They also serve who stand and wait

Pune, October 28 He is the one who greets you with a smile, offers you the pick of the day, and accepts with an unwavering smile your criticism of his service. After all, it is his job: feeding people, and making sure they’ve had a good time of it.

“Being a waiter is still considered demeaning, especially in Maharashtra. Many do not know that serving is a dignified vocation, and being a waiter is not something everyone can do. But I do not really take callousness to heart and the best way to do that is to be focused and not think too much,” says a buoyant Balasaheb Patil from the Dragon Chinese Restaurant in Model Colony.

“I received two years of training in hotel management and stepped into this field for a simple reason: I had no other job. Since then, I have come across a diverse clientele, some who have treated me with utmost respect and a few who have been rude and obnoxious. However, the key is to keep your cool and not let anger or ego do you in. When a customer starts yelling, I try and solve his problem if his demands are justified. If not, I politely tell him to try somewhere else,” explains Patil. Patience is the operative word in the serving industry, but there were times when he lost his cool too. Says he, “I have certainly changed— earlier rudeness got me hassled, but today, I realise the trick is to accept retreat with grace. Serving is a trick, you need to do what you can to make the customer happy,” he says.

“A waiter should respect everybody, even if it means taking injustice.That is what we have been taught, and that is exactly what you need to do to excel in this field,” saysBaldev Kumar Thakur who works at Eden Court Restaurant. Under constant pressure from not only the customers but also the manager, senior waiters and the boss; a waiter strives endlessly to come up to the expectations of those whom he serves. “We have to adhere to the rules of serving, without which one can only expect disaster. For instance, even serving water requires practise and dexterity; like it is always good to serve from the right and not the left, the latter considered disrespectful. Also, I always keep the two S’ in mind, namely, smile and sorry. Once I enter the restaurant’s gate, one thing you would not miss on my face is a constant beam,” he jests. The newbies in the business often take flak from the customers, merely because they are not as adept at serving as their fellow waiters. “People often ostracise the newcomers, who in turn break down in spite of toiling like any of the experienced waiters,” says Thakur.

Dinesh Pujari, at Mona Foods on M G Road, adds, “It has never been mortifying for me to work as a waiter, and many times I am shouted at too but I’m immune to it now. Moreover, my job is my God and I revere it beyond a shadow of doubt.”

Source: http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/They-also-serve-who-stand-and-wait/233390/