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For our series “Server Diaries,” TODAY asks anonymous servers, bartenders and other hospitality workers to record their innermost thoughts while on the job.
Here, we follow a restaurant server in upstate New York through five shifts.
This transcript has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Shift 1: If I Could Control the Bugs, I Would
8:30 p.m. This time of year, so many little bugs come out because everything’s defrosting. I think every single table that walked in told us that we have a major bug problem, and that we have to do something about it. I’m like, ‘Unfortunately, we can’t do anything about it, because we’re so close to the water, it’s illegal for us to spray anything.’ They’d be like, ‘Well, you should still figure something out.’ OK! Yeah, I’ll just control Mother Nature and talk to the bugs and tell them all to just go somewhere else. It doesn’t work that way. Sorry.
Shift 2: Why Would You Want to Eat Lunch at 10 in the Morning?
10:40 a.m. So I came in early this morning. I usually come in around 10 o’clock. We open for lunch at 11:30, and I’m wiping down all the tables and getting prepped because I like to have everything ready, then sit and have a coffee before I start my shift, and this group of three walks in, and they’re like, “Oh, table for three!” at 10:15 in the morning, so I let them know, “I’m sorry, we’re not open yet.” One lady says to me, “Oh, well, online it says you’re open,” and I was like, “Well, we don’t open till 11:30, so it’s another hour,” so she said, “Well, can you at least just seat us and we’ll wait for the kitchen to open?” so I told her the problem is that kitchen staff is not even here yet.
We don’t open for another hour and 15 minutes. I would have no problem seating them if the kitchen was finishing up prepping and I could get them drinks, bread, water and whatever in the meantime.
So, I asked her, “Where does it say online that we’re open?” and she was like, “Oh, it just says it online.” So I asked, “Like, but where? Because I want to make sure we get that fixed, so it doesn’t happen again, and people don’t get confused. I would just like to know, if you don’t mind telling me.” She’s like, “I just said I saw it online.” I was like, “Oh, OK, not sure what the attitude is for, but I’m sorry, I really can’t seat you. You’d be waiting an hour and a half for everything.”
She asked me, “Well, where is open around here at this time?” and I’m not sure. We don’t even serve breakfast or brunch, so I’m not really sure why she was insisting on eating lunch here at 10:15 in the morning. I’m not sure of many places that start serving lunch at 10:15, but I told her she could try a couple of places down the street that serve brunch.
They just rolled their eyes. “All right, we’ll leave,” they said, and I was like, “OK, have a good day. Bye.”
Shift 3: Getting That Bread
9:03 a.m. I think one of the most humbling experiences I have is when I’m on my way to work and my boss asks me to pick up the bread for the day. We get fresh bread every morning, and it’s like 60 loaves of bread, sometimes, or sometimes less; it depends on the reservations or if it’s the weekend or not.
But it’s so funny when I go in line to pick up the bread because they put like two giant boxes of Italian bread in my cart, and it’s so many pieces, and everybody in line asks me, “Wow, big party, huh?” or “Wow, what are you gonna do with all that bread? Who are you feeding?” And I’m like, “I work for a restaurant. We bring the bread over there!” I’m just pushing through the grocery store with tons and tons of bread, and everybody stops me.
Shift 4: I Get It — You Want the Window
9:03 a.m. Last night, we didn’t have a hostess, so I had to help seat people, and we have limited availability for tables by the window. We have a nice view, so, of course, everyone wants to sit as close to the window as possible, but those seats are limited.
Obviously, we have to prioritize reservations, but we still want everyone to be happy with where they sit. We want whoever comes in to have a great experience and be happy. I just find it funny how people act.
A table for two came in last night — they were a walk-in — and I asked them if they had a reservation. They said no, so I had them follow me. I still gave them a nice table with a view; you could still see it, just not as close as the ones right by the window. They sat down and looked up at me and were like, “Do you have anything closer to the window?” At that point, you can clearly see people eating at all the tables by the window; it’s not like we have a million tables hidden around the corner that you can’t see. It’s all in plain sight. So I said, “Oh, no, sorry, all these people already sat at these tables by the window,” and they said, “Are you sure?”
“Are you sure? I’m sorry, but all these people just sat down, or are in the middle of dinner, I can’t just get them up and move them.” That’s what I’m thinking in my head, of course. I didn’t say that, but did tell them that if something opens up, we can definitely move them over. “You’re welcome to pick another table that is available,” I said. They ended up moving their table to another one with the exact same view.
I just think it’s funny that people will see that there are clearly no tables available and still insist on moving to another table. They were nice about it, at least, but some people aren’t as nice as they were last night. People will literally see that there’s no space available and still expect me to get other guests up and move them.
2:45 p.m. I’m here all Thursday for a double, and we haven’t had one person come in yet. It’s surprising, because it’s so nice out. I’m kind of just like, “Why am I here right now, when I could be home watching the new episode of ‘Euphoria.’”
10:00 p.m. I’m driving home from work right now, and we got a rush at like 6 o’clock, and it was just two of us! We had to take the tables, make the drinks, run the food, pour water, get bread, do coffees. We have to do everything ourselves besides make the food, basically. We just got hit and all I could think about is, “My legs hurt, I have a headache, I didn’t get to finish my coffee.”
Shift 5: Too Slammed to Record
8 a.m. (the next morning) So, last night, I wasn’t able to even have any thoughts, because we got so slammed. It was just me, one other server, a bartender and a food runner, and we had the entire restaurant — I’m talking about two full dining rooms of people all at the same time.
We got slammed, and it was a nice day out, so we were expecting to get a little busy, but there were so many walk-ins. All I could think was, “I need to lock the hell in right now, because there is no time to even think of anything else.” It was insanity.
8:03 a.m. There were also so many walk-ins last night, aka Friday night, and I had to help seat them because we didn’t have a hostess, and all the walk-ins complained when they couldn’t sit next to the window.
Some are like, “Oh, well, did they request the window?” and I say, “Yeah, we have to prioritize those people who called in in advance to sit next to the window,” and they say, “But that table’s open.” They’re coming in in 30 minutes, and I can’t kick someone out of their seat in 30 minutes.
The same people who say that stay for four or five hours and don’t get up, because, when you’re on the water, people like to just sit and have drinks after dinner, and that’s totally fine, but that’s the reason why I can’t give you those window seats. Some people get this stink-face about it. It gives me anxiety. I have so much anxiety working in restaurants, it’s insane.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
