Suggestions To Waiters

Duties of Waiters

  1. Carry food drink, and the like to table.
  2. Wait on table.
  3. Carry dishes away from tables.
  4. Crumb tables.
  5. Replace silverware neatly on tables.
  6. Dispose of garbage in kitchen. (This disposal is made daily under the direction of the kitchen supervisor.)
  7. Mop dining room floor. (This duty is performed every Saturday morning under the direction of the housekeeper.)
  8. Carry kitchen and dining room laundry upstairs for housekeeper.
  9. If it is necessary for you to have a substitute, choose one that is approved by the head of the dining room and make sure that he knows your duties and will abide by the regulations which govern your work. Your job lasts as long as the dining room is serving meals at holiday time and term end.

How To Serve

1. The hostess, who sits at the head of the table, directs the service. She will consult you for any service she needs.

2. In placing a plate that has been served, a dessert plate, a service plate,or the like, serve from the left of the diner.

3. Remove empty plates from the right of the diner.

4. The coffee cup is placed to the diner’s right and is served from the right.

5. The salad goes to the left of the diner’s plate just above his forks.

6. Knives and spoons are placed to the right of the diner’s plate, and forks go to the left.

7. In the type of service which your dining room uses, service spoons are placed at the end of the table opposite the hostess. The bowls of food are placed there, too. The pitcher of water and the glasses are placed to the right of the hostess.

Suggestions To Waiters

The dining room has an important place in the life of the residents of Agnes Howard Hall. A great contribution to the morale of the group eating there as well as to the morale of the entire college can be made by the waiters. Your way of doing your work and your attitude toward it will go far in helping to maintain high standards of manners and conduct in the dining room. You are doing a necessary service, and your help is appreciated.

Here are some suggestions which should help you to acquire efficiency in the job and which should regulate your handling of the job.

  1. Neatness, cleanliness, and good grooming are a first essential. Attention should be given to hands, nails, hair, personal clothing, and waiters’ coats.
  2. Take enough time to avoid slopping or spilling foods, particularly liquids.
  3. Take requests for service from the table hostess only. Avoid conversation with anyone at the table except the hostess. Avoid conversation with diners entering or leaving the room.
  4. When your services are not being required, stand near your tables so a hostess can attract your attention if she needs you. Avoid engaging in conversations with other waiters in the dining room.
  5. When a hostess asks for refills of food bowls or water pitchers, give the service graciously and with as much speed as possible.
  6. Remove empty dishes as noiselessly as possible. Do not allow a group at a table to stack dishes for you. Suggest tactfully to the hostess that this is your duty. Avoid dragging serving tables across floor. They are small enough and may be lifted easily.
  7. Be alert, attentive, and thoughtful of the comfort and happiness of the diners whom you serve.
  8. Be careful not to bring into the kitchen or the dining room any gossip. Of course, you will take none out in case someone should bring it in.

Transcript of the directions given to Dewayne Lowther, Waiter in 1952-53.