This is not a story I tell very often because I have been known to get a little choked up from telling it. It happened nearly twenty years ago, but it still has an impact on how I view my job on a daily basis. My purpose in sharing it is not simply to stroll […]
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Seeing Your Restaurant Again For The First Time
(Author’s Note: The video above was shot in the Jazz Club of the restaurant where I work. I think it will prove relevant to the post as you read on and also serves as a nice soundtrack provided by the incredibly talented Bram Wijnands) When I went in to interview at the restaurant where I work, I […]
Kicking the Cat
Let me begin this post with a story: An animal rights activist was driving down the highway in his VW Microbus. He was happily thinking about what a beautiful day it was. He was so caught up in these thoughts that he didn’t notice when he drifted into the next lane and cut off a […]
Reasons to be Optimistic
Last night I had a long conversation with my girlfriend after work. It had been a pretty disappointing shift to wrap up a pretty disappointing double to finish off a pretty disappointing weekend. I had a call party not show up. A 17 top I was supposed to split became a 6 top. The 6 […]
Thank You Mister Robinson
(Note: I wrote this piece last week upon hearing this untimely news.) I never worked for Paul Robinson. To the best of my knowledge I never even waited on him. When I read today that he passed away on Monday it probably should not have affected me the way it did. Honestly, I am not […]
About The Author
David Hayden was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. He took his first serving job in 1996. Since that time, he has worked for over a dozen different restaurant companies. He has held both hourly and salaried positions at independent and corporate restaurants. He has waited on over 100,000 guests and trained hundreds of servers. He has been named "Best Server in Kansas City" the last three years by the local weekly paper.