Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip--Confessions of a Cynical Waiter

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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.

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-12-04 rating:
A Winner
The author/waiter is a highly educated college graduate who proves to be an excellent writer as well. He can take any situation or anecdote, embellish it with a little humor and turn it into a story that capture's one's attention from beginning to end.
While nothing in the book is earth-shattering, I will say that much of it is eye-opening. Besides, there are many stories that most of us can relate to on a daily basis, especially those who work with the public: dealing with nasty customers; working for a screwy boss; and observing human nature at its best and it's worst.
My favorite stories in the book were about the squirrel running loose in the restaurant, the lady complaining about the hair in her salad (which turned out to be her own) and the couple who used the restroom for their sexual pleasures.
The author's claim that he is an avid reader is evident in his writing. He has so many interesting tidbits of trivia that he gathered from books and movies which he shares with his readers. The way he describes things is so rich in detail that I could see, hear, smell and taste everything going on at the Bistro as if I were there.
The author is brutally honest, quite humble and has a keen insight into human behavior. This book is a definite winner. I highly recommend it.

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review by: The Mage date: 2008-11-30 rating:
Nice Enough, but the Blog is Better
I've been a loyal reader of Waiter's blog for a long time now, and I'm a real fan of his work. As such, I was excited to read the book, and to contribute to someone who I feel has been producing really excellent content for years.

That said, I was honestly disappointing. The book seemed to contain a lot more stories and confessions more suited for a therapist than readers. Sure, I care about this man, but I was hoping for entertainment and the occasional thought-provoking anecdote, the sort of thing I read on his blog. Instead, the book seems to be filled with soul-barring confessions and introspection.

In short, I think Waiter missed the mark with what people want to read. I would have been just as happy to pay for a collection of the best stories from his blog instead.

Therein may be the problem. Perhaps all the best work is already available for free, and with the editors calling for fresh stories Waiter was forced to start scraping the bottom of the barrel. Whatever the reason, the book simply doesn't measure up to the standards of the blog.

So, my suggestion is to consider this less of a purchase and more of a donation. The free archives at the website are certainly worth more than the contents of the book, so I propose looking there for real content rather than having high hopes for what looks to me to be a mediocre collection of everything he never got around to posting about.

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review by: date: 2008-11-26 rating:
for people who want more than the blog
I don't read blogs much. I feel like it's cheap voyeurism but I loved the waiter rant blog. I'd recommend reading the blog BEFORE you get the book. You really get to know the writer much better and you see how he grows as a person and improves his writing. I enjoyed the book, but if I hadn't read the blog I probably would have given the book three stars instead of four.

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review by: date: 2008-11-26 rating:
Would not recommend
I read this immediately after Kitchen Confidential. If I was to give that book 4 or 5 stars, then all I can give this one is 2 (at most).
I was expecting RANTING from a waiter about customers, cooks, GM's, and examples of funny, sad, thought-provoking, disgusting, loving, crushing, etc. episodes. They were there, but in between the lines. This book reads more like an intelligent, thoughtful memoir of a 38 year old man looking for definition who happens to be a waiter. It should be entitled Wax Poetic Waiter.
Probably would recommend to skip this one. Nowhere as addictive as Kitchen Confidential.


review by: date: 2008-11-26 rating:
a quick, interesting read but I was hoping for something else
I was hoping for more of the inside story of the restaurant business, especially with Anthony Bordain's review of the book on the cover "a front of the house version of Kitchen Confidential." Waiter Rant is much more about this anonymous waiter and this specific restaurant and less about the business as a whole. Unlike Bordain, "The Waiter" really hasn't experienced restaurants other than The Bistro which limits his insight. The one positive this gives him is a perspective on the comings and goings of restaurant personnel.

Still it's a good book and a quick, interesting read. I'm still waiting for something that can really compare to Kitchen Confidential though.

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