Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1889-01-17
WATERS AND WAITING.
The Difference in Hotel, Restaurant AM
Tea-Party Work.

Inc DlHeTence HI uOless hcSIauEahb aNsA
Tea-Party Work.
ssWhat would be deemed excellent
service in one class of establishments.
said Mr. Hugo Ziemann at the Hotel
Richelieu, '.would be considered bad
waiting in another. Indeed, men who
give good satisfaction in one branch
would be wholly inadequate in another
branch of the same establishment.
Hotel waiting is one thing; restaurant
waiting. quite another; and that re-
quired in catering, different still.
think hotel waiting is the easiest; that
required in the American restaurant is
doubtless the hardest. In hotel service
every thing is what we may call
straight. There is not the rush and
confusion that is incident to restaurant
waiting. The waiter is not so hurried,
and hence his liability to make mis-
takes or to be reckless is not so great.
Gin many of our popular restaurants
from noon to two p. m. there is a per-
feet jam. The stores pour out their
employees, and they all want their lunch
at the same time; and, be it said to the
credit of the walters, it is marvel
that there are so few mistakes in Or
ders and so little breakage of crockery.
In hotels there is a more leisurely class
of patronage. Fewer foibles are dis
played, there is not the clamor for
haste. and the waiter has breathing
time, so to speak. In many big
restaurants, where somebody is wait
ing to seize upon every chair vacated,
it is necessary for the walters to lay off
every little while for rest. This is
never the case in hotels.
$50 far as special qualifications re-
quired of walters are concerned, there
is all the difference in the world be-
tween different establishments. In
places where French dishes are served
and French names are printed on the
bills of fare a knowledge of French is
requisite. When a guest points to a
name on the card and asks what it
means the waiter can't go back to the
cook to find out. Without some knowl-
edge of French he would probably have
to run back and forth half dozen
times, before finally getting his order.
There are dozens of points peculiar to
individual establishments that the
average guest wants explained to him,
and as rule the better the house the
higher the qualifications of the waiter
required, not only in point of skill, but
also of education"
What is the hardest class of wait
ing?"
Undoubtedly popular tea parties,
where the guests do not sit down to
eat but take a standing lunch in a
room, the doors of which are thrown
open at given hour. The room is
usually packed till it is almost impos-
sible to edge ones way through the
crowd. Yet walters are expected to
carry viands and coffee, without collid-
ing with the guests-no easy thing, as
you can imagine. A cup of coffee
split on a silk dress would be catas-
trophe both to the waiter and to the
house doing the catering. Of course
the waiter is regarded on such occa-
sions as the next thing to a nonentity,
and legitimate assertion of his rights
would be taken as pomposity and be
summarily reproved. In such parties
skill, next to that of an acrobat. is
necessary on the part of the waiter,
and guests are, as rule, too slow to
recognize his difficulties. An accident
on the part of a host in carving or
serving viands would be laughed off
OR not observed at all, while the same
slip would be little short of unpardon-
able in a waiter. oh, my dress;' look
out, young man. what are you trying
to do?' are exclamations frequently
heard at tea parties; and all the time
the crowd keeps surging in. Yards of
fluffy skirts are cast about the walters
feet or a jeweled hand jostles his elbow
at the same time that the exclamation
is uttered. "-Chicago News.