Being a Server in the time of Coronavirus

So, judging by the title I'm sure you can guess that I am a server, and what I mean by server is a person in a waiter/waitress position in a restaurant. And let me tell you it has been a hard ride.

I had just been promoted into a server position in January of this year after a particularly hard Christmas season when I had my miscarriage, which I have previously written about. I had only begun to find my stride as a server when Coronavirus, otherwise known as COVID-19, racked the country and caused worldwide shutdowns. Suddenly, I was back to doing what I had been previously doing, taking to-go orders and putting in delivery orders.

For three long months we were not able to do our assigned job, and many of my coworkers were laid off, only able to come back when the restaurant industry was allowed to open back up at the end of June. Luckily during that first shutdown our government had allocated extra funds to the unemployment office that gave each person who qualified an extra $600 a week.

When we were allowed to open back up, we were allowed to be inside as long as us servers wore our masks as well as face shields while taking care of our tables, and that there was a six-foot distance between tables. Soon after, we were told that we would only be allowed to serve outside, maintaining a six-foot distance between tables as well as the servers personal protective gear.

It was hard at first. We were all used to having everything we needed close by, and for it to take less time to deliver food and drinks to our tables. Due to the outside requirement we built better server skills, as well as getting more exercise in our daily treks. I know that personally the amount of steps I was taking doubled when we moved everything outside.

There was definitely a downside to being outside though. I'm from Southern California, where we had major wildfires that turned the sky smoky and rained ash down on us. On one of the worst days, while the fire was raging, we had to put food in to-go containers in order to keep ash from contaminating it.

Another downside to being a server during this time, is the quality of guests who were coming into our establishment. As everyone in the world knows, servers in the US make the bulk of their money in tips. Due to most people being financially unstable, the tips have not been the greatest. People want to hold onto a sense of normalcy, but are ignoring the fact that servers are people too.

An example of less than great guests in our restaurant was a party that I took. There were eighteen of them, which is already difficult to sit. However, with our guidelines it made it a lot harder to accommodate this party since we were not allowed to sit more than six people to a table, and we could not push the tables together due to COVID restrictions.

This party took up three-fourths of my section, and they kept me running back and forth as if I was a marathon runner. My husband and his best friend were sat at the last table I had in my section and ended up waiting twenty minutes for me to greet them because of how much this party had me running around. I live for this kind of busy-ness because it makes the shift go by so much faster.

All told, this table had racked up a bill worth about five hundred dollars. They ended up splitting it nine ways, and I kept receiving compliments on my service from every person I encountered. When I counted up the tips from this party I made thirty-seven dollars, which only covered what I had to tip out to the busser and bartender. If my husband hadn't been there with his best friend I wouldn't have walked out of that shift with any money at all.

That is definitely an extreme example, but this is an experience every server has had over the last several months of being open. Guests are taking their anger and disappointment over these restrictions out on us, even though we have nothing to do with them. All we are trying to do is pay our bills as well, because our bills didn't end when the coronavirus began.

Now we are faced with another shutdown, until the end of December. This time, the government has not allocated more funds to help those affected by it and many of us find ourselves facing a very bleak Christmas. All we can hope for is to come back stronger than ever, with a renewed purpose and love for our fellow citizens. After all, if it wasn't for us, the food service workers, where would you get your fill of restaurant food.