Working as a busboy
Created | Updated Oct 28, 2008
This is not a guide saying you should or should not be a busboy, but merely helping you out if you have recently become a busboy/girl.
Some of the responsibility's of busboys are;
- Taking drink orders
- Clearing plates
- Sweeping and mopping
- Sitting customers
- Setting tables
- and anything else the servers can think up1
Serving Drinks
In some restaurants, the servers will take the drink orders, but where it's your job, you can guarentee they'll be on you about it like there's no tommorrow. Very important when dealing with patrons is to be as polite as possible. Courtesy means bigger tips. When taking the drink order try to go clockwise or counter-clockwise around the table, as opposed to taking them randomly. While loading drinks on the tray, put them on the tray in order as to how they were sitting, ie. if person A was in the front-left seat put their drink in the front-left of the tray. When serving drinks it is vital to stay balanced, when you lean over to serve the beverages make sure the tray doesn't lean over with you, and remember when you take a drink off one side of the tray it becomes unbalanced and the drinks on the other side may cause it to tip.
Servers
These are the people who serve food and tell you what to do. They are generally nice people as long as you keep busy and don't laze around. They'll inform you when dishes need to be cleared or brought to the dishwasher or when someone needs drinks or refills. It is best to mind them and don't talk back because technically they are your superiors, and if you piss them off enough they can send you home. Your tips at the end of the night come out of their tips.
Setting Tables
While this may not seem like a complicated task, there is a certain layout to remember,2 place the plate in front of the chair and the napkin to the left of the plate ruffles down and the crease facing the plate. Place the knife next to the plate on the napkin sharp side pointing out and place the fork on the left side of the napkin.
Everything else
- Prompt service is important, if a customer doesn't have a drink or needs a refill, get on it!
- Don't spill anything, while you probably won't lose your job, it's very awkward
- If you do spill something on a customer's table, immedietly offer to move them to an available table if there is one
- Clean and set tables when they are unused and dirty
- Mind the servers
- Don't spend to much time hanging about, your superiors will get angry
- Always wear a smile
