering hole. Thanks for commenting on my blog.
It's interesting to see that there is a consistency in behavior between banquets waiters and restaurant waiters, at least in North America.
I have spent 10 years working in the Hospitality industry, much of it as an operations based manager. In my five years as a food and beverage manager I struggled with a lot of the behavioral issues that the author brought up.
To help break the barriers and reduce the attitides, I would often hire waiters (regardless of whether they were restaurants or banquets waiters) and tell then, during the hiring process that there was potential that they would work some shifts in either department.
What this did was even the attitudes the author brought up. We ended up with more well rounded
staff that seemed to have a much better attitude and lived the team
work culture we were trying to create. There was not as much us/them (banquets vs restaurant).
Made it easier for staffing too, especially for those banquet "peaks" that I am sure everyone is aware of...
Andrew Desilets
President and CEO
Canadian Hospitality Recruiters
www.CHrecruiters.com
Great question.. who is worse, table servers or banquet servers. I think you captured the story of both types of server in your description.. and after working in both settings, I much more would prefer to wait tables as opposed to banquet. Banquet serving seems lifeless, you rarely get to know a table, and nine times out of ten they don't want to know you. With a banquet, the customer doesn't need you [server] .. they could easily find someone else. But with table service, you're the server. It's make or break with you.
PLus it's also nice not knowing what tip you get, and having the person sometimes surprise you with a nice one.. with a banquet, you're pretty much assuming it will be what it was almost ever other wedding/funeral ..
Restaurant servers work shorter shifts. They don't spend half their time prepping for the cattle drive that is banquet serving. They also don't act like sheep. Or run away from the dining room because without a doubt there will be another sheep to cover for them. their responsibilities are much more distinct and it is noticed if they're not on their game. Banquets also generally lack a knowledge of what they are serving or pouring. We can justify this by saying that they don't really serve the same thing on a nightly basis. But, they can hold two bottles of white wine in their hand and can't determine which one will be the sweeter of the two. I beg to differ about restaurat servers not being able to clear a dining room. We just don't have the benefit of being able to move a hundred people like cattle. They have to be sweet talked and their entire evening needs to move in a pace that will allow that table to be reset ninety minutes after they arrive.
I've worked both jobs and I have to say I really didn't like the banquet serving as much as restaurant waiting. I agree with the mentality that you're pretty much just setting up for a cattle drive, and that's what it is... setting up just to break it down.
I'm working a second job waitressing now and I have to say while the business is profitable I'm getting tired of the service industry.
Ok, so maybe you can help me. I did take two years of culinary art but that was back in high school. But I never worked at a restaurant before and now want to try my luck at being a server. So I'm trying to decide if I should take this banquet serving class thats coming up next month where I will be offered an interview at the mariott hotel. Or if i should just take my chances and try and get a serving job with my non experience, which has been quite difficult but I will be in a bigger city soon. Any suggestions? Also, me myself I'm not a lazy person at all and don't think I would mind working as either.But thanks!
Anonymous, always go for the knowledge first. Nobody can take that away from you...especially if it comes with a potential interview. Good luck.
Ok so I think I have a unique view on this since the location I am banquet manager at (a country club), also has an a la carte restaurant on the first floor. I have to say that were I still with my previous company, I would have agreed with you, but where I am now, the banquet staff definately work MUCH harder. They load and unload trucks (we do a lot of OP's), set up and breakdown tables, chairs, do cleaning, you name it they do it. This property is massive and we operate out of 3 floors...so they have to work their butts off. The restaurant staff on the other hand are a bunch of whiney, bitchy little prisses who steal from us, break our props, couldn't set up a buffet if their life depended on it, are content with everything looking and being a hot mess all the time...and still manage to fit in 17 smoke breaks per shift. Try sharing trays, tray stands, water pitchers, coffee pots etc. with these vermon...I come in to set up a 200 person wedding and find I have only 1 water pitcher and 2 tray stands...then have to go down and fight them and their managers to get them back...i Hate them, i hate them i hate them!
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