(this was originally published on the site several years ago but it's still relevant today)

The plight of the waiter has been getting a lot of press lately. From Frank Bruni’s insightful piece in the New York Times to CNN’s survery of server-run websites, the general public is getting more of an insight into the life of a waiter than they probably ever imagined. Or wanted. I mean, if you have to think of us as people, it’s hard to stiff us, right? Here’s a trick - ask a diner for their business card before you end the meal. Watch your tip go up.

So the public knows we work long hours, they know we depend on tips and they know that most of us are trying to do something else. Although I believe that last part is a crock of shit. Maybe we want to do something else, but trying it is entirely different. Many of us are complicit in the stagnation of our dreams. Or we re-write the scripts of our lives to accomodate the circumstances in which we have placed ourselves. That’s a topic for another day.
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