Rule Seven: Be the coworker you want to have.  Once you have been at a particular restaurant for any length of time, the floor chart can tell you a great deal about how your shift will go. Most servers can see the people they are working with and find reason for either optimism or […]
About David Hayden
Author Archive | David Hayden
Thank You Mister Robinson
(Note: I wrote this piece last week upon hearing this untimely news.) I never worked for Paul Robinson. To the best of my knowledge I never even waited on him. When I read today that he passed away on Monday it probably should not have affected me the way it did. Honestly, I am not […]
How To Make Hostile Guests Love You (Part Three)
(Note: in order to get the most out of this post you should read parts one and two. They create the foundation for this summary post and will be referenced frequently.) My friend Marcy has the innate ability to intimidate people. She is a beautiful 5’8†blonde attending law school. She is aware of having […]
How To Make Hostile Guests Love You (Part Two)
Years ago I had the good fortune of working for a man named John Maria. I have had many bosses over the years, but none had a better fundamental understanding of human nature than John. One day he gave me a book and told me to read it. He said the answer to almost every […]
How To Make Hostile Guests Love You (Part One)
One of the most difficult situations any server faces is the hostile guest. I call them hostile, because they are angry with you long before you have even greeted them. Some people just bring all the hostility of their day in to a restaurant and dump it on their server. From the moment you greet […]
About The Author
David Hayden was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. He took his first serving job in 1996. Since that time, he has worked for over a dozen different restaurant companies. He has held both hourly and salaried positions at independent and corporate restaurants. He has waited on over 100,000 guests and trained hundreds of servers. He has been named "Best Server in Kansas City" the last three years by the local weekly paper.