After 15 years in the restaurant industry, I can still be surprised at how little some people know about how the industry works. Restaurants operate in a manner far different than most businesses in the United States. While most Americans are familiar with restaurants from dining out, very few are aware of the working conditions […]
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The Greatest Customer Complaint Response Ever
I had lunch today with my friends Emma and Senor Esparza. Â They ate at Justus Drugstore last night. Â Justus is on the outermost outskirts of what could be considered Kansas City. Â In the few years that it has been open it has developed a reputation of being well worth the drive. Â I personally have never […]
Top Five Posts You Probably Missed
Being less than a week away from my 100th post has left me some time to think about how I want to recognize that milestone. I thought about a grand countdown. I thought about an retrospective on all of the changes I have seen in the restaurant business in my years. I had an idea […]
A Food Critic Intervention
There have been several instances while writing posts for this blog where I have felt the need to place blame for the things that drive me crazy about the restaurant business. I have always managed to stop short of that because I do not want this to be a blog that complains about the problems […]
Awkward Moments
Over the last 15 years I have spent in the service industry, I have had to change my approach. 15 years ago, I was a gangly 6-foot tall 125-pound server with a voice somewhere in the Justin Bieber range. I looked only slightly older than him. A head of grey hair has made me change […]
- The Greatest Customer Complaint Response Ever September 23, 2010
- Why Not To Date Co-Workers August 14, 2010
- My Response: 25 Things Chefs Never Tell You September 16, 2010
- A Food Critic Intervention August 31, 2010
- The Card August 10, 2010
- Random Thoughts from a Server 65: Beer Glasses July 20, 2013
- T-Shirts for Servers 5 July 19, 2013
- Random Thoughts from a Server 64: Chef Gordon Ramsey July 17, 2013
- Random Thoughts from a Server 63: Jealous Boyfriends July 16, 2013
- Random Thoughts from a Server 62: Wine Keys July 15, 2013
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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.