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Waiters and Waitresses

It's a bright outlook for

This career will grow rapidly in the next few years.

Learn more about what they do.

Take orders and serve food and beverages to patrons at tables in dining establishment.

Related: Bartenders Dining Room & Cafeteria Attendants & Bartender Helpers Fast Food & Counter Workers Food Servers, Nonrestaurant Hosts & Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, & Coffee Shop

Industries: Hotel & Food

Summary
Details

Perform food preparation duties, such as preparing salads, appetizers, and cold dishes, portioning desserts, and brewing coffee.
Bring wine selections to tables with appropriate glasses, and pour the wines for customers.
Write patrons' food orders on order slips, memorize orders, or enter orders into computers for transmittal to kitchen staff.
Garnish and decorate dishes in preparation for serving.
Serve food or beverages to patrons, and prepare or serve specialty dishes at tables as required.
Prepare hot, cold, and mixed drinks for patrons, and chill bottles of wine.
Prepare tables for meals, including setting up items such as linens, silverware, and glassware.
Remove dishes and glasses from tables or counters, and take them to kitchen for cleaning.
Assist host or hostess by answering phones to take reservations or to-go orders, and by greeting, seating, and thanking guests.
Assist host or hostess by answering phones to take reservations or to-go orders, and by greeting, seating, and thanking guests.
Provide guests with information about local areas, including directions.
Clean tables or counters after patrons have finished dining.
Present menus to patrons and answer questions about menu items, making recommendations upon request.
Write patrons' food orders on order slips, memorize orders, or enter orders into computers for transmittal to kitchen staff.
Serve food or beverages to patrons, and prepare or serve specialty dishes at tables as required.
Perform cleaning duties, such as sweeping and mopping floors, vacuuming carpet, tidying up server station, taking out trash, or checking and cleaning bathroom.
Roll silverware, set up food stations, or set up dining areas to prepare for the next shift or for large parties.
Inform customers of daily specials.
Check patrons' identification to ensure that they meet minimum age requirements for consumption of alcoholic beverages.
Take orders from patrons for food or beverages.
Fill salt, pepper, sugar, cream, condiment, and napkin containers.
Collect payments from customers.
Explain how various menu items are prepared, describing ingredients and cooking methods.
Stock service areas with supplies such as coffee, food, tableware, and linens.
Prepare checks that itemize and total meal costs and sales taxes.
Escort customers to their tables.
Perform food preparation duties, such as preparing salads, appetizers, and cold dishes, portioning desserts, and brewing coffee.
Check with customers to ensure that they are enjoying their meals, and take action to correct any problems.
Describe and recommend wines to customers.

Active Learning
- Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
Persuasion
- Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
Coordination
- Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
Learning Strategies
- Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
Instructing
- Teaching people how to do something.
Service Orientation
- Looking for ways to help people.
Technology Design
- Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
Equipment Maintenance
- Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
Mathematics
- Using math to solve problems.
Science
- Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
Reading Comprehension
- Reading work-related information.
Management of Personnel Resources
- Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
Monitoring
- Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
Operation and Control
- Using equipment or systems.
Quality Control Analysis
- Testing how well a product or service works.
Judgment and Decision Making
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
Systems Evaluation
- Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
Critical Thinking
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
Complex Problem Solving
- Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
Negotiation
- Bringing people together to solve differences.
Social Perceptiveness
- Understanding people's reactions.
Operations Analysis
- Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
Equipment Selection
- Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
Programming
- Writing computer programs.
Troubleshooting
- Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
Speaking
- Talking to others.
Writing
- Writing things for co-workers or customers.
Active Listening
- Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
Management of Financial Resources
- Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
Time Management
- Managing your time and the time of other people.
Systems Analysis
- Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
Management of Material Resources
- Managing equipment and materials.

Originality
- Creating new and original ideas.
Response Orientation
- Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
Number Facility
- Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
Memorization
- Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
Arm-Hand Steadiness
- Keeping your arm or hand steady.
Glare Sensitivity
- Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
Hearing Sensitivity
- Telling the difference between sounds.
Extent Flexibility
- Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Control Precision
- Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
Speed of Closure
- Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
Manual Dexterity
- Holding or moving items with your hands.
Information Ordering
- Ordering or arranging things.
Dynamic Strength
- Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
Dynamic Flexibility
- Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Problem Sensitivity
- Noticing when problems happen.
Rate Control
- Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
Multilimb Coordination
- Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
Speech Recognition
- Recognizing spoken words.
Auditory Attention
- Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
Far Vision
- Seeing details that are far away.
Gross Body Equilibrium
- Keeping your balance or staying upright.
Night Vision
- Seeing at night or under low light.
Visual Color Discrimination
- Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
Sound Localization
- Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
Inductive Reasoning
- Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
Oral Expression
- Communicating by speaking.
Static Strength
- Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
Speed of Limb Movement
- Quickly moving your arms and legs.
Selective Attention
- Paying attention to something without being distracted.
Category Flexibility
- Grouping things in different ways.
Deductive Reasoning
- Using rules to solve problems.
Flexibility of Closure
- Seeing hidden patterns.
Finger Dexterity
- Putting together small parts with your fingers.
Written Comprehension
- Reading and understanding what is written.
Visualization
- Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
Wrist-Finger Speed
- Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
Speech Clarity
- Speaking clearly.
Depth Perception
- Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
Stamina
- Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
Peripheral Vision
- Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
Trunk Strength
- Using your lower back and stomach.
Written Expression
- Communicating by writing.
Perceptual Speed
- Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
Mathematical Reasoning
- Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
Fluency of Ideas
- Coming up with lots of ideas.
Spatial Orientation
- Knowing where things are around you.
Oral Comprehension
- Listening and understanding what people say.
Time Sharing
- Doing two or more things at the same time.
Reaction Time
- Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
Explosive Strength
- Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
Near Vision
- Seeing details up close.
Gross Body Coordination
- Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.

Production and Processing
- Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Biology
- Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
Mathematics
- Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
English Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
Law and Government
- Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Engineering and Technology
- Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
Therapy and Counseling
- Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
Philosophy and Theology
- Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
Sociology and Anthropology
- Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
Foreign Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
Administration and Management
- Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Computers and Electronics
- Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Geography
- Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
Fine Arts
- Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
Physics
- Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
History and Archeology
- Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
Chemistry
- Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
Administrative
- Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
Economics and Accounting
- Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
Personnel and Human Resources
- Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
Education and Training
- Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Public Safety and Security
- Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Building and Construction
- Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
Telecommunications
- Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
Medicine and Dentistry
- Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
Transportation
- Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
Sales and Marketing
- Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Customer and Personal Service
- Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Food Production
- Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
Design
- Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
Communications and Media
- Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
Psychology
- Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Mechanical
- Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.

Education

No formal educational credential

Work Experience

No work experience

Training

Less than 1 month on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

Washington Annual Salary

47490/yr

Washington Hourly Wage

22.83/hr

Currently Employed

54,240

Yearly Projected Openings

11990

Conventional: People interested in this work like activities that include data, detail, and regular routines. They do well at jobs that need:

Optimism
Social Orientation
Cooperation
Dependability
Empathy
Self-Control

Bar code reader equipment
Cash registers
Commercial use cutlery
Magnetic stripe readers and encoders
Paging controllers
Personal digital assistant PDAs or organizers
Point of sale POS receipt printers
Point of sale POS terminal
Touch screen monitors

Instant messaging software
Point of sale POS software
Web page creation and editing software

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

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Waiters and Waitresses

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