Tourism, Food / Beverage

Waiter and Waitress

Overview

A Waiter/Waitress is responsible for providing excellent customer service to restaurant patrons. This includes taking orders, delivering food and drinks, ensuring that customers are satisfied with their meals, and processing payments. Waiters and waitresses must also maintain a clean and organized dining area.

Waiters and waitresses may work in a variety of food service establishments, from casual diners to high-end restaurants. Good communication skills, attention to detail, and the ability to work well under pressure are important qualities for this profession.

Common tasks 

    TaskRelated trait(s)
    Greeting customers Amiability Extroversion – Handling social situations
    Showing customers to their tables Conscientiousness
    Providing menus and taking orders from customers Conscientiousness
    Serving menu items to customers Multitasking and working fast
    Checking on customers throughout their stay Multitasking and working fast
    Processing payments Conscientiousness
    Keeping working area clean and organized and restocking tables with relevant items Conscientiousness
    Assisting other staff members 
    Following all food safety and sanitation procedures Dutifulness
    Addressing customer complaints Extroversion – Handling social situations Amiability Optimism – Positive expressiveness Emotional intelligence – Understanding customers

    Soft skills measured by TraitForward

    TraitNo of QuestionsCronbach’s  alpha (α)
    Teamwork90.73
    Are they good team members?
    Conscientiousness100.80
    Do they have a desirable work ethic?
    Amiability70.85
    Are they calm? Do they respect others?
    Extroversion – Handling social situations80.85
    Are they skilled handling social situations?
    Multitasking and working fast50.67
    Can they multitask? Can they handle demanding workloads?
    Optimism – Positive expressiveness80.77
    Are they joyful?
    Emotional intelligence – Understanding customers50.80
    Do they understand the emotions of others?
    Dutifulness80.77
    Can they follow orders?
    *Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (α) determines the extent to which the questions consistently measure each trait and it is expressed as a number ranging between 0 and 1 . Higher values indicate higher agreement between questions.  A value of α equal to greater than .7 indicates acceptable reliability or internal consistency.  For more information on the psychometric properties of the solution, please click here.

    Did you Know?

    Source: US Department of Labor – Bureau of Labor Statistics

    Median wage: 

    $26,000 / per year

    $12.5 / hour

    The median annual wage for this profession is $26,000. Nonetheless several professionals may not be paid in that rate. A relatively low salary the 10th percentile of the annual wage is $17,840 whilst a relatively high salary, the 90th percentile of the annual wage is $45,910.

    Expected employment growth:

    Number (in thousands in 2021): 1904.4

    Number (in thousands in 2031): 2101.4

    Employment percent change: 10.3

    Find out the psychometric properties for the Waiter and Waitress Traitforward questionnaire