Serving It Up In Newaygo County

How did you get started as a server?
What draws you to this line of work?
How does Newaygo County do with tipping?
What advice would you give customers?

Tough work, serving.
My admiration for those who do it well knows no bounds. Possessing a thought pattern that leans toward being  somewhat organizationally challenged and watching a corps of servers get slammed only to escalate an already demanding pace to handle the onslaught is considerably impressive. All this while likely doing battle with an overworked kitchen crew and juggling a minimum of one table of THOSE kind of customers and trying to get drinks from a bartender who on her own is holding off the crowd of antsy folks waiting for their tables.
During a get together of N3 contributors we discussed serving in general as folks were sharing some restaurant work experiences and the dialogue moved to what the work might be like in our area?
Are we generally pleasant to wait on? Do we tip well? Is harassment  a problem? Is the tip system fair?

N3 has posed a series of questions like the ones in our opening  to servers both past and present who have walked the boards in our area.  We will be sharing their responses as well perhaps other feedback from our readers who have ‘served’.  Our hope to shine a light on what it might be like to be the non customer in this ritualistic exchange of service for compensation.
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N3 welcomes  any servers past or present who might be interested in sharing an anecdote or two about their experiences in the field or possibly be willing to participate in our survey.
All responses would be anonymous unless otherwise requested and we reserve the right to edit any material submitted.
Interested? Questions?
Mail us.
[email protected]
Subject: Serving It Up

Ken DeLaat
Editor

“I have been a waitress, and I was a damn fine waitress too, let me tell you.”-Jessica Lange, two- time Academy Award winning actress