Miami, Florida, USA, November 23, 2023 – Whether you’re keen on earning an extra buck by getting a job at a local restaurant or switching your career path towards the hospitality industry, you’d want to know the ins and outs of restaurant work beforehand.
Restaurants are a bustling, exhausting, and nerve-racking workplace, if TV shows and movies are to believe. But they also pay well, leave you little free time, and are a long-term career path only for superstar chefs, according to popular belief.
So, what are the facts, and what is fiction? In this article, we debunk common restaurant-working myths and misconceptions to help you make the right decision for your career. One of the most valuable resource for navigating this career landscape is OysterLink.com, a platform that provides insights into the multifaceted world of restaurant work.
It’s Not a Long-Term Career
Most people regard working in a restaurant as a side job for high schoolers/college students who want to earn extra money — or a career path for those less educated.
However, this couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Service work, such as that in a restaurant, is among the rare traditional industries where significant career elevation—e.g., from a waiter to a managing partner or an operating director—is possible.
Moreover, the restaurant business employs specialists of various professions and aptitudes.
Think of your occupation and skills and you’re bound to find a workplace in the restaurant setting: production, warehouse, accounting, logistics, service, marketing, etc.
Restaurants are way more than bussers and dishwashers — and certainly offer a years-long, prospective, and fulfilling career to those hungry for success.
It’s Not a Full-Time Career
Another common misconception about working in a restaurant is that it offers only part-time jobs.
Of course, many believe this, as plenty of restaurant staff do work part-time, but it is untrue that you can’t follow a traditional career path working in a restaurant.
Every restaurant position, from managers and chefs to front-of-the-house employees and waiter staff, can work full-time and be quite satisfied with their employment and paycheck.
Naturally, more full-time restaurant positions are found as you climb the ladder toward management, but those positions aren’t everyone’s cup of tea.
Tipping is Where the Money Lies
Restaurant tipping cultures vary across the world. While the US is well-known for its somewhat out-of-control gratuity norms, including tipping at least 20% on a meal, an attempt to leave a tip in Japan will almost certainly be turned down.
But let’s focus on the US, where it is commonly believed that the bulk of a restaurant waiter/busser’s earnings come from customer tips.
According to recent research, restaurant servers earned an average of $12/hour, whereas waiters earned $16/hour. When it comes to tips, they can account for up to 60% of a server’s or waiter’s income.
So, how does this qualify as a misconception?
Well, restaurant workers may earn piles of cash in tips, but that hugely depends on multiple factors, such as the restaurant’s location, the employee’s role, the type of restaurant and its clientele, and even your gender, as the research found women earn more in tips than men.
While tipping may be a considerable addition to a restaurant worker’s budget, it is not something to rely on when seeking employment in the industry.
“The Customer is Always Right” Attitude is Humiliating
The world is full of Karens—as restaurant customers, schoolchildren’s parents, or web design clients.
Of course, not everyone who pulls the “the customer is always right” wildcard is a Karen — some clients may be entirely in the right to dispute the staff’s work — but that’s certainly not always the case.
The infamous motto aims to prioritize customer satisfaction, a business aspect that has become especially important in today’s highly competitive B2C landscape.
Yet, it is a misconception that restaurant workers must obey even the most unreasonable customer orders. Instead, they should listen to customer feedback and address their concerns accordingly. Still, if a customer requests something outside the scope of a restaurant’s policy, rules can’t be bent.
Finally, while restaurant workers may certainly feel annoyed by customers who go overboard in their feelings of entitlement, they hardly regard it as personally humiliating.
In fact, restaurant staff may feel more shamed by a manager or owner who publicly sides with the customer and trashes the worker in front of other employees and customers.
After all, customer relations exist in every line of work, not just hospitality; plus, there are plenty of restaurant job positions that don’t require much face-to-face time with customers.
Servers Must Know Everything on the Menu
As doctors don’t know all diagnosis codes by heart and architects cannot design a foolproof building from their minds, restaurant servers shouldn’t be expected to know the restaurant’s menu inside out.
While it surely makes for a better customer experience, it is unreasonable to expect servers to know the full ingredient list for every meal.
Plus, “scaring” servers into learning the menu by heart may result in serious consequences. For instance, not every server will know how each menu item relates to vegan and gluten-free diets; or, think of a server forgetting to mention an ingredient present in the dish that the customer may be allergic to.
Moreover, it’s difficult for servers to stay up-to-date on frequent menu updates — which occur several times per season, as fresh ingredients begin and cease to be available — and last-minute changes the chef makes.
It’s Easy
As a restaurant worker, you may not be saving lives or putting bad people in jail, but the job is far from being a breeze.
First of all, working in the service industry reuires you to manage your emotions and recognize the feelings of your teammates and guests.
Besides, there are plenty of memory games involved, as well as self-organization and the organization of others.
Last but not least, working in a restaurant requires maintaining great physical shape, a pleasant voice, impeccable gestures, coordination, and balance. Also, outside appearance matters, as you interact with people daily and are expected to look nice and tidy and smell good.
Media Info:
Name: David
Organization: Oyster Link
Website: https://oysterlink.com/
Email: info@oysterlink.com
Phone: +1 305-377-3335
Address: 36 NE 1st St #154, Miami, Florida 33132, USA.
