After working at my first waitressing job this past summer, I have learned quite a number of lessons, some of which I will carry on with me, and some which I hope to leave in the waitressing world. As frustrating as the job may be, it has taught me many valuable skills about patience and resilience. However, I decided to do a tiny rant about all the things that really just get under my skin.

Please note, obviously if you have a server who literally messes everything up, is rude, neglects your party, and is an all around terrible person, then you have every right to not be compassionate. However, most of the time, we all are pretty good, and know what we are doing.

1. We really want to give great service, until you give us a reason not to.

Believe me, giving quality service is our ultimate goal, at least mine is. I love making people happy and pleased with their experience. I never go up to a table with the intention of making their service horrible. But once you have outrageous demands, talk to me like I'm dirt beneath your shoes, and complain about absolutely everything, it is really difficult to continue to give my best service with a smile on my face. Obviously, I'll do everything I can to make the service flawless, but mistakes happen, and life has to continue. You can't have an explosion over the fact that we don't have HBO or aren't allowed to make a substitution.

2. I do not cook the food myself, so I'm sorry if the food takes longer than five minutes.

I always find it amusing that customers get upset and yell at me when their food is taking a long time to be prepared. Yelling at me, as if I am the one cooking it myself. Newsflash! I don't cook the food, so I don't control the amount of time it takes the food to come out. All I can really do is ask the cooks to hurry something up, but even then, that doesn't usually help.

3. If the restaurant is full on a holiday, don't expect your Well Done burger to be out in ten minutes.

Nothing is more mind-boggling than having people upset about a wait on a holiday, such as the Fourth of July, or a town festival. Having summer holidays or festivals attract many many more customers than usual, so yes, the wait to get a table is long, and then when you finally are able to sit down, you'll wait another long amount of time for your food. "Why?" you'll ask me in an outraged voice about six times, and that is because you and about 200 other people decided to come to our restaurant at the same time. Was that not something you expected? Well, I sincerely apologize that you have never been out in public on a national holiday. So, when you go to order a burger or steak and ask for it Well Done, it will not take 10 or even 15 minutes. And yes, I'll continue to apologize, even though we both know that doesn't make your food come out any faster.

4. Please don't snap your fingers to get my attention

Ooooh, one of my LEAST favorite things is getting snapped at by customers. If something is wrong with your food, you need more ketchup, or you're ready for the check, a wave is a much better alternative. HOWEVER, that wave can be made or broken by your facial expression. If you smile and wave, it is much easier to come over to you without panicking that you'll flip out or throw hard, cold sass at us. But, if your face is disgruntled and agitated, walking up to you is the last thing we want to do. If you see me lightly jogging/running around to each of my tables, tending to each of their needs for a solid two hours, I apologize, but PLEASE understand that you and all of my other tables need something at the same time.

5. Understand that when you arrive at 7 pm, I may have been working since 10 am and I am tired

At least where I work, our lunch shifts are 10:00am-4:30pm, and our dinner shifts are 4:30-9 or 10, depending on the day of the week. So if I'm on a double, meaning I work both shifts, you might catch me at a time where I am hitting a wall, because I've been working for 9-10 hours straight, with few breaks. I will try my hardest to be attentive and lively, but understand that you don't know when I arrived for work. I will also try to understand that maybe you had a bad day, and maybe that's why you're acting rude. Unless you're just a rude person, and in that case, I pray for myself and any person that does any sort of service for you.

6. If you have a large party and you don't tip 20%, I hate you

Nothing is more discouraging than working your tail off just to satisfy a table, let alone a table with 6 or more people, then to find your tip at the end to only be a sad 12%. As soon as I get a table with 7 or more people, I find myself at a crossroads, because on the up-side, there is a potential for a large tip. However, there is a down-side, because if I'm tired, or busy, that table alone will take up half of my energy and attention, while I still may have 3-4 other tables. So, I'm working hard, refilling everyone's drinks, getting everyone's appetizers and entrees out at a reasonable time, getting the extra silverware, napkins, and condiments. Trying to go the extra mile with a little small talk and a whole lot of smiles. Then, I split your check off eight ways, and "of course it is no problem at all", when actually it can be very tedious and tricky when many people order the same thing. When you and your party leaves, I thank you profusely and smile, hoping you have a great rest of your day/night. Eagerly, I walk up confidently to the table where you were, look at the credit card slip, or cash you left me, and when that tip is say 12-15%, my stomach sinks. In short, it kills any server to give great service, get your total tab up to say $180, to then find yourself with a $10 tip. I understand that not everyone can afford to tip 20%, or maybe they don't fully understand tipping, but maybe have someone in your party who understands tipping do the tipping, or have everyone pitch in for the tip.

7. Sometimes food doesn't come out in the order that it is put in

Just because your table's food was sent into the kitchen first, doesn't mean it will be brought out to you before the table next to you, even if they ordered after you. It shouldn't be too complicated to understand, but if your table has two steaks, one salmon, and a burger, while the table next to you has two salads, no matter if I put in your order first or their's first, their will come out before yours. As frustrating as this may seem, it is just a harsh reality of the restaurant business.

8. Don't forget to tell me you want no tomato and then yell at me when your food arrives with tomato on it.

If you ever have any dietary restriction or allergy, YOU MUST TELL YOUR SERVER! Even if you just don't want a certain ingredient on it, it is not too hard for you to just tell your server "Also, I'd prefer no onion or tomato on my burger. Thank you!". Telling your server in advance avoids SO MANY MORE FUTURE PROBLEMS! For example, I had a table last week, and this woman at the table stated what she wanted at about 100 miles a minute, which is always a joyous thing to come across. Lucky for me, I got it all down, and even repeated it back to her to double check. She order one of our burgers that comes with grilled onions on it and she decided to add cheese as well. Like I said, it comes with grilled onion, and clearly states so in the description of this particular burger. When I brought the burger out to her, she seemed fine. But, not even a minute later, she flagged me over with that agitated facial expression we talked about before, and said "Um, well I don't like grilled onions at all. So could you go have them scraped off and put a new piece of cheese on? Thank you.", and of course I got it adjusted for her, and everything was fine from there...until she gave me $10 on her $70 tab!

9. Please do not ask a billion questions about what comes on each item on the menu.

There is a reason each meal on the menu has a description of each ingredient that comes on the dish. I like to think that reason is that so my customers don't have to ask me loads and loads of questions, questions that have answers right in the paper they hold in front of them, called the menu. Obviously, if you questions has to do with preparation of a dish, or if our cole slaw is mayo or vinegar based (I get that one a lot), I have not problem answering it. However, if your series of questions is along the lines of "What comes on the ______?", I will force down the anger inside me and politely answer your questions, with a great, big smile, of course.

10. If you come in 10 minutes before we close, I really hate you.

Ahh...last but certainly not least. If you are in any sort of retail, restaurant, or service business, it is your sole duty to hate what I like to call "Last-Minute-Lucys" aka the people who decide to go out to eat as late as they possibly can. Yes, our restaurant is open until 10pm, so if you get there at 9:50pm, I can put your order in, but I hope you realize that our cooks usually start the kitchen clean-up process at 9:50pm. True story: I once had a party of 14 come in 15 minutes before close, and after getting all of their drinks in and finally their food order sent to the kitchen, I went down to the kitchen to make sure the ticket went through, and saw that the ticket was received at none other than 9:59pm. So I nervously told the cooks that they still to make all 14 items on the ticket, and apologized, while buckling in fear. Why is that? Probably because I've never seen anger in a more pure form than when I saw the looks on the cooks' faces.

So maybe next time you go out to a sit-down restaurant, you'll keep these in mind while being waited on, and if you have a little more patience here, and a tad more compassion there, I have a strong feeling your service will be greatly improved and more enjoyable, for both you and your server!