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What They Do
About This Career
Takes orders and serves food and beverages to patrons at tables in dining establishment.
This career is part of the Hospitality and Tourism cluster Restaurants and Food/Beverage Services pathway.
A person in this career:
- Takes orders from patrons for food or beverages.
- Checks with customers to ensure that they are enjoying their meals, and takes action to correct any problems.
- Checks patrons' identification to ensure that they meet minimum age requirements for consumption of alcoholic beverages.
- Collects payments from customers.
- Writes patrons' food orders on order slips, memorizes orders, or enters orders into computers for transmittal to kitchen staff.
- Prepares checks that itemize and total meal costs and sales taxes.
- Presents menus to patrons and answers questions about menu items, making recommendations upon request.
- Removes dishes and glasses from tables or counters, and takes them to kitchen for cleaning.
- Serves food or beverages to patrons, and prepares or serves specialty dishes at tables as required.
- Cleans tables or counters after patrons have finished dining.
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 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
- Exerting oneself physically over long periods of time without getting out of breath
- Using abdominal and lower back muscles repeatedly or over time without tiring
Work Hours and Travel
- Rotating shift work
- Weekend work
Specialty and Similar Careers
Careers that are more detailed or close to this career:
- Banquet Server
- Cocktail Server — Takes drink orders and serves beverages and additional duties may include cleaning off tables, ringing up totals at the register and checking identification to make sure customers are old enough to drink.
- Food Runner
- Food Server
- Restaurant Server
- Server
- Waitstaff
- Buffet 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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