The start of the year is always a time of transition. Most servers are in their best financial situation of the year after coming out of the holiday season when you might need to apply for a bad credit loans guaranteed approval. This often leads to them setting a new year’s resolution to find a […]
Creating Regulars
One of the most valuable skills of an exceptional server is the ability to create regulars. Having a core of customers that come into your restaurant and ask for you can insulate you against the slower times of the year. It also can make you look outstanding to the managers and hosts that frequently hear […]
Building and Maintaining Rapport
This morning I woke up a little more groggy than normal. As I was making my morning spin around the internets, I ran across a post from our friend the only slightly cranky waitress about rapport. It seems her company has taken this up as a replacement for “hospitality†as their new Beetlejuice word. I […]
The Index
This index is designed to put all of the information available at Tip²: Tips For Improving Your Tips at your fingertips. Click on any of the links below to find the topic you are interested in. The best way to stay up to date on all posts on this blog is to become a fan […]
The Rules of Serving: Rule Seven
Rule Seven: Be the coworker you want to have.  Once you have been at a particular restaurant for any length of time, the floor chart can tell you a great deal about how your shift will go. Most servers can see the people they are working with and find reason for either optimism or […]
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 […]
How To Make Hostile Guests Love You (Part Three)
(Note: in order to get the most out of this post you should read parts one and two. They create the foundation for this summary post and will be referenced frequently.) My friend Marcy has the innate ability to intimidate people. She is a beautiful 5’8†blonde attending law school. She is aware of having […]
How To Make Hostile Guests Love You (Part Two)
Years ago I had the good fortune of working for a man named John Maria. I have had many bosses over the years, but none had a better fundamental understanding of human nature than John. One day he gave me a book and told me to read it. He said the answer to almost every […]
How To Make Hostile Guests Love You (Part One)
One of the most difficult situations any server faces is the hostile guest. I call them hostile, because they are angry with you long before you have even greeted them. Some people just bring all the hostility of their day in to a restaurant and dump it on their server. From the moment you greet […]
Food Allergies: A Responsible Approach
I have one hard and fast rule when it comes to waiting tables. No one dies on my watch. I have had several guests leave the restaurant in an ambulance, but none of them have died. It is a simple thing, but it helps me sleep better at night. I may not be changing the […]
The Lost Art Of Suggestive Selling
“Subtlety is the art of saying what you think and getting out of the way before it is understood.†–Anonymous  We as a society have really lost the power of subtlety. It could be because we have lost the patience to unravel it. We receive far more information on a daily basis than our […]
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.