Serving Class

In addition to my knife skills class, I also attend twice a week a serving/front-of-the-house class. The uniform for it is a cotton button-down shirt with one breast pocket, black pants with a black belt, black dress shoes, black socks, a black bow tie, black apron, and our name tags. (Recall, I left this at home one day and lost points because of it.) The women in the class think its ridiculous that for this class no make up or jewelry is allowed, similar to the kitchen uniform. Isn't the waitstaff supposed to be pleasing to the eye? Our instructor states we're all beautiful and don't need make-up.

We are assigned a duty daily. So far I've been the bartender and a server. On the day that I was the bartender, I had to walk the class through those duties to prepare them for their day in that position. I had to make three batches of iced tea, using a white coffee pot not a black one for each batch and turning the handle forward on each batch. This is a "silent signal" that tells anyone who picks up the tea making process before it has fully completed which of the three batches is brewing. Other silent signals include a turned down napkin from the host at seating to indicate the place setting will not be used and needs to be removed from the table and a doily under the coffee cup to indicate it is decaf coffee.

After brewing iced tea I then brewed coffee. While reaching for the black coffee pot underneath the brewing machine, the cabinet door fell off. The class found this quite amusing and the instructor asked me what I did to break the door. "Nothing!!! Poor craftsmanship!"

In about two weeks we will have live customers in this class. There is another class that develops and cooks the menu for these customers. I have friends that will come one day while I'm serving. Knowing my friends, I'm sure they will point out any mistakes they can find and generally be difficult patrons. Can't wait! (Actually, I can. Bwoop!)