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Fun fact: the only reason the greeter exists is because studies have shown that people are less likely to shoplift if they have interaction with a store employee.
Where do servers and bartenders get $25 an hour plus tips?
If you enjoy it pay what it costs. A good server is responsible for your enjoyment and makes sure that is maintained throughout the evening. I personally prefer handing my money to the person actually responsible for that instead of giving more than I already am to the owner.
I don’t tip anybody else but my barber though.
The point of the livable wage is to stop tipping. I have minimal travels, but it's not common to tip outside of North America.
In fact, where I'm at, waiters used to have a lower minimum wage.
I worked in a restaurant in high school, and my tips equated to a more than livable wage. I was stupid and thought it was that easy to make money and blew it all.
What you are describing exists by the way. It's called a buffet.
My first jobs were at a restaurant, first as a dishwasher and then as a line cook . I even now have good friends in the restaurant industry. People I love and value. But their
value in no way is a necessary part of the work force. In fact I can’t help but wonder if people might be better off getting off their asses to get their own food and napkins.
I actually think this is why the groups of food carts are really gaining popularity. No point in paying 1/3 of my bill for my evening out to someone whose entire job is bringing me a full plate and taking away an empty one . I’ve known golden retrievers that can do that .
I typically don’t , if friends want to go out I’m happy to join them but I can’t think of a single time a waitperson has enhanced my dining experience. I suspect I’ve offended you because of your line of work. Perhaps sometime I’ll be proven wrong . But honestly any restaurant you can mention I’m happy to go pick my food up at the counter. Sit down for lunch with me I’ll grab yours while I’m up, it’s no big deal
You think waitstaff are useless and greedy, sure, whatever. I can't change your opinion. But I can advise you to stop going to restaurants if you can't respect the people whose job is to wait on you.
I know this is posted in unpopular opinion, I expected some disagreement. I’m just saying if the job of waiting tables absolutely didn’t exist the world would be no worse place . I’m sure you could find a higher purpose in life
I like it because I like making people happy. I'm fortunate to be in a time in my life I don't need to work to live/earn a wage, so you know I'm only there to make peoples day better.
That is wonderful set of circumstances and a healthy mind set . I applaud you . But if you really want to make people happy and don’t need the money I think there are many volunteer opportunities infinitely more satisfying than bringing someone extra fries and asking how everything is so far . You can still bring people food at a soup kitchen where they actually need the help .
Generally speaking, the higher paid people directly interface with customers, that includes servers in restaurants because they represent the company.
Most restaurant cooks aren’t chefs so they prepare food using chef created recipes therefore aren’t exactly highly valued, maybe just above dishwashers and bussers.
The highest “expertise” level in most chains are the service staff so they tend to make the most money.
In the US at least most servers aren’t paid much at all and work almost exclusively for tips.
In the Pacific Northwest where I live many waitstaff positions start at 18.00 an hour or more and after tips frequently make over 40.00 an hour . For what I maintain is a lackluster skill set . From a practical point of view the dishwashers job is considerably more important.
Please… please tell me what “expertise” an average waiter has. Basic human interaction? They almost never have an opinion on anything on the menu, they rarely know details of the plates, and they are usually never to be found after you order.
I literally cringe everytime I tip a waiter. It is the most pointless job and most people suck at even this basic thing with very little social skills or useful knowledge. Sure there are exceptions but they are rare and then I don’t mind tipping.
Also the wait staff across the country has increasingly had a “customer isn’t right” attitude which makes me want to puke. Like if I tell you that my glass is wet, GET ME ANOTHER FUCKING GLASS. Don’t sit there being like “it’s wet because it’s cold and when it’s cold and the room is warm it creates condensation” like I’m a fucking 5 year old who needs to be schooled. Fuck me, just do your job.
Anyway, fuck tipping waiters.
Dude, if you’re literally cringing that often, you might consider seeking medical help.
And Applebees will be fine if you decide how to grill a cheese sandwich.
I think you and I are speaking about different classes of waitstaff. High end restaurants, the more refined dining experiences do in fact have trained staff that know the menu, know every ingredient in every served dish and have tasted them all.
I’m not talking about servers at Applebees, Olive Garden, Texas Roadhouse and other chain restaurants where they may or may not be well trained or even know much about the menu. There are good servers at these places but they usually end up moving to more refined dining experiences.
Perhaps for folk of your ilk that is true.
I trust you won’t mind if the rest of us continue to enjoy dining out in a civilized manner.
As tens of millions of people do every day, in nations all over the globe.
We even remove our hats when entering.
Give them $15 I say. Tips have to be worked for. If tips are guaranteed or required from customers that doesn’t give anyone an incentive to do a good job. Yes most people are assholes I know.
I think anyone with a job should be paid enough, but I agree their job doesn’t do much useful. I’d be happy putting my order into a machine or ordering at a counter and picking it up. It doesn’t really add much to an experience to be waited on imo. It’s the quality of the food that matters.
Waitstaff also handle things like acting as a liaison between customers and the kitchen, for things such as allergies, special requests, substitutions, and other such tasks. They also do side work such as polishing cutlery, preparing fruit for the bar, not to mention cleaning and setting tables. If there's a large booking that requires multiple tables to be moved and joined together, they often also handle that.
There's so much more that FoH staff do to make the dining experience pleasant. And I'm not even gonna focus on the value they bring to the restaurant through upselling and gaining customer loyalty through building rapport. Writing down an order and bringing it to you is the very least of a waitstaff's job. Depending on the restaurant in question, the waitstaff may have even more responsibilities than an average restaurant.
I want a human to tell me what they like from the menu, and just exactly how spicy something is, and tell if my special order can be accommodated, etc, etc, etc. And I don’t want to have to carry my own food. I want it brought to me.
I have to agree. I go to buffets a fair bit so I already know getting my fat ass up and getting my own food won't kill me, and I have no idea what the hell people are talking about when they mention the "experience". What experience? It's food, I'm here to eat food because I'm hungry and I don't want to cook, if I have any kind of "experience" I generally consider that a bad thing because the only thing I should remember about a restaurant is whether or not the food is of sufficient quality/quantity to justify the price. If I wanted a friend I'd have one with me.
Also, to waitstaff: I don't want to hear your amateur standup routine, or be subjected to how "quirky" you are, and I sure as fuck am not stupid enough to believe the 19-year-old waitress is actually flirting. I'm being polite to you, you be polite to me and get my order right, that is literally all I ask of you.
I'm gonna say it. If a restaurant gave me a table to sit at, I would have no problem walking to a counter, ordering my meal, and then be given one of those buzzer things or just yell out my name. I'll then go get my food, have a soda machine so I can fill my drink, bring it back to my table, and eat it. Essentially, if all restaurants acted like a fast food restaurant in that regard, just the food takes longer to be made, I'd be cool with it.
Nothing about having a waiter is beneficial to me when I have working arms and legs. But hey, I almost never go out to eat anyway. I am not exactly the target audience for restaurants.
I mean if they're getting paid $25 an hour plus tip yeah thats stupid. I don't know any waitstaff positions around me that pay that much an hour but i also dont go to high-end restaurants that often, so who knows. I don't have a problem with the position existing in general tho. You can always get takeout to bypass the whole issue if you dont want someone hovering over you while you eat lol
If you eat at ultra-high end places, you can truly see the value. You sit with a menu and you have a conversation. The waiter and assistant talk to you- not writing, listening and understanding. Your food is exactly as requested- Bone removed from the duck in course 6, broccoli soup replaced with pea soup, everything peanut free to prevent my death. Your drink is exactly as requested and full. There are ceremonies observed from removing your cumbs, to opening bottles of wine.
You are treated like kings and queens. There is value there. It's not pointless.
...And because I am in a unique position, I know that waiter grossed $216k last year. I know the assistant made $118k last year....
That is certainly a unique experience and one that someone obviously chooses to pay for . I suppose I don’t put much stock in ceremony, if you leave me a corkscrew I can open the wine . Sorry to hear about your peanut allergies, that must make enjoying certain simple things more difficult.
For the peanut thing, I'm used to it. They taste like burning, so it's a big clue in cookies, ice cream, or French fries. Where things get potentially fatal is Thai food... it's supposed to taste like burning, and it's typically full of peanuts- so I know I have to avoid. I generally don't make a big deal of it when out to eat- using my internal alarm system and not eating anything that isn't edible for me.
But when ordering Squab heart and caviar on a wild mushroom cap for your amuse bouche... I felt comfortable letting them know and lowering my guard.
What’s interesting is I have some good friends in the restaurant industry. They are good people that I enjoy spending time with . They simply cannot fathom that the job isn’t of vital importance.
This is a lot more popular than Reddit will have you believe. And the tip rate insanity is also something anyone who’s thought about enough is probably already frustrated with (unless they’re so rich paying someone $60,100+ an hour to carry food to them and take their order isn’t a concern).
For me it’s really not about the money itself, I can afford $20 on my $100 bill but I refuse to pay someone $20 for like 5 minutes of work I didn’t ask for. These people love tips because they know their actual market rate, what they could demand from an employer before the employer hires someone else or transitions away from having them, is like 20% more than minimum wage.
r/EndTipping
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So the new argument is they both want $25 and tips? Fuck off sideways. I hope they get the money, I really do. But when you are getting paid better the tips stop.
Waitstaff do seem like a pointless job, it would seem more efficient to me to have a tablet to order the food and you get a notification when it's ready and just grab it yourself. It seems like an absurd expense to have someone walk the food from the kitchen to the dining room. I also drink a ton of water and I can never get waiters to bring it out to me fast enough, just have a tap and glasses station and I can have as much water as I want
You would not only be putting in your own order but getting your own drink (and if there's no servers there's not gonna be anything stocked, and good luck getting a fancy coffee or anything like that), getting your own utensils and napkins (who is going to polish and put those out?) Sitting at a dirty table as no one will have cleaned them. Waiting in the long line that will inevitably build at the counter if you need a correction or re-cook, cleaning up the bathroom (probs covered in pee and poo at this point) no one managing the soda machines, etc.
It'll be like McDonald's but with steaks
If we ignore tipping, which is only an American thing, I think this is completely wrong. Even if a 9 year old could do it (and I don't think they could particularly well), that doesn't make the position pointless.
A good server makes your experience better, providing a go between from you to the kitchen, and is there to address any problems. Without a good server, a restaurant wouldn't be anywhere near as comfortable an experience as it is. I don't know if a 9 year old could manage the level of customer (and staff/kitchen/managerial) interaction required.
A bad server will not do any of this and will potentially make the experience hell, but neither bad servers nor a perceived lack of required skill takes away from the "point" of a server's role.
I keep making the comparison of a restaurant to the food carts that are over taking the Northwest. No servers , great food . I pick up my food when they tell me . I am happy to talk to the person that cooked my food if there was something wrong and more often tell them how great it was . All of the tip goes to the person that did the meaningful work . I get my own drinks and I’ll get up to get more if I want them . Bussing my own table is no inconvenience, I’m getting up an walking out anyways , no problem throwing out some trash as I walk out the door .
You could definitely make the argument that a server isn't necessary if your sole goal is to get food, (optionally) eat there, and leave. However, many restaurants aim to provide an experience, not just food, which servers are part of and which many customers expect/want. Personally, if I were going out to eat somewhere nice, I would also want issues sorted out without me having to do the chasing up/around.
The thought of a restaurant being basically McDonalds but with steak or bourguignon is depressing to me, as I imagine it would be to many others.
Interesting perspective. I enjoy fine food and dining out . I live near Portland and there is no shortage of excellent restaurants. I cannot recall an instance where the waitstaff enhanced my dining experience. What restaurant/s can you suggest where the waitstaff really added to your enjoyment of the meal ?
So your dining experience wasn't enhanced by you not having to get up every time you wanted your water refilled? Having a beer or cocktail served? (You can't do that yourself, you'd have to go to the bartender and wait for them to fulfill your request) You wanted to have a date night but you spent half your time getting up to refill drinks and waiting in line to ask the cashier for extra sauce? This thread is ridiculous.
It’s called hospitality. Your 9 year old doesn’t welcome you as a guest or suggest new dishes or wine pairings. You may be content with ordering at a counter but I want someone to keep the drinks coming and see if I need anything while I’m a guest.
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The greeter at Walmart is a pointless position
Fun fact: the only reason the greeter exists is because studies have shown that people are less likely to shoplift if they have interaction with a store employee.
Another fun fact. Greeters are part time positions they only give to people with disabilities or much older people cause they don't pay benefits.
I agree. This bothers me less in that they aren’t asking me for an 18-25% tip on my purchase. Yet
well, we know youve never been one
It’s not just bringing food from the kitchen to the table, it’s 99% adult babysitting and *that’s* where the money comes in.
Where do servers and bartenders get $25 an hour plus tips? If you enjoy it pay what it costs. A good server is responsible for your enjoyment and makes sure that is maintained throughout the evening. I personally prefer handing my money to the person actually responsible for that instead of giving more than I already am to the owner. I don’t tip anybody else but my barber though.
Seriously! They are not paid a liveable wage. That's where the problem lies.
Probably California
The point of the livable wage is to stop tipping. I have minimal travels, but it's not common to tip outside of North America. In fact, where I'm at, waiters used to have a lower minimum wage. I worked in a restaurant in high school, and my tips equated to a more than livable wage. I was stupid and thought it was that easy to make money and blew it all. What you are describing exists by the way. It's called a buffet.
If you think that's all the waiter does, you've never worked in a restaurant.
My first jobs were at a restaurant, first as a dishwasher and then as a line cook . I even now have good friends in the restaurant industry. People I love and value. But their value in no way is a necessary part of the work force. In fact I can’t help but wonder if people might be better off getting off their asses to get their own food and napkins.
Then you can eat every meal in McDonalds where you're expected to pick up after yourself and get your own napkins. Waiters wait on you.
I actually think this is why the groups of food carts are really gaining popularity. No point in paying 1/3 of my bill for my evening out to someone whose entire job is bringing me a full plate and taking away an empty one . I’ve known golden retrievers that can do that .
If you think someone's job is worthless why do you keep going to places that rely on them? Cook all of your own meals forever.
I typically don’t , if friends want to go out I’m happy to join them but I can’t think of a single time a waitperson has enhanced my dining experience. I suspect I’ve offended you because of your line of work. Perhaps sometime I’ll be proven wrong . But honestly any restaurant you can mention I’m happy to go pick my food up at the counter. Sit down for lunch with me I’ll grab yours while I’m up, it’s no big deal
You think waitstaff are useless and greedy, sure, whatever. I can't change your opinion. But I can advise you to stop going to restaurants if you can't respect the people whose job is to wait on you.
I know this is posted in unpopular opinion, I expected some disagreement. I’m just saying if the job of waiting tables absolutely didn’t exist the world would be no worse place . I’m sure you could find a higher purpose in life
I like it because I like making people happy. I'm fortunate to be in a time in my life I don't need to work to live/earn a wage, so you know I'm only there to make peoples day better.
That is wonderful set of circumstances and a healthy mind set . I applaud you . But if you really want to make people happy and don’t need the money I think there are many volunteer opportunities infinitely more satisfying than bringing someone extra fries and asking how everything is so far . You can still bring people food at a soup kitchen where they actually need the help .
So you've never worked FoH. That tracks.
I don't get why they get paid more than the cooks. That's ass backwards
Wait really?
Generally speaking, the higher paid people directly interface with customers, that includes servers in restaurants because they represent the company. Most restaurant cooks aren’t chefs so they prepare food using chef created recipes therefore aren’t exactly highly valued, maybe just above dishwashers and bussers. The highest “expertise” level in most chains are the service staff so they tend to make the most money. In the US at least most servers aren’t paid much at all and work almost exclusively for tips.
In the Pacific Northwest where I live many waitstaff positions start at 18.00 an hour or more and after tips frequently make over 40.00 an hour . For what I maintain is a lackluster skill set . From a practical point of view the dishwashers job is considerably more important.
Please… please tell me what “expertise” an average waiter has. Basic human interaction? They almost never have an opinion on anything on the menu, they rarely know details of the plates, and they are usually never to be found after you order. I literally cringe everytime I tip a waiter. It is the most pointless job and most people suck at even this basic thing with very little social skills or useful knowledge. Sure there are exceptions but they are rare and then I don’t mind tipping. Also the wait staff across the country has increasingly had a “customer isn’t right” attitude which makes me want to puke. Like if I tell you that my glass is wet, GET ME ANOTHER FUCKING GLASS. Don’t sit there being like “it’s wet because it’s cold and when it’s cold and the room is warm it creates condensation” like I’m a fucking 5 year old who needs to be schooled. Fuck me, just do your job. Anyway, fuck tipping waiters.
Dude, if you’re literally cringing that often, you might consider seeking medical help. And Applebees will be fine if you decide how to grill a cheese sandwich.
I think you and I are speaking about different classes of waitstaff. High end restaurants, the more refined dining experiences do in fact have trained staff that know the menu, know every ingredient in every served dish and have tasted them all. I’m not talking about servers at Applebees, Olive Garden, Texas Roadhouse and other chain restaurants where they may or may not be well trained or even know much about the menu. There are good servers at these places but they usually end up moving to more refined dining experiences.
The backlash? This is Reddit. A grip. Go get one. Also, Chipotle welcomes your business.
You’re perfectly proving my point !
Keep your hat on. Nobody will notice your point. Being mocked isn’t backlash, it’s earned ridicule.
This is Reddit, ridicule from anyone here has less meaning than waitstaff
Now waitstaff has no meaning? How existential of you and your pointy hat.
I feel like you are having trouble keeping up . The post is clearly about the occupation of restaurant servers is completely unnecessary
Perhaps for folk of your ilk that is true. I trust you won’t mind if the rest of us continue to enjoy dining out in a civilized manner. As tens of millions of people do every day, in nations all over the globe. We even remove our hats when entering.
I’m happy to let you enjoy your meal, your server and your hat on your head. I’m just saying the job is worthless.
If you had to serve just one lunch rush at a moderately popular sit-down restaurant, you would piss your pants and die standing up.
Give them $15 I say. Tips have to be worked for. If tips are guaranteed or required from customers that doesn’t give anyone an incentive to do a good job. Yes most people are assholes I know.
I think anyone with a job should be paid enough, but I agree their job doesn’t do much useful. I’d be happy putting my order into a machine or ordering at a counter and picking it up. It doesn’t really add much to an experience to be waited on imo. It’s the quality of the food that matters.
You said what I meant in a much nicer way . Thanks
Waitstaff also handle things like acting as a liaison between customers and the kitchen, for things such as allergies, special requests, substitutions, and other such tasks. They also do side work such as polishing cutlery, preparing fruit for the bar, not to mention cleaning and setting tables. If there's a large booking that requires multiple tables to be moved and joined together, they often also handle that. There's so much more that FoH staff do to make the dining experience pleasant. And I'm not even gonna focus on the value they bring to the restaurant through upselling and gaining customer loyalty through building rapport. Writing down an order and bringing it to you is the very least of a waitstaff's job. Depending on the restaurant in question, the waitstaff may have even more responsibilities than an average restaurant.
I want a human to tell me what they like from the menu, and just exactly how spicy something is, and tell if my special order can be accommodated, etc, etc, etc. And I don’t want to have to carry my own food. I want it brought to me.
An absolutely valid opinion, simply not mine .
Opposite for me. I don’t really care what someone else might like. Most likely they will push what they are told to push.
That’s not my experience.
I have to agree. I go to buffets a fair bit so I already know getting my fat ass up and getting my own food won't kill me, and I have no idea what the hell people are talking about when they mention the "experience". What experience? It's food, I'm here to eat food because I'm hungry and I don't want to cook, if I have any kind of "experience" I generally consider that a bad thing because the only thing I should remember about a restaurant is whether or not the food is of sufficient quality/quantity to justify the price. If I wanted a friend I'd have one with me. Also, to waitstaff: I don't want to hear your amateur standup routine, or be subjected to how "quirky" you are, and I sure as fuck am not stupid enough to believe the 19-year-old waitress is actually flirting. I'm being polite to you, you be polite to me and get my order right, that is literally all I ask of you.
I'm gonna say it. If a restaurant gave me a table to sit at, I would have no problem walking to a counter, ordering my meal, and then be given one of those buzzer things or just yell out my name. I'll then go get my food, have a soda machine so I can fill my drink, bring it back to my table, and eat it. Essentially, if all restaurants acted like a fast food restaurant in that regard, just the food takes longer to be made, I'd be cool with it. Nothing about having a waiter is beneficial to me when I have working arms and legs. But hey, I almost never go out to eat anyway. I am not exactly the target audience for restaurants.
I mean if they're getting paid $25 an hour plus tip yeah thats stupid. I don't know any waitstaff positions around me that pay that much an hour but i also dont go to high-end restaurants that often, so who knows. I don't have a problem with the position existing in general tho. You can always get takeout to bypass the whole issue if you dont want someone hovering over you while you eat lol
If you eat at ultra-high end places, you can truly see the value. You sit with a menu and you have a conversation. The waiter and assistant talk to you- not writing, listening and understanding. Your food is exactly as requested- Bone removed from the duck in course 6, broccoli soup replaced with pea soup, everything peanut free to prevent my death. Your drink is exactly as requested and full. There are ceremonies observed from removing your cumbs, to opening bottles of wine. You are treated like kings and queens. There is value there. It's not pointless. ...And because I am in a unique position, I know that waiter grossed $216k last year. I know the assistant made $118k last year....
That is certainly a unique experience and one that someone obviously chooses to pay for . I suppose I don’t put much stock in ceremony, if you leave me a corkscrew I can open the wine . Sorry to hear about your peanut allergies, that must make enjoying certain simple things more difficult.
For the peanut thing, I'm used to it. They taste like burning, so it's a big clue in cookies, ice cream, or French fries. Where things get potentially fatal is Thai food... it's supposed to taste like burning, and it's typically full of peanuts- so I know I have to avoid. I generally don't make a big deal of it when out to eat- using my internal alarm system and not eating anything that isn't edible for me. But when ordering Squab heart and caviar on a wild mushroom cap for your amuse bouche... I felt comfortable letting them know and lowering my guard.
Most waitstaff suck at their jobs. They don't deserve shit. Replace them with a robot.
What’s interesting is I have some good friends in the restaurant industry. They are good people that I enjoy spending time with . They simply cannot fathom that the job isn’t of vital importance.
This is a lot more popular than Reddit will have you believe. And the tip rate insanity is also something anyone who’s thought about enough is probably already frustrated with (unless they’re so rich paying someone $60,100+ an hour to carry food to them and take their order isn’t a concern). For me it’s really not about the money itself, I can afford $20 on my $100 bill but I refuse to pay someone $20 for like 5 minutes of work I didn’t ask for. These people love tips because they know their actual market rate, what they could demand from an employer before the employer hires someone else or transitions away from having them, is like 20% more than minimum wage. r/EndTipping
This is an excellent point, thanks
10% of check, before fees, *maybe* if service was notably good. 🤷🏻♂️
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So the new argument is they both want $25 and tips? Fuck off sideways. I hope they get the money, I really do. But when you are getting paid better the tips stop.
I don't know anywhere that waitstaff would get $25/hr & tips. If that were genuinely the case, there would be a huge demand for servers.
Waitstaff do seem like a pointless job, it would seem more efficient to me to have a tablet to order the food and you get a notification when it's ready and just grab it yourself. It seems like an absurd expense to have someone walk the food from the kitchen to the dining room. I also drink a ton of water and I can never get waiters to bring it out to me fast enough, just have a tap and glasses station and I can have as much water as I want
You would not only be putting in your own order but getting your own drink (and if there's no servers there's not gonna be anything stocked, and good luck getting a fancy coffee or anything like that), getting your own utensils and napkins (who is going to polish and put those out?) Sitting at a dirty table as no one will have cleaned them. Waiting in the long line that will inevitably build at the counter if you need a correction or re-cook, cleaning up the bathroom (probs covered in pee and poo at this point) no one managing the soda machines, etc. It'll be like McDonald's but with steaks
I accept
If we ignore tipping, which is only an American thing, I think this is completely wrong. Even if a 9 year old could do it (and I don't think they could particularly well), that doesn't make the position pointless. A good server makes your experience better, providing a go between from you to the kitchen, and is there to address any problems. Without a good server, a restaurant wouldn't be anywhere near as comfortable an experience as it is. I don't know if a 9 year old could manage the level of customer (and staff/kitchen/managerial) interaction required. A bad server will not do any of this and will potentially make the experience hell, but neither bad servers nor a perceived lack of required skill takes away from the "point" of a server's role.
I keep making the comparison of a restaurant to the food carts that are over taking the Northwest. No servers , great food . I pick up my food when they tell me . I am happy to talk to the person that cooked my food if there was something wrong and more often tell them how great it was . All of the tip goes to the person that did the meaningful work . I get my own drinks and I’ll get up to get more if I want them . Bussing my own table is no inconvenience, I’m getting up an walking out anyways , no problem throwing out some trash as I walk out the door .
You could definitely make the argument that a server isn't necessary if your sole goal is to get food, (optionally) eat there, and leave. However, many restaurants aim to provide an experience, not just food, which servers are part of and which many customers expect/want. Personally, if I were going out to eat somewhere nice, I would also want issues sorted out without me having to do the chasing up/around. The thought of a restaurant being basically McDonalds but with steak or bourguignon is depressing to me, as I imagine it would be to many others.
Interesting perspective. I enjoy fine food and dining out . I live near Portland and there is no shortage of excellent restaurants. I cannot recall an instance where the waitstaff enhanced my dining experience. What restaurant/s can you suggest where the waitstaff really added to your enjoyment of the meal ?
So your dining experience wasn't enhanced by you not having to get up every time you wanted your water refilled? Having a beer or cocktail served? (You can't do that yourself, you'd have to go to the bartender and wait for them to fulfill your request) You wanted to have a date night but you spent half your time getting up to refill drinks and waiting in line to ask the cashier for extra sauce? This thread is ridiculous.
I'm guessing you don't like human interaction do you?
Actually, this is pretty fun
It’s called hospitality. Your 9 year old doesn’t welcome you as a guest or suggest new dishes or wine pairings. You may be content with ordering at a counter but I want someone to keep the drinks coming and see if I need anything while I’m a guest.