Rule Six: Never spend money you haven’t made.  I am glad July of 2010 is behind me. I cannot recall a month that was less lucrative in my serving career. My income dropped by well over 50% last month. Unbearable heat combined with a disproportionate number of patio shifts took a chunk out of […]
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The Rules of Serving: Rule Five
Rule Five: Always recommend what is in the guest’s best interest, not yours.   (Note: There are many hyperlinks today that will send you to posts were I have previously addressed specifically issues that I address in this post.) This is the second time in two days I have sat down to write this […]
The Rules of Serving: Rule Four
Rule Four: Guests do not care how much you know, until they know how much you care We have truly become a nation of cynics. We doubt the sincerity of others and feel that no deal comes without a catch. We have good reason. Every special offer comes with fine print. We are constantly being […]
The Rules of Serving: Rule Three
 Rule Three: Generic Servers Receive Generic Tips.  We all have seen it before. The server who walks up to a table and lifelessly repeats the corporate approved script when greeting a table. They seem as if they are only about three more repetitions from developing a facial tick from irritation. No inflection or […]
The Rules of Serving: Rules One and Two
Rule One: If you worry about the guest, the money will take care of itself.  Rule Two: If you worry about the money, the guests will not take care of themselves.  Rules one and two are corollaries of the same basic principle. Your focus as a server must be on the guest and […]
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.