National
| Median wages (2008) |
$8.01 hourly, $16,660 annual |
| Employment (2006) |
2,361,000 employees |
| Projected growth (2006-2016) |
Average (7% to 13%)
|
| Projected need (2006-2016) |
1,537,000 additional employees |
35-3031.00 - Waiters and Waitresses
Take orders and serve food and beverages to patrons at tables in dining establishment.
Sample of reported job titles:
Waitress, Server, Waiter, Food Server, Banquet Server, Cocktail Server, Room Service Server, Restaurant Server, Food and Beverage Server, Room Service Waiter
Tasks
- Check patrons' identification to ensure that they meet minimum age requirements for consumption of alcoholic beverages.
- Collect payments from customers.
- Write patrons' food orders on order slips, memorize orders, or enter orders into computers for transmittal to kitchen staff.
- Take orders from patrons for food or beverages.
- Check with customers to ensure that they are enjoying their meals and take action to correct any problems.
- Serve food or beverages to patrons, and prepare or serve specialty dishes at tables as required.
- Prepare checks that itemize and total meal costs and sales taxes.
- Remove dishes and glasses from tables or counters, and take them to kitchen for cleaning.
- Present menus to patrons and answer questions about menu items, making recommendations upon request.
- Inform customers of daily specials.
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Tools & Technology
Tools used in this occupation:
| Cash registers |
| Commercial use cutlery — Carving knives |
| Magnetic card readers — Credit card readers |
| Paging controllers — Alphanumeric paging equipment |
| Personal digital assistant PDAs or organizers — Personal digital assistants PDA; Portable barcode scanning systems |
| Point of sale POS receipt printers — Point of sale POS printers |
| Point of sale POS terminal — Point of service workstations; Point of service/sale POS terminals and interfaces |
| Touch screen monitors |
Technology used in this occupation:
| Point of sale POS software — Compris Advanced Manager's Workstation; ICVERIFY software; NCR NeighborhoodPOS; The General Store software |
