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What They Do
About This Career
Performs duties such as taking orders and serving food and beverages. Serves customers at counter or from a steam table. May take payment. May prepare food and beverages.
This career is part of the Hospitality and Tourism cluster Restaurants and Food/Beverage Services pathway.
A person in this career:
- Communicates with customers regarding orders, comments, and complaints.
- Scrubs and polishes counters, steam tables, and other equipment, and cleans glasses, dishes, and fountain equipment.
- Accepts payment from customers, and makes change as necessary.
- Performs cleaning duties, such as sweeping, mopping, and washing dishes, to keep equipment and facilities sanitary.
- Requests and records customer orders, and computes bills, using cash registers, multi-counting machines, or pencil and paper.
- Balances receipts and payments in cash registers.
- Serves food, beverages, or desserts to customers in such settings as take-out counters of restaurants or lunchrooms, business or industrial establishments, hotel rooms, and cars.
- Prepares daily food items, and cooks simple foods and beverages, such as sandwiches, salads, soups, pizza, or coffee, using proper safety precautions and sanitary measures.
- Cleans and organizes eating, service, and kitchen areas.
- Monitors and orders supplies or food items, and restocks as necessary to maintain inventory.
Working Conditions and Physical Demands
People who do this job report that:
- You would often handle loads up to 10 lbs., sometimes up to 20 lbs. You might do a lot of walking or standing, or you might sit but use your arms and legs to control machines, equipment or tools.
- Work in this occupation involves use of protective items such as safety shoes, glasses, gloves, hearing protection, a hard hat, or personal flotation devices
- Work in this occupation involves using your hands to hold, control, and feel objects more than one-third of the time
- Work in this occupation requires being inside most of the time
- Work in this occupation involves making repetitive motions more than one-third of the time
- Work in this occupation involves standing more than one-third of the time
- Work in this occupation involves walking or running more than one-third of the time
Working in this career involves (physical activities):
- Seeing clearly up close
- Speaking clearly enough to be able to be understood by others
- Identifying and understanding the speech of another person
Work Hours and Travel
- Rotating shift work
- Weekend work
Specialty and Similar Careers
Careers that are more detailed or close to this career:
- Concession Cashier
- Food Service Aide
- Snack Bar Attendant
- Deli Worker (Delicatessen Worker)
- Food Service Assistant
- Food Service Worker — Duties include responsibility for instructing subordinate food service workers in dining hall techniques and methods; for maintaining high standards of cleanliness; and for assuring that patrons are served in a pleasant and courteous manner.
- School Cafeteria Cook
- Food Server
- Cafe Server
- Cafeteria Server
Every year the U.S. Department of Labor conducts national surveys of wage data by occupation in every state and in all industry divisions. These surveys are conducted through the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program.
The statistics collected for one year are published the next fall. For example, 2013 wage information was published in the fall of 2014.
There are over 800 occupations in the surveys, and these occupations cover the entire U.S. labor market. The surveys ask for reports in a scale of ranges for both hourly wages and annual wages.
In many cases, these occupations are broad enough to cover many more detailed specialties of an occupation. A specific occupation may be included in a broader occupational category for which labor market data is available. When you look at the statistics for a broad category, be aware that the salary data for a specific career may differ.
For more details about how wage information is collected and calculated by the U.S. Department of Labor, visit their website at http://www.bls.gov/bls/blswage.htm.
Every year the U.S. Department of Labor conducts a national survey of over 400,000
employers in every state and in all industry divisions. This survey is conducted
through the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program. Every other year the
department publishes outlook information based on these surveys.
Each outlook period covers 10 years. For example, in 2003 the outlook information
was published for 2004-2014. Employers are asked to report the number of employees
in about 770 different occupations that cover the entire U.S. labor market.
From this information, staffing patterns for different industries are established.
Industry growth is projected into the future based on past trends and current economic
conditions. Industry staffing patterns are then applied to the industry projections
to obtain occupational projections.
In many cases, these occupations are broad enough to cover many more detailed specialties
of an occupation. A specific occupation may be included in a broader occupational
category for which labor market data is available. When you look at the statistics
for a broad category, be aware that the employment data for a specific field may
differ.
For more details about how employment information is collected and calculated by
the U.S. Department of Labor, visit their website at http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.
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