Originally Posted by
Plaza23
I lied to get a job at Red Lobster. This was 13 years ago. I went in and asked if they had any openings (and I was dressed in black pants, and a tie - really professional for a 23 year old), and luckily the server manager was a female and I think she wanted to hire a few more men there, so she hired me on the spot. I filled out that application and just flat out lied about prior serving jobs I had (I had never had a serving job before). They didn't call anyone and hired me on the spot. The only thing that I couldn't do, that most "pro" servers could do, was take a tray full of drinks and carry them on their shoulder, perfectly flat, no spillage, and not skip a beat. I didn't have the confidence to do that, but I was able to work around it. Serving there was really easy, and like I know some servers would get pissed if they got stiffed (and I only got stiffed once), or if they got bad tips - but the job was so easy that I couldn't really complain if someone only gave me $8 instead of $20. Because the work was really easy. Other than rolling silverware which was a bore, it was the best part time job that I ever had. Before that I had delivered pizzas for Pizza Hut, which wasn't bad either. Not much $$$$ though when you factor in putting miles on your car. I also worked at a sporting goods store in college and the instore discount was worth just being there, even if I was only getting min wage.
Real professional servers at 5 star restaurants can for sure do it as a career though. It all depends on how pricey the food is you are serving. If you are serving $1,000+ dollar tables, its pretty easy to do that as a career. But, I would not want to do that as a career if you are working at a casual dining spot like Red Lobster. When I was there, there was some women there that had been there 10+ years and they were career bitches. You could see the burnout in them. That's a job to do it for a while, and then move on to something else. Easy to get burned out despite the reliable money.