Poll delves into waitstaff work practices, preferences and relationships

Nearly 60 per cent of waitstaff pursue another job alongside their serving role, 42 per cent are career servers and, on average, it takes five to 10 visits for a server to consider a customer a regular, according to a poll by scheduling service Deputy, who asked 600 restaurant waitstaff about secrets of the trade, their relationships with coworkers and customers, and more.

Here’s some of what they found:

• On average, waitstaff have clocked in a 12-hour shift as their longest. The longest shifts ever reported were upwards of 20 hours.
• Twenty-three per cent of servers possess the skill of memorizing a table’s order without writing a single note.
• If given the choice between working a double shift on a busy weekend or having a single, long shift during a slow weekday, the majority of servers would opt to work a double shift on a busy weekend.
• Nearly four out of 10 waitstaff have received a gift from customers beyond the usual tip.
• Four in 10 waitstaff have become friends with customers they initially met during service.

For more insights from the poll, visit deputy.com/blog/secrets-of-waitstaff.