Here is a menu

Here is a menu that can be found at almost any kind of restaurant. With appetizers and soups so you can get a feel for something new.

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See The Light

Sunday can be one of the best or worst days at my job. Around 1:30 p.m. the morning shift gets really excited. Because Mary Alice comes in. She's this really interesting and sweet lady. When her and her husband, Kevin come in, the floor gets cut, and we all get to get ready to go home. She is known as "The Light." Because she is like the light at the end of the tunnel.

Why I Hate My Job

So, I usually enjoy hosting. Not this week. This week, I was supposed to be a waitress. And I needed the money, trust me. But instead of putting two people on to host, my bosses put me on to host. While I should have been a waitress. Let me tell you how angry and frustrating that was. First of all, I do not like having to ask anyone for money. I should be able to fend for myself. Secondly, I have a huge hospital bill to pay off and it would have been convenient if my bosses could make a schedule right. That being said, I'm really burnt out on hosting.

The Day Christmas Almost Came Early

This past week, our one useless hostess was told we would call her if we needed her to come in. Basically, don't come into this establishment anymore. Let me tell you how happy we were to hear this. But what did this girl do to finally push us over the edge? Nothing. It was what she did to customers. We have one top tables, or we have tables where we just seat one person. And this girl was asking these customers why they were such loners. Really? You are going to ask a customer that? Let's rewind. First of all, that's an offensive question to ask someone. Secondly, it is none of our business how customers personal lives are. So if you do become a host, or hostess, please use some common sense.


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Here are some restaurants in Topeka that have host and hostesses.

Reasons Why Thanksgiving Isn't Very Giving

Thanksgiving, I had to work. And we were supposed to be supposed to be busy! I work in the mornings now, and only. And let me tell you how busy we were not. People weren't coming in because they were preparing dinners for their families, which is understandable. But the people who were coming in were not tipping any of us any money. And I cannot express to you how important it is to tip your server. On top of that, our hostess wasn't doing her job. And our boss was being very angry with us the whole day. Oh yeah, and I had to be to work at two o'clock the morning of Black Friday. Needless to say, my Thanksgiving wasn't very awesome.


http://www.tip20.com/why-should-you-tip/27 This website is very much correct as to why you should tip your server.

The Weekend I Rocked It Out

This past Thursday, I injured my hand just bad enough I needed stitches. I brought a doctor's note in excusing myself from work. And my boss needed me to come in anyway. With a hand healing from stitches, I was being a hostess. I wrote names down using my left hand, and I was able to seat customers without the use of my right hand. I even picked up a high chair with my right arm and positioned the chair using my feet. What was going through my mind when I did this? Obviously, my bosses needed someone who knows how to do their job. So yes, this was the week I proved myself to my job and my bosses.

And Then I Proved Myself

This past Sunday, two ladies didn't show up to work. So I went from hostessing to waiting tables, I received my first table after 9, so I didn't make as much money. But everyone appreciated my hard work. And for the first time in three months, I stayed at the restaurant until 6:00 p.m. I guess it's true, that I'm a valued member of my job.

Days I Feel Proud

I trained a new girl on how to be a hostess two weeks ago. Let me just tell you, she is my pride and joy. She just started working, and she is able to handle hostessing in a very professional manner. She uses common sense when she is stuck, and she's willing to learn. Her name is Taylor, and she is probably the best hostess I have yet to meet.

So how did Taylor become such an amazing hostess?
First of all, she was taught the first day which tables could seat how many guests.
Second, she was told the wait times for every group of people that would come in.
Third, she learned that it was okay to skip guests over because we didn't have accomidations for them.
Fourth, she learned how to scoout before she learned how to great.
Fifth, she was able to remember to get menu's.

These are the same rules I was taught when I began hostessing, and she is the first hostess who was able to grasp these tips that I have helped train.

8 Tips for Restaurant Host/Waitress

Training Day

This last Friday, a new girl was hired. Now, typically, I work Saturday as a waitress and Sunday as a hostess. So Saturday, this new girl didn't really learn anything, because the person she was working with didn't tech her anything. And let's face it, as waitresses we want tables to keep getting sat, and we don't like it when our own tables are empty. So Saturday was a train wreck for us. Sunday, it was the new girl hostessing, the one she was with yesterday, and myself. With the intent that I would be training her. The first girl was sent home and it was just the new girl and I. So what did I do to train her? I made her be the Scout. In hostessing terms, I made her look for empty tables to seat, put tables together and take them apart, and she had to take all of the tables to their seating area. I was then the Greeter. I smiled said "Hi, how many?" To every person who came in, and told tables "Thank you, have a good day." When it slowed down enough for us, I made sure to tell her I think someone learns the best when it's a hands on kind of thing, She agreed and she's actually a really good hostess.

So here are tips every hostess should be taught.
First of all, you should know which booths can hold the most people. This will come in handy depending on how big parties are.
Secondly, carry a highlighter. Some people prefer tables to booths, and vice versa. If someone wants a table, and you have to skip over them, do so. But keep in mind they will need to be sat sooner than most.
Third off, know the seat time for your tables. At my restaurant, if there are seven people or more, they need to know the wait time will be about forty-five minutes to one hour. If it's five or six people, I tell them it'll be about thirty minutes, and if it's four or less, I tell them it'll be between ten and fifteen minutes, or it will be between fifteen and twenty minutes.

That should start you off on hostessing.

Here are more tips.

When Your Hard Work is Appreciated

This last Sunday, I hostessed. Many of the regulars who come into my restaurant know that I both waitress and hostess, they also know the only thing I don't know how to do is cook. I was on a roll this morning, I had tables sat as soon as customers were leaving. One group in particular were seven people. Now, normally, we're supposed to tell tables it will be 45 minutes to an hour wait if it's seven or more, cause that's usually how long  they have to wait. After they were told how long it would be, I had them sat. They were so impressed with how speedily I was at seating them, they tipped me five dollars. There is a lesson in this. Most people don't like being told they have to wait up to an hour to eat when they are hungry. Just doing this small deed, I was tipped money I shouldn't have been, and they assured me they would tip their server very nicely. The nice thing about them tipping me was their waitress didn't have to tip share.

Change as a Waitress

I never questioned how servers carried cash before I became a waitress, but after becoming a waitress, I learned how to carry change. If I come into work with no amount of cash on me, and a customer gives me a twenty to pay for their meal, I know how to break the twenty up into change to give back, and then recycle the rest of that change throughout my shift. Now, I know what you're thinking. "Alexa, how do you recycle the change so it can be recycled throughout your shift?" The answer is simple you take a twenty dollar bill, and you exchange it for two five dollar bills, seven one dollar bills, two dollars in quarters, six dimes, six nickels, and ten pennies. Then you have change for the day, and it can be recycled, oh yeah, and tips help you keep change all day. In the world of serving, we don't call change "change" we call it jingle. There's a fun fact for everyone today.

My Manager Likes Me?

My general manager didn't hire me, in fact, the assistant manager did, and he is my favorite. But this last Sunday, the general manager was being really nice to me. Which, is odd enough for me because him and I don't exactly get along. But I was hostessing with one girl, who isn't exactly the best we have. She's pretty lazy and doesn't have the drive to work fast. Anyway, my manger walked up to me while she was away to tell me thank you, and to say he is sorry I have to work with her and him, (he can be very hard to deal with some days.) It was a really good day after that. He was really nice to me the rest of the time I worked. I guess you can say, he is more fond of me than I thought!
But just to be on the safe side;
If your boss comes off as not being fond of you, don't be upset. He is running a business, and he needs to be firm. I know my boss doesn't like when I ask him for change. As a waitress, it is part of my uniform to have cash on me, so customers don't have to wait to get cash back. I should also keep my uniform clean and my pockets organized. With my boss, in particular, a positive attitude, being a nice person, and not disrespecting him are good ways to stay on his good side. Oh, and being able to efficiently doing the job help.

Racism in Paradise?

At this restaurant I work at, we don't always like the tables we get. For instance, high school teenagers very rarely tip. Most of the time, we prefer not to get them, the same goes for elder citizens, they only tip two dollars. But this week something happened that made me sick to my stomach. One waitress actually refused to wait on a table, and avoided them at all cost because of the color of their skin. And it's sad, because these customers knew why they were being disrespected. To make matters worse, we found out they had sat at their table for fifteen minutes without anyone checking on them. It doesn't excuse anything she did, but my boss did fire her because of her racism. And that kind of makes me feel better.

How to be a Good Server

Do you know what I enjoy about my job? We have a very friendly environment. We have a very open environment too. But it didn't just happen one day. We didn't wake up and say, "hey, I want to be best friends with that person today."
Here are some tips to having a good work environment as a waiter or waitress.
 1. First of all, don't take anything personally. If a server yells at you, don't worry about it. That server has just gotten very frustrated and you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Give them a few minutes, and it will all be okay, they just need a moment to cool off.
2. Don't be afraid to tell another server how you feel about a table, if you've never waited tables before, you probably don't understand how disrespected servers are. And it's okay to ask someone who has been there longer than you how they handle difficult tables.
3. You will not get tipped every time a table leaves. We all complain about getting stiffed (a zero dollar tip.) It will happen to you to. The best thing to do is move on with your day.
4. Customers want free food. And they will do anything they can to get it. That means they will complain about how the food was cooked, or they will complain about where they were sat. I actually had a lady complain because I misread her name one time.
5. Don't ever judge a book by it's cover. When it comes to customers, never ever prejudged them. Even if those citizens live up to the stereotype. You shouldn't judge them, they may leave you with a surprise. For example, one time, two elder citizens left me a fifteen dollar tip on their fifteen dollar meal, because I didn't prejudged them, and I was nice and respectful.
6. Enjoy your job. If you aren't enjoying it, I'm probably not going to enjoy your service.

Why I Don't Like To Expo

On Sunday, I expoed at work, Usually, I love it, this time I didn't, however. I was getting yelled at for everything, nothing was going right, and a couple of the girls were on edge. It's understandable, I guess. I could have done my job better, I could have helped out more, and I could have not been on everyone's toes that day.
So here is how you should handle a bad day of expoing.
1. Stay in your designated area. Don't run around the restaurant trying to balance everybody's load at once.
2. Look at the food you are pulling, and if you need help, don't hesitate to ask the cooks, or other servers.
3. Keep it simple, keep it concise, be polite. Everyone else is having a bad day, try to make it stress free around you.
4. Just remember, they have to expo too.
5. Take a deep breath, and remember, you can do this.

Why I Like To Expo

My restaurant has a servers excellence program where we are supposed to follow six steps to move your meal along and to make sure that is it the best we can give you. A new part of our program is being an expodeiter, or an "expo" where one or two people will pull food out of the window, and prepare it for tables because we do get busy.The Expo will also stock the restaruant up, take to go orders, run food, and do anything else that is needed from us. I like to expo for a couple of reasons. First off, I don't have to do any work before I leave, except collect one to one and a half percent of everyones sales. Second, I get to go home early.

Why I Love Being A Waitress

I love when I wait on parties of at least 10. I do really good with a lot of people. I love it even more when they tell my boss that I did a wonderful job, it really is something I have learned to appreciate. Even more so when my general manager doesn't really think I was that good when I started, but I have gotten a whole lot better. I guess it's one of the perks of being a waitress.
One time, I had a party of 32 people. And I was the only person who was handling this party. Let me tell you how terrifying it was. After I got all of there food out, and they had eaten, they were doing very good. Until they had me split up there check, ten different ways. While I was trying to split up the check, all by myself, mind you. One lady came up to me and started yelling about how I needed my manager and everyone else to help me because I was being to slow and they needed to get home. After I gave them all their bills, they only left me $13 as a tip. And one person lied and refused to pay for half of their ticket. Oh, and then they called corporate and complained about my service. That alone scared me so much I didn't want to take big parties ever again.
But the more parties I took that were less than twenty, the more confident I became. Now, when I get big parties, they tell me how I did an excellent job, and they tip me very generously.

Hostessing and Waitressing

There is one girl I hostess with who isn't very good.  She told a party of five they would be sat in 20 minutes, but she didn't tell me that said party was even in the restaurant so while I'm sitting the door, she gets an attitude and snottily tells me that I forgot about this party and the lady in this group was acting like she was traumatized because she wasn't able to eat her food. The other thing about this incident that drives me crazy is that this party of five were told they would only have to wait 20 minutes. When we have eight tables inside of this restaurant that can seat up to six people.  A party of five or six should be told they will wait AT LEAST thirty minutes and a party of seven or more are told they will have to wait AT LEAST 45 minutes to one hour. Those are our policies, and we follow them very strictly. Another part of Saturday hostessing that I didn't like was when this same hostess, mind you, told another party of five they would be sat very swiftly. Then she tried to tell me they were getting impatient because they weren't being sat quickly enough, and I was skipping over their party and seating everyone else. I was sitting every party that I could when I had the room, and when this conversation came up, I told this hostess that when I had room, I would seat this five top, since I didn't have room however, I wouldn't. I guess this party didn't like my response, and they thought it would be a good idea not to tip their waitress, because they didn't get a chance to be sat, just yet

Actually, Good Person, I Don't Make the Same Money You Do.

I'm a waitress, it's a really fun job, most days. Especially when I get tipped really well. That's usually a really big plus. What I don't like is, and I'm not saying it's everyone, but not getting tipped isn't very fun. Actually, we have a theory at the restaurant where I work at, where customers think we get paid minimum wage, and then the tips we make are just extra. No, actually what I make per hour is $2.13 and to be honest with you, for $2.13 an hour, I don't get paid nearly enough to put up with the disrespect I get as a waitress. The other thing that  the restaurant I work at doesn't do, is gratuity. I don't get to put fifteen percent of your money just because there are more than eight of you. Actually, you could tip me $2.00 on a $50.00 ticket, and I guess that's okay. No it isn't, that's not even fifteen percent! So just in case anyone ever wondered, Hi, I'm a person too.