Book ~ "The Bitchy Waiter: Tales, Tips & Trials from a Life in Food Service" (2016) Darron Cardosa

From Goodreads ~ Millions of people have, at some point in their lives, waited tables. Some only did it in college, or got out by sheer determination, good luck ... or suicide. Others took it on as permanent employment. And many remain haunted by nightmare scenarios where they are the sole server in a restaurant packed with complaining patrons. For all those disenchanted current and former food service employees, Darron Cardosa has your back. His career began at a Texas steakhouse in 1984, and since 2008 he’s vented his frustrations in the popular blog The Bitchy Waiter.

Cardosa distills 30 years of food service into dark, funny tales - about crazy customers, out-of-control egos, and what really goes on in that fancy restaurant - that anyone who worked in the industry will recognize and relate to.

I've never been a server but I did spend almost a year as a bartender in a small motel bar in a small town in my early twenties where I served drinks to customers. Most of my jobs have been in the corporate world where I was dealing with clients so a lot of the skills and interactions can be transferrable.  

I like humorous books so this one caught my eye. It was funny at times it was also mean and snarky at times too ... I imagine the author intentionally push it over the top in some instances and exaggerated in an attempt to get laughs. I found it a bit uneven ... some of the writing was interesting and funny whereas other times it was kind of boring which I skipped over (like his fiction towards the end).

I had supper with friends last night and our server, Josh, was great. I told him I was reading this book and some of the things the author said annoyed servers ... like saying the server's name often (I do this as I'm friendly and appreciative), introducing yourself to the server (according to the author, the server could care less), getting there early and not starting until all your friends are there (so hogging a table so there's not a frequent turnaround), etc. It was interesting to get Josh's perspective and we had a fun discussion. 

I tend to eat out a fair bit and encounter all sorts of servers. I'm not there to be their new BFF but it's amazing the amount of servers who could care less about being "present".