Practical Guide for Waiters. Second Edition Revised and Expanded

By Franklin Díaz Lárez

This is a great guidebook for anyone who wants to become a waiter, or for waiters who aspire to move up in the industry.
Covers basic aspects of table service, the types of service offered in fine dining venues, best practices for formal dining occasions, and much more.
There is an additional section that covers the basics of bartending and mixed drinks.
The author has many years of experience as a waiter in the hotel and restaurant industry.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Franklin Díaz Lárez
• Release date: Jul 27, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005942021

Franklin Díaz Lárez

Franklin Díaz es abogado, especialista en inmigración, en docencia universitaria y escritor.Ha escrito y publicado los siguientes textos:Novelas:* El Amante de Isabella* Mis Genes Malditos* Las Baladas del Cielo* El Último Prefecto* La Casa del Columpio* Ramny y la Savia de Amor* Crónica de un Suicidio* El Aroma del MastrantoLibros de Autoayuda:* Siempre Puedo Continuar* De Esclavo a Empresario* El método PHILLIPS para dejar de fumar* RELAX al Alcance de Todos* Somos ResilientesTextos Didácticos:* La Gestión Inmobiliaria - Teoría y Práctica del Mundo de los Negocios Inmobiliarios* El Gestor Inmobiliario (Fundamentos Teóricos)* El Gestor Inmobiliario (Contratos y Formularios)* Quiero Publicar mi Libro.* Autopublicación en Papel (Createspace - Lulú - Bubok)* Guía Práctica del Camarero* El Vendedor de IdeasRelatos:* Susurros de AmorBlog:http://diazfranklin.wordpress.com

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BASIC CONCEPTS

The job of waiter or waitress isn’t found among those professions that require predetermined academic training. However, in order to be successful, waiters must have a minimal knowledge of the conditions, practices, and fundamental aspects of their work.

This is not to say that there is no academic training available in the profession; to the contrary, there are dozens of schools specializing in training waiters. Hotel management schools, some private schools, vocational schools, and others all provide education for waiters. They teach the theoretical and practical principles of the profession, and meticulously prepare the future waiter with the goal of making him or her into a true professional. There are also courses in hotel management that, while they may not targeted to waiters, include among their required content subjects covering the area of table service and everything relating to providing service to diners. As is the case with the professions of bricklayer, painter, or mason, having a specific academic degree is not a sine qua non of doing the job. If someone does have a degree, fine, but if not, one must have minimal knowledge of how the work is done.

Prestigious restaurants, luxury cruise lines, and leading hotel chains usually require that their staffs be professionals. This includes having on one’s resumé proof of having been trained in the theory and practice of the job at institutions that are dedicated to these purposes.

Apart from any type of professional training, the work of a waiter (mesero or mesonero, as they are called in some Spanish-speaking countries), is an eminently free-form job that can be carried out by anyone. However, an essential aspect of being a waiter is practice. Without the sufficient and correct kind of practice, it isn’t possible to become a good waiter. This is because if what you do is always done poorly, the result will always be the same; you’ll never be good in this job.

It doesn’t matter how much you may have studied, and how much conceptual training you may have received. In this job, experience and skill matter just as much or more than theory. Our employers and/or future bosses don’t usually sit and study our resumés when they’re evaluating us. They prefer putting us to work to see how good we are. It’s through the process of observing our work that they’ll realize the kinds of jewels that we truly are. And it must be clearly stated that within this profession there are exquisite diamonds and rubies as well as ordinary limestones and lumps of coal. In other words, there are excellent, good, bad, and terrible waiters, and there are those that are of no value at all in this profession.

It can be truly said that clothes do not make the man, and in our case this saying is a perfect fit. Wearing a waiter’s uniform is of no help whatsoever if one doesn’t know how to do the job in a clearly acceptable way.

This guide has been written to train waiters of high standing, that is, those who want to work in places that are distinguished and upscale, who want to work at quality and high-class events. It isn’t for those who want to learn to serve drinks in bars or taverns, or who want to work in places that don’t require a minimum level of class, quality, and excellence in the service they provide. No type of training is required for that kind of work. Anyone can set a table or take away plates, glasses, or cutlery. There is no science to that kind of work.

However, being an exceptional waiter does require a certain preparation that, even though not acquired in an academy or training school, may be learned by reading and putting into practice the contents of this book. This is why it has been written. That is its purpose.

THE WAITER’S JOB: BASIC RULES

General rules

The essence of an exceptional waiter’s work is ELEGANCE: the art of knowing how to be in a place, of being poised. These are the exceptional waiter’s basic tools.

When we talk about elegance, we are referring to an exquisiteness of movement--the way in which we stand by, look at people, and smile. We are referring to basic facial features and more.

There are those who say that this is something natural, that it’s inherent in certain human beings. And I do not deny that it can be that way. There are others who have been born elegant by nature, and there are many others who are ordinary by nature.

This theory is very debatable. There are many to whom that hypothesis seems absurd, and I am one of those people.

Those who do not believe in similar theories think that everything can be learned, that no one is born exhibiting this or that way to behave. This is precisely why books like this one have been written: to teach people how to do things.

Let’s stop for a moment and think about the question, What is elegance?

Elegance as a semantic concept doesn’t interest us. What is important here is the meaning of this word within the field of hotels and restaurants, the context of this book.

The notion of elegance in the world of hotels and restaurants is not subjective but objective. That is, there is no place for thinking that everyone has his or her own concept of elegance. There is one generally accepted criterion.

In the world of hotels and restaurants, there are certain patterns that