|
Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip--Confessions of a Cynical Waiter | 
 enlarge | Author: The Waiter
Publisher: Ecco
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $15.78
You Save: $9.17 (37%)
New (21) Used (3) from $15.78
Avg. Customer Rating:  92 reviews
Sales Rank: 187
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.6 x 1.2
ISBN: 0061256684
Dewey Decimal Number: 647.95068
EAN: 9780061256684
ASIN: 0061256684
Publication Date: August 1, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: SHIPS from 5 locations based on your Zip Code and availability! (PA TN IN OR SC) *-* Gift Quality *-* Orders Processed Immediately! - We get your book to you Very Quickly! -L2353.79322
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
According to The Waiter, eighty percent of customers are nice people just looking for something to eat. The remaining twenty percent, however, are socially maladjusted psychopaths. Waiter Rant offers the server's unique point of view, replete with tales of customer stupidity, arrogant misbehavior, and unseen bits of human grace transpiring in the most unlikely places. Through outrageous stories, The Waiter reveals the secrets to getting good service, proper tipping etiquette, and how to keep him from spitting in your food. The Waiter also shares his ongoing struggle, at age thirty-eight, to figure out if he can finally leave the first job at which he's truly thrived.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 87 more reviews...
You'll think about "The Waiter" next time you tip at a restaurant. August 20, 2008
The waiter gives us a view of the dining-out experience through a waiter's eyes. This is the Waiter's first book, he started as a blogger and then as his blog became popular it translated into a book deal.
I really enjoyed this book, the waiter has an easy conversational tone and the book is funny and thought provoking. The chapter on the type of tippers was particularly insightful and witty.
Waiter Rant is a commendable first effort, and very enjoyable. However, it did feel like the waiter was holding back a bit and would like him to dig deeper. I kept thinking about David Sedaris' style of writing while reading this book, as I enjoy his brand of self-deprecating, no-holds barred humor. It made me think that the waiter being the observer he is probably has more nuggets up his sleeve but was being careful not to go over the edge in this first book. I look forward to a bolder second book from the waiter. I think it will be even better!
 Funny and insightful August 20, 2008
Written in anonymity by The Waiter, this book tells the simple, funny truth. I know because I've been there, working as a server from high school through college. Waiter Rant tells it like it is, in all its sloppiness mixed with occasional touches of grace. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, as will anyone who has ever worked in, or eaten at, a table-service restaurant.
My favorite: the chapter titled I Hate Mother's Day. I vividly remember the awfulness of being a waitress on Mother's Day. The rudeness, the pushiness, the bad tipping. This book describes it to a tee. "The epicenter of Hades isn't Satan trapped in a block of ice munching on Judas Iscariot like an everlasting carrot stick. The center of hell is a restaurant on Mother's Day."
This funny and insightful book moves fast and is a pleasure to read.
Here's the chapter list:
1. Amici's
2. The Sacred and Profane
3. Fascists and Freshwater Ostrich
4. Waiter Jedi
5. Paupery
6. The Box of Chocolates Saint
7. Big Brother
8. The Back Alley of Affluence
9. The Tip's the Thing
10. Why Be a Waiter?
11. A Little Knowledge Is a Dangerous Thing
12. Filth
13. I Hate Mother's Day
14. Vengeance Is Mine
15. Snapshots
16. Heaven and Hell
17. Substance Abuse
18. The Fourth of July
19. Russell Crowe and Me
20. If It Can Go Wrong, It Will
21. Demons
22. Throwing in the Apron
Appendixes:
40 Tips on How to Be a Good Customer
50 Ways to Tell You're Working in a Bad Restaurant
Items a Waiter Should Carry at All Times
A fun look at the other side of the menu.... August 19, 2008
Fun, sassy and very enlighting, I really enjoyed the short stories of customers ranging from clueless to downright contemptible, and the insider's look at the restaurant's heirarchy and social pecking order. I liked the author's wry, smart alecky style, though I thought he waxed philisophical a bit to much for my taste. This book is not so much a compilation of scary customer confrontations as a tale of the author's day to day life as a waiter, his hopes and his dreams, peppered with interactions between himself, his coworkers, and the wacky people he attempts to feed. From psycho owners to back-biting waitresses, a waiter's life is never dull. I'll never look at the smiling, slightly harried looking waitperson at my table again, and I will never, ever tick them off!
WAITER RANT, READER RAVE August 19, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Well,, he started out studying for the priesthood, graduated college and went to work for a health care organization. After a series of disappointments in each of these areas he donned an apron and became a waiter.
That's where the fun begins - sometimes for the author, always for the reader. While one surely sympathizes with the frustrations he found in trying to reach the goals he set for himself, he relates his trials, tribulations, and pyrrhic victories with such good humor and excellent prose that the end result is pure enjoyment for us.
Now, he has a real victory to celebrate - a best-selling book and hopefully another to come.
Atta' way to go, Waiter, and thanks for sharing.
A must-read for anyone who has ever waited tables! August 18, 2008
Though I had never heard of the blog before receiving this book, I can only imagine how popular it must be given the subject matter. For anyone who has ever waited tables, this book will cover familiar ground- the insanity of the kitchen staff, the abusiveness of the owner, the obnoxiousness of the customers, and the mind-numbing aggravation of it all are covered in great detail. Tempering this of course are the rare moments of joy- the couple deciding to have a baby, the couple who truly enjoy their budget-busting night out thanks to the waiter's guidance.
I thought the book was a bit rough around the edges, and the underlying narrative structure was a bit weak, but the stories rang true enough to counter these negatives. Waiter Rant was an enjoyable read, one that exposes the ugly underbelly of the restaurant business. Definitely a must read for anyone who works in or patronizes a restaurant!
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
